Author Archive

Article Out Loud – Hospitals Must Prepare Now for Future Contingencies

Whether responding to mass casualties from a nuclear blast or an attack by a single “Lone Wolf” shooter, hospital preparedness requires careful planning, effective coordination, and collaboration in the sharing of critical resources. Inter-hospital cooperation and training will almost always result in a better outcome than would be possible through

Hospitals Must Prepare Now for Future Contingencies

Considering the financial constraints already in place, and the likelihood that there will be continuing reductions in federal grant funds for preparedness, the challenge facing U.S. hospitals and other healthcare facilities to do more with less has perhaps never been greater. More specifically, in preparedness planning and operations, very few

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

Joplin & Irene Force Changes in Hospital Evac Plans

Article Out Loud Significant changes in hospital emergency planning have taken place since and largely because of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Hospitals, along with nursing homes, have had their safety and security requirements strengthened by regulatory and/or accreditation agencies to ensure that their emergency plans take into account how they

Hospitals & Fire Departments: Three-Alarm Fires, MSH & Best-Practice Results

A major fire in one of the nation’s finest hospitals led quickly to: (a) the massive evacuation of almost 450 patients; and (b) numerous follow-up meetings to find out what had gone wrong and how to handle such incidents more quickly, and more effectively, in the future. The end result

Hospital Emergency Departments – Infectious Diseases: The First Line of Defense

Very few Emergency Departments in U.S. hospitals can cope with a major outbreak of infectious diseases. But there is much that could & should be done before an outbreak occurs. Improved communications between and among all major medical facilities in the same geographic area should be the first priority, along

Hospital Emergency Planning: Hospitals Qualify as Critical Infrastructure

How does one define “critical”? Far too often in today’s interconnected world, that important designation is awarded retrospectively – i.e., after a terroristic attack or major weather disaster. A credible case can be made, though, that major hospitals and other healthcare facilities deserve that description because of their intrinsic value

Hospital Surge Capacity – A Moving Target

The emergency rooms of most U.S. hospitals are often overcrowded even on a supposedly “slow” day. A mass-casualty incident makes the situation exponentially worse, creating a simultaneous demand for additional space, a larger staff, and more medical supplies. The last resort is usually the use of an alternate-care site –

TWITTER

Follow Us

Get Instant Access

Subscribe today to Domestic Preparedness and get real-world insights for safer communities.

ARchives

Article Out Loud – Mental Awareness to Enhance Preparedness

  Full article by Andrew (Andy) Altizer, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 17, 2024. In this featured article, an emergency manager with military experience points out that emergency managers, public health officials, and first responders often stress the importance of physical fitness, but sometimes neglect mental fitness.

Article Out Loud – Primary Care Investments to Increase Community Resilience

  Full article by Angie Im, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 17, 2024. In this featured article, a healthcare research and policy expert describes the importance of community health centers and their impact on community resilience. These medical lifelines for millions of Americans are facing financial and

Article Out Loud – The Missing Plague Vials

  Full article by Robert C. Hutchinson, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 17, 2024. In this featured article, an experienced federal agent shares a true story of missing bubonic plague vials, an airport bomb threat, and other suspicious activities that demonstrate continued national and homeland security vulnerabilities

Article Out Loud – The “R” Word

  Full article by George Schwartz, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 10, 2024. In this featured article, an associate professor at Immaculata University addresses the challenge of defining resilience and the need to go beyond hazard mitigation. With 2024 being the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “Year of Resilience,”

Article Out Loud – Dungeons and Disasters: Gamification of Public Health Responses

  Full article by Michael Etzel and Michael Prasad, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 10, 2024. In this featured article, two emergency managers describe how advanced technologies are offering new ways to train personnel, exercise public health responses like COVID-19, and prepare response agencies for many other

Article Out Loud – Interoperability During Mass Casualty Incidents

  Full article by Charles Guddemi and Catherine Feinman, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 3, 2024. In this featured article, the District of Columbia’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency’s statewide interoperability coordinator and the editor of Domestic Preparedness highlight the key takeaways from a 2024 interoperability

Article Out Loud – Emergency Management Goes to the Hill

  Full article by Kay C. Goss and Catherine L. Feinman, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, March 27, 2024. In this featured article, two attendees of a Senate briefing on “The State of Emergency Management” discuss the assistance needs of emergency managers working behind the scenes to ensure

Article Out Loud – The Evolution of Homeland Security Higher Education

  Full article by Heather Issvoran, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, March 27, 2024. In this featured article, the director of strategic communications for the Center for Homeland Defense and Security describes how homeland security education expanded after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, to ensure that

TWITTER

Follow Us

Get Instant Access

Subscribe today to Domestic Preparedness and get real-world insights for safer communities.

Translate »