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Securing the Torch – 2012 London Olympics

During World War II, the United Kingdom deployed ground, air, and naval forces in a war that affected all nations around the globe. Today, London and the Olympic Games Committee are again preparing for war to cope with a broad spectrum of security threats that could affect the city’s own
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Hazard Mitigation: Today’s Needs & Recommendations

In the United States today, losses caused by natural disasters and the frequency of such events are both on the rise. Moreover, because state and federal budgets are still declining, the nation’s emergency management community is constantly challenged to do more with less, while still continuing to improve disaster resilience
Read More »

All-Hazards Planning for Special Events

To avoid a recipe for disaster, the following prescription is recommended for all-hazards preparedness: two-thirds planning and one-third execution. Anything and everything can happen at a special event in communities throughout the nation, so the advance planning and training should reflect that fact.
Read More »

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.
Read More »

Event Management: Visibility in the Fog of Response

Part 4 of Dr. Vanderwagen’s groundbreaking five-part series on the numerous – and extremely difficult – challenges involved in implementing the U.S. National Health Security Strategy. This white paper addresses challenges related to event management and “seeing through the fog” during the intense phase of response – i.e., when events
Read More »

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,
Read More »

The Medical Component of Mass Gatherings

During a medical emergency, navigating through large crowds requires more than just lights and sirens. By strategically placing resources, understanding the type of crowd, and preparing for all-hazards events, medical teams will be better equipped to rapidly respond as needs arise.
Read More »

Honoring Fallen Heroes: Special Security Requirements

In 2011, the City of Virginia Beach hosted a day of special ceremonies honoring members of a Navy SEAL Team who had been killed in action during a high-risk operation in Afghanistan. The short-notice decision to salute these fallen heroes was fraught with numerous potential difficulties – but the City,
Read More »

Laboratory Pandemic Preparedness: Maintaining a Warm Base

Whether deciding to close local schools or to change treatment and testing guidelines at a national level, public health decisions for influenza pandemics are dependent on laboratory results. By developing assays, holding training sessions, developing and utilizing laboratory capacity models, building intra-state communication systems, and introducing other initiatives, the Centers
Read More »

Integrated Capstone Event Expands Training for Responders

Professional athletes focus first on personal training skills, but understand that team training is needed to win games – and championships. The Center for Domestic Preparedness uses that winning philosophy for their “Capstone” events, in which students from many professional disciplines join forces to address realistic scenarios that require their
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Leveraging the Expanding Social Network

Blizzards, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, icebergs, and volcanic eruptions are just some of the natural hazards found across the unique Canadian terrain. Although knowing who is charge during an incident can be a challenge under the existing political structure, emergency managers continue to communicate, collaborate, and learn from other nations to
Read More »

Securing the Torch – 2012 London Olympics

During World War II, the United Kingdom deployed ground, air, and naval forces in a war that affected all nations around the globe. Today, London and the Olympic Games Committee are again preparing for war to cope with a broad spectrum of security threats that could affect the city’s own
Read More »

Hazard Mitigation: Today’s Needs & Recommendations

In the United States today, losses caused by natural disasters and the frequency of such events are both on the rise. Moreover, because state and federal budgets are still declining, the nation’s emergency management community is constantly challenged to do more with less, while still continuing to improve disaster resilience
Read More »

All-Hazards Planning for Special Events

To avoid a recipe for disaster, the following prescription is recommended for all-hazards preparedness: two-thirds planning and one-third execution. Anything and everything can happen at a special event in communities throughout the nation, so the advance planning and training should reflect that fact.
Read More »

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.
Read More »

Event Management: Visibility in the Fog of Response

Part 4 of Dr. Vanderwagen’s groundbreaking five-part series on the numerous – and extremely difficult – challenges involved in implementing the U.S. National Health Security Strategy. This white paper addresses challenges related to event management and “seeing through the fog” during the intense phase of response – i.e., when events
Read More »

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,
Read More »

The Medical Component of Mass Gatherings

During a medical emergency, navigating through large crowds requires more than just lights and sirens. By strategically placing resources, understanding the type of crowd, and preparing for all-hazards events, medical teams will be better equipped to rapidly respond as needs arise.
Read More »

Honoring Fallen Heroes: Special Security Requirements

In 2011, the City of Virginia Beach hosted a day of special ceremonies honoring members of a Navy SEAL Team who had been killed in action during a high-risk operation in Afghanistan. The short-notice decision to salute these fallen heroes was fraught with numerous potential difficulties – but the City,
Read More »

Laboratory Pandemic Preparedness: Maintaining a Warm Base

Whether deciding to close local schools or to change treatment and testing guidelines at a national level, public health decisions for influenza pandemics are dependent on laboratory results. By developing assays, holding training sessions, developing and utilizing laboratory capacity models, building intra-state communication systems, and introducing other initiatives, the Centers
Read More »

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
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A Healthcare Coalition’s Support for Evacuating a Facility

  As recent experiences have shown – the hospital evacuations in Joplin, Missouri, and Loma Linda, California, are perhaps the best examples – the partial or complete evacuation of a healthcare facility is traumatic, complex, and extremely challenging not only for the facility itself but also for the entire local
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Beyond Vaccines: Defeating Future Flu Viruses

Throughout history, invisible enemies such as plague, pandemic influenza, and other infectious diseases have posed a great threat to human life. Public- and private-sector agencies and organizations are diligently working together to prevent future pandemics before they start. The immediate goal is to protect the nation’s warfighters, but the greatest
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Mass-Fatality Surge & Family Assistance

The South Carolina Region’s healthcare coalition is bringing together various resources and knowledge to improve capabilities for mass-fatality incidents and subsequent family assistance operations. Through ongoing discussions, the coalition is able to address planning efforts – e.g., additional training and exercises, available morgue space, multi-jurisdiction cooperation, and various other aspects
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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
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The 2012 PHP Summit: Sustaining Preparedness

A “big-screen” presentation, an all-star panel discussion, the Joplin tornado, preparedness gains – and the many gaps that still remain – were among the major highlights of the 2012 Public Health Preparedness Summit in Anaheim. Numerous workshops and town hall meetings were also on the hugely important schedule. Plan early
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Taxis for the Sick

Thanks to the increased focus on homeland security in recent years, most Americans now understand the need to “triage” victims of a mass-casualty incident. Less understood is the triage approach as it applies to taking patients from an incident site to a healthcare facility: (a) immediate transport, with medical care
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FINAL REPORT: Preparedness Goals Associated with the Nuclear Threat

In 2011, the world witnessed the devastating effects after Mother Nature triggered an accidental “nuclear attack” on Japan. That incident offers a glimpse of what could happen following a deliberate nuclear attack on U.S. soil. On 2 May 2012, Vayl Oxford led a distinguished panel of experts in New York
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Mass Violence: Planning & Response Considerations Course

This is one-day course is designed to help prepare first responders and receivers to assess, plan for, prepare for, and handle critical incidents such as workplace violence attacks, school shootings, mass shootings, domestic violence spill-over attacks, extremist threats and other incidents are occurring with alarming frequency.
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A New Standard of Care for Crisis Incidents

Most medium-sized or larger U.S. hospitals can handle multi-casualty incidents efficiently and effectively under normal circumstances. However, during major incidents such as earthquakes, hurricanes, or terrorist attacks, those same hospitals often require additional resources. Through interagency cooperation, new standards of care have been published to help better prepare for future
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If & When Needed: The Building of Pandemic Barriers

Infectious diseases such as influenza are invisible, fast-moving, and often extremely lethal. The best and sometimes only way to kill them is to detect them early, stop them before they start to spread, isolate them at the first sign of an outbreak, and have at hand the trained medical professionals,
Read More »

Healthcare Reform: Major Effects on Hospital Preparedness

No matter what the Supreme Court decides on the constitutionality of the healthcare reform act, U.S. hospitals must prepare now for major changes in their planning, everyday operations, and both budgetary and personnel resources. Many of those changes may be costly. Most will be time-consuming and/or difficult to implement. But
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