by DJ Phalen: Bridging disaster and terrorist planning with healthcare
Looking for a career (and knowledge base) expanding training and networking opportunity in Emergency Management?
Much like how many of my experiences begin, I was looking for the next "level" in EM. I am always looking for the next great training to take and share with my facility, my peers, or the readers of this blog. Or maybe I could find a challenging certification program, a grad certificate, or maybe even an opportunity to expand my experience in field by promoting, volunteering, or serving on a committee/project. The day I found EmergencyManagementAcademy.org however, I found something I had been looking for off and on for a while now: a Fellowship. I bookmarked the page, printed the site screens, and quickly shot off an e-mail asking for more information. I received a very quick response from New York City lead Professor/Facilitator at the Emergency Management Academy, Scot Phelps. What is the punch line? Scot says it himself:
"I finally figured out if I want to develop high quality graduate emergency management education programs the best way I know how, I would have to just do it myself: The Emergency Management Academy is a graduate-level, reading-and-discussion focused program that facilitates participants mastering a SPECIFIC expert-consensus Body of Knowledge. No bureaucracy, no extraneous courses, no endless meetings- just rigorous learning of the industry-developed core knowledge through reading and discussion. This should be great!"
Well, the Fellowship in Emergency Management Begins September 20thâ¦and I am planning to be a part of it. Immediately after reviewing the program's website in greater detail and speaking with Scot, I enrolled. In fact, I plan on reporting "live from the Academy" on a monthly basis. I will comment on the depth of the course work and the value of the interactions, collaboration, networking and experience overall. On that note, my cohort is shaping up to be very impressiveâ¦as of right now, 5 of the 12 slots are filled and one admission pending for the first Fellowship program. Among the first cohort participants are a well-known physician emergency manager, a senior business continuity manager from a major investment bank, an emergency manager from one of the largest multi-state health systems in the Midwest, a former NYC OEM staff member, and ME (no pressure). That, however, leaves 6 open seats in what is sure to be one of the most engaging experiences in the field, and the first in a long tradition of Fellowship academy cohorts. Will you join me?
What is the Fellowship Program?
"The Fellowship in Emergency Management is a 1-year intensive graduate-level learning program where participants read and discuss the Emergency Management Graduate Body of Knowledge, books representing the core knowledge of the emergency management field, as selected by hundreds of emergency management professors from around the world at the Federal Emergency Management Agency Higher Education Conference. It is designed for the mid-career emergency manager, and although it will focus on graduate-level discussion, participants are not required to have a previous college degree"
Working with cohort groups of 12 (or less) Fellows will read, research, collaborate, and master the science and application of Emergency Management principles. Upon successful completion of the program, participants will be awarded the title of "Fellow of the Academy of Emergency Management (FAcEM)".
There are still 6 seats left...but going quickly. I look forward to seeing you there (virtually)!
I invite you to join the ongoing discussions at Hospital / Clinical Emergency Management
Also, join me at Linkedin and on Twitter ( ClinicalEM )
As always, stay safe. dp
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More Mainsteam Media Attention for Alerts and NotificationsThis Friday my colleague and I will be holding a class for our trauma center. It will consist of the Incident Response to Terrorist Bombings (IRTB) awareness level class with some additional case studies, round tables, table top exercises and hospital specific information, considerations, and strategies to follow the 4 hour course. We are embarking on a series of courses aimed to raise the awareness levels and change the psychology (it can't or won't happen here) in the hospital. We will be bringing more healthcare/hospital specific structure to the areas of terror response (as well as the possibility of being targeted and not simply planning to be the receivers of event victims), homicide/suicide bombers, active shooters, and many other areas that are common areas of discussion in the LE, Fire, and EMS realms but still not adequately integrated into the healthcare arena. We hope to measure our initial successes, add to our repertoire, and take this show on the road (initially to other hospitals in California and eventually nationally).
I would love to hear your thoughts, lessons learned, or other input/feedback/critique. We are in this together...
I invite you to join the ongoing discussions at Hospital / Clinical Emergency Management
Also, join me at Linkedin and on Twitter (ClinicalEM)
As always, stay safe. dp
Looking for training and certification options? Had a great conversation with Mehran Rastakhiz, PhD., MPA (Chairman, Board of Directors) at C4SEM. Check them out at C4SEM.org.
Areas of emphasis include:
Certified Critical Infrastructure Protection Specialist (CCIPS)
Certified Counter Terrorism Specialist (CCTS)
Certified Emergency Management Specialist (CEMS)
Certified Emergency Operation Center (EOC) Manager (CEOCM)
Certified Homeland Security Manager (CHSM)
Certified Watch Officer (CWO) (Coming Soon)
Check out their WOUNDED WARRIORS PROGRAM
Beginning July 2010, the Center for Security and Emergency Management will grant C4SEM Certification Program scholarships to 12 of our country's Wounded Warriors. Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of financial need and performance and will focus on heroes who are seeking advancement or new skills.
As always, join the ongoing discussions at Hospital / Clinical Emergency Management
Also, join me at Linkedin and on Twitter (ClinicalEM)
Stay safe - dp
Looking for a can't miss conference this month? Check out the 2010 Bicoastal Counter Terrorism Summit being presented by The HALO Corporation. San Diego, CA: June 7th â11th, 2010 and if you miss that, Ft. Lauderdale, FL: July 12â16th, 2010.
I have personally been speaking with Mr. Brad Barker (President at The HALO Corporation) and know that this training is TRULY a no miss. Check out the week long lineup for the 2010 conference in San Diego here
The HALO Corporation is a non-governmental organization (NGO) founded by former Special Operations, National Security, and Intelligence personnel. HALO exists to provide safety and security for those in need and to improve: force protection, all aspects of security, humanitarian aid, and disaster response.
As always, join the ongoing discussions at Hospital / Clinical Emergency Management
Also, join me at Linkedin and on Twitter (ClinicalEM)
Stay safe - dp
I don't know how your day went today...but our Pediatric Trauma center performed at levels that exceeded my expectations. While there is undoubtedly a lot to learn, a lot of new information and findings to sort through, the value of a full scale exercise cannot be underestimated in its ability to drive us ever closer to "preparedness".
If you have not already, visit the Radiation Emergency Medical Management (REMM) site (HHS) as it is an unbelievable wealth of resources and information for RDD/dirty bomb events (like the GG drill conducted today.
As always, stay safe and please join the group on LinkedIn (Hospital / Clinical Emergency Management) to continue discussions about preparedness and Clinical Emergency Management!
DJ
Join me at Linkedin and on Twitter (ClinicalEM)
Here is a great example of an active shooter scenario being played out INVOLVING the hospital and what it will mean in terms of clinical/security operations and management.
Shooter scenario tests readiness at Lejeune
Thoughts?
Join the ongoing discussions at Hospital / Clinical Emergency Management
Also, join me at Linkedin and on Twitter (ClinicalEM)
Stay safe - dp
While it is mainly still just a trend overseas, attacks on medical facilities (or against those arriving at medical facilities) continues to be a concerning trend.
In the news TODAY:
8 dead in hospital attack in Pakistan
"The explosion occurred at a hospital in the city of Quetta, police said. Included in the dead were a journalist and a police officer, hospital officials said. More than 10 people were injured in the blast, the officials said" (click on headline to read more)
Thoughts?
Join the ongoing discussions at Hospital / Clinical Emergency Management
Also, join me at Linkedin and on Twitter (ClinicalEM)
Stay safe - dp
If you have not had the opportunity, or found the time, to read through the Next Challenge in Healthcare Preparedness: Catastrophic Health Events (Preparedness Report) you need to put it on your immediate "to do" list. The report outlines some major challenges faced by the healthcare infrastructure in meeting future challenges (in what is already an often over capacity system of hospitals and clinics).
The report will serve as a working blueprint for clinical emergency management and the changes (and challenges) that will need to take place.
"A key finding of the Evaluation Report was that, while much progress has been made in healthcare preparedness for common medical disasters, the U.S. healthcare system is ill-prepared for catastrophic health events (CHE), and there is as yet no clear strategy that will enable an effective response to such an event. For this report, the definition of "catastrophic health event" is that put forth in Homeland Security Presidential Directive 21 (HSPD-21): an event that could result in tens or hundreds of thousands of sick or injured individuals who would require access to healthcare resources" (UPMC, 2010)
Join me at LinkedIn and discuss this and many other topics integrating healthcare, emergency management, and counter-terrorism (Hospital / Clinical Emergency Management)
Stay Safe - dp
Since the last time I posted, my colleagues and I have been spending a great deal of time constructing a "blueprint" for next steps and how we need to proceed as Emergency/Disaster/Terrorism planners in the healthcare industry. This will not be an easy task. We need to move out of our comfort zone. We need to think more critically (and globally) about the things that may be coming our way. If current and historical events are any indication (and they generally are), the trend for attacks aimed at healthcare facilities should be raising red flags, and strategies aimed at mitigating our blind spots becoming an immediate priority for all of us. The possibility of Mumbai, Baghdad, and Karachi type events being carried out against American hospitals needs to be seriously considered as we continually plan, test, and train our "all hazards" approaches to response. Attacks with automatic weapons and small explosives are increasingly more common around the globe; and even worse, attacks aimed directly at medical personnel are on the rise.
Reevaluate you HVA. Look at your response plans and capabilities for active shooter, explosives incidents, hostage situations, lockdown capability, and access control. Reconsider that a "terrorism" event may not be limited to CBRN (remember the "E"). We have drilled and drilled for chem/bio attacks, but we need to consider the reality of low tech chaos being brought to our door, and not just preparing to receive the victims.
What are the next steps? Stay tuned.
You are also invited to engage in this topic by following DJ at LinkedIn, on Twitter, and also by joining the discussion at the Hospital / Clinical Emergency Management group on LinkedIn.
Stay safe - dp
In case you are not already following the website regularly (and you should), I found this great opportunity which is coming up soon!
The Joint Commission News Releases
February 11, 2010
JCR to Host April 8-9 Emergency Preparedness Conference
Learn from the experts who develop and survey the standards
Stay safe - DJ
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Grants will fund an interoperable communications network, safety audits and staff training.
