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COMMUNICATION & INTEROPERABILITY ARCHIVES

Upgrading Florida Air National Guard’s Communications

Communications is a responsibility that can be particularly challenging during emergency-disaster operations. By communicating across a broad spectrum of frequencies and networks, members of Florida’s Air National Guard are able to share their resources with civilian agencies and help bridge the information gap.

Special Events: Pre-Event Planning Checklists

Thorough planning that takes into account all of the potential problems, pitfalls, and outright disasters that might be encountered is key to the success of any major special event. Here is a comprehensive list, compiled by a highly respected career professional, of the questions to ask, the intangibles to remember,

Finding Beds in the Middle of a Disaster

One of the most recent examples of medical surge in action was the response effort following a devastating EF5 tornado that ripped through the city of Joplin, Missouri, with virtually no warning on 22 May 2011. Among the most heavily damaged components of the city’s vital infrastructure was the area

Amateur Radio and the Healthcare Field

Amateur Radio can be a lifesaving communications service that has supported emergency responders, law-enforcement teams, and the public during major flood events, power outages, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other disasters both large and small. Like other “Guardian Angels,” the nation’s Amateur Radio operators may not always be seen, but they are

Enterprising Solutions: Buying/Building New State & Local Preparedness Capabilities

For more than a century, the United States has followed a “forward defense” strategy – in other words, fighting the nation’s battles overseas rather than in the United States itself. The 9/11 terrorist attacks led to the realization that homeland security must now begin at home. The federal government has

An Exercise in Utility: The Role of Public Health

The federal funding streams that improved U.S. preparedness capabilities, at all levels of government, so significantly in the first decade after the 9/11 attacks have already declined, and additional reductions are just over the horizon. But a lack of funds can be overcome, at least in part, by careful planning,

Foodborne Outbreaks in Minnesota: Training and Performance

There are almost 50 million foodborne illnesses “of various types” in the United States, and over 3,000 deaths annually. Those are the grim statistics that persuaded the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the FDA, and NACCHO to expand and upgrade programs already in place to detect, control, and

Food Fight – Bioterrorism & Emergency Response Capabilities

Infected salad bars and the “improved” technological capabilities of modern-day terrorist groups have combined to make U.S. responders, and the American people, much more cautious about what they eat. Fortunately, that heightened awareness has led to a much closer scrutiny of restaurants, super markets, food-processing plants, and the super-rich diet

Dual-Use Disasters: Lessons for Preparedness Professionals

Actions have consequences – not all of which are intended, or desired. Some military actions, for example, are intended to intimidate another nation – but instead lead to an outright war. The same is true in the fields of medicine and biological research that, while expanding the range of knowledge

Hi-Tech Food Banks & the Safety of Food Supply Chains

According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, more than one-third of adults across the United States are part of the “obesity epidemic.” The most important “nutritional” problem facing American consumers, though, might not be calories but contamination. This is particularly true of the billions of pounds of food

Aligning Priorities with Healthcare Coalitions

Growth in the number and capabilities of the nation’s healthcare coalitions will undoubtedly continue for the foreseeable future – as will the operational capabilities of those coalitions. Helping that growth, and making the coalitions both more capable and more cost-effective, is a new plan (going into effect this summer) to

Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative (NSI) Roundtable

In the 21st century, combatting terrorism could be as simple as seeing something and saying something. Suspicious activity may signify terrorist activity, but that can only be determined if the right information gets into the right hands. Listen to W. Ross Ashley’s audio roundtable discussion on the Nationwide Suspicious Activity

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