Domestic PreparednessDomestic Preparedness
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Standards

Standards Organizations: A Helpful Road Map for Emergency Responders Where are standards these days? And who (or what agency) decides on them, determines their content, announces and implements them, and - if necessary and permitted by law - enforces them? read

Proven Reliability: Always the Most Essential Consideration EMS Buyer Beware! Price is always an important factor in the purchase of high-tech systems and devices, but the first and absolutely most important factor must be performance. In other words, it either works as advertised, or it does not. read

Public Health

CDC's Career Epidemiology Field Officer Program The innovative CEFO Program represents a new national resource that is already being used by 21 states to strengthen their own epidemiological preparedness capabilities, with other states sure to follow in the near future. read

The Gap Analysis Tool: Building Blocks for Preparedness Best-case estimates provide a shaky foundation for all-hazards disaster plans; worst-case estimates may cost more in the short term, therefore, but are a better working tool for post-incident response and recovery efforts. read

Case Study

Bournemouth Report: The Conference Where Nothing Happened Working in close cooperation with the private sector - Thermo Fisher Scientific, to be more specific - the U.K.'s Dorset Police Department scored what Americans would call a "no hitter" at last year's Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth. read

Grants

Cooperative Agreement for Improving the Legal Preparedness of the Public Health System The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announces the availability of fiscal year (FY) 2008 funds for a cooperative agreement for the strategic purpose of improving the legal preparedness of the public health system nationally. read

Round 3 of the FY 2008 AFG (Assistance to Firefighters Grant) Awards Round 3 of the AFG grant awards are now available for fire departments throughout the nation. read

Industry Update

ILC Dover Receives NIOSH Approval on Quick-Loc Waist Belt for Sentinel XL HP The enhanced belt features a low-friction thermoplastic elastomer that allows the user to smoothly and easily adjust the belt size. In addition, the smooth belt surface can be readily wiped clean with a number of standard disinfectants. read

RAZOR EX Portable Pathogen Detection System from Idaho Technology Inc. The RAZOR EX system is designed for detection and identification of biological agents. Created for first responders and front line military troops, it is easily operated while working in protective equipment under extreme conditions. read

Sceptor Industries Expands Senior Management Team Richard Thomas joins Sceptor Industries as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President. He will be responsible for the management, growth, and integration of global business operations for the company. read

Fire HAZMAT

NIMS Training Plans: An Effort Without End If eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, its twin, eternal preparation, is the price of readiness. And of prevention. And recovery, restoration, and resilience. Relaxation, though, is not even in the vocabulary. read

Detection Equipment - An Ever Higher Technology Ceiling New state-of-the-art detection instruments of all types are now being deployed to determine the presence of and specifically identify a broad spectrum of chemical, biological, and radiological threats threatening the United States and American citizens. read

Reports

Home Health Care During an Influenza Pandemic: Issues and Resources This report serves as a discussion piece for home health care agencies & others to consider in which every sector of the U.S. health care system must be prepared for the challenge of increased demand for services in the face potentially scarce resources. read

GAO: Defense Space Activities - The Department of Defense (DOD) Needs to Further Clarify the Operationally Responsive Space Concept and Plan to Integrate and Support Future Satellites This report discusses the extent to which DOD is developing ORS (Operationally Responsive Space) to support warfighter requirements and, with it, the department's plan to integrate ORS into existing DOD and intelligence community processes. read

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Offers Guidance on Emergency Responder Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Response to CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiation, Nuclear) Terrorism Incidents This document provides local, state, and federal emergency response agencies with comparison information on the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) protection levels A, B, and C for personal protective equipment. read

Health Systems

The Design of the Future U.S. Hospital System U.S. healthcare officials, working in close cooperation with long-range planners & political decision makers, are already pondering what the nation's future hospital infrastructure should look like. Here are some ideas to consider. read

Mass-Fatality Management Planning - A Hospital Perspective Most U.S. hospitals & other healthcare facilities focus their efforts on saving lives & helping those who are seriously injured. The handling of the dead, sometimes a large number at the same time, is a different but almost equally important skill. read

Emergency Management

Interim Housing Following Disasters: The FEMA Temporary Housing Program The once-maligned Federal Emergency Management Agency displays determination as well as imagination in its innovative plans to provide temporary housing for those suddenly homeless in future times of disaster. read

Backups for Emergency Satellite Communications In today's fast-moving world comprehensive, rapid, & continuing communications are the key to business success - and, in times of conflict, success on the battlefield as well. But what happens if communications systems are destroyed or made inoperable? read

Resilience Tips

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) Answers: How Long Will it Take? FEMA and the Iowa Homeland Security & Emergency Management Division offer helpful guidelines, based on past examples and on current information developed after a disaster, on how long some post-incident steps are likely to take. read

California Wildfires: Protecting Your Health The American Red Cross provides information on how to better protect residents, emergency responders, and relief workers during and after a wildfire has taken place. read

State Homeland News

Maryland and Kentucky Maryland Governor O'Malley takes executive action to remedy state's long-standing communications problems. Kentucky Air National Guard provides neighborly help to earthquake "victims" in a West Coast state that looks suspiciously like California. read

Nevada and Washington, DC Dual-use potential of Nevada One cited by that state's emergency responders in setting up new triage center. "Suspicious Activities Initiative" promises better and faster intelligence information, but civil-liberties groups have some major concerns. read

Government Update

FEMA Announces 'QuakeSmart' Project for Post-Earthquake Business Purposes QuakeSmart is designed to encourage business leaders and owners in areas of the United States that are at risk from earthquakes to take actions that will mitigate damage to their businesses and provide greater safety for customers and employees. read

Joint Statement of Robert Hooks, Eric Myers, and Dr. Jeffrey Stiefel of the Office of Health Affairs Before the House Committee on Homeland Security on the Topic: One Year Later - Implementing the Biosurveillance Requirements of the 9/11 Act "Our goal is to generate timely and comprehensive information about a biological event and put it into the hands of decision makers responsible for the continuity of society and government." read

EMS

Sorting It All Out: Triage, CERT, and EMS Community Emergency Response Team members are often the only medical "reserve" available to a community hit by a mass-casualty incident. But, like the medical professionals they are helping, they face some difficult questions impossible to answer. read

Plan Nationally, Respond Locally Flexibility, common sense, and operational efficiency are the hallmarks of the new National Response Framework, which builds on the solid but sometimes too rigid foundation of its predecessor doctrine, the National Response Plan. read

Viewpoint

Debris Recycling - Transforming Disasters Into Opportunities After the storm comes the rainbow. Supposedly. After a disaster comes the debris - and the problem of what to do with it. Surprisingly, perhaps, there are some profitable solutions that should be considered. read

The Creation of a Home Guard for Domestic Preparedness At a time when defense of the U.S. homeland is a major concern, the National Guard is playing a much-increased role in U.S. operations overseas. The best way to fill the capabilities gap is to establish a non-deployable Home Guard under the Department. read

Law Enforcement

The All-Seeing Eye of Video Surveillance Private-sector security forces have been growing both in numbers and in capability since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Far too often, though, their working tools - detection & surveillance systems, primarily - are in urgent need of updating & modernization. read

GIS & GPS: Making 'Police Presence' More Precise The global positioning system & the geospatial information system - a technological marriage that has profound implications for law enforcement, national defense, & homeland security. But there are some potential pitfalls that also should be recognized. read

Coast Guard

Rescue 21 Update: Advanced Comm Capabilities for the New Century The upgrading of Coast's Guard communications capabilities is an achievement of life-and-death importance for those in distress at sea. The Rescue 21 system is now "operationally ready," says USCG Commandant Admiral Thad Allen. read

COTPs Updating Port Plans to Combat Maritime Terrorism U.S. ports and harbors are among the most vulnerable as well as most important targets for would-be terrorists. Protection of the U.S. maritime system is therefore now the primary mission of the Coast Guard's already overtaxed Captains of the Port. read

University Updates

University of Saskatchewan-Led Team Designs New Vent-Design Lab Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) have opened a new engineering lab to design a ventilation system that could protect schools, hospitals, and other public buildings from chemical-warfare and bioterrorist attacks. read

University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Demonstrates Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology at Manufacturing Engineering Workshop RFID is an automatic identification technology that stores and remotely retrieves data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. read

Federal Emergency Management Agency's Citizen Corps Forms Partnership with American Association of Community Colleges A newly formed affiliation between FEMA's Citizen Corps and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) will help to promote and improve community emergency preparedness, disaster-response training for the public, and volunteer service. read

Editor In Chief

Containing the Threat: Eleven Million Challenges CBP falls short in its efforts to start implementing the "100-percent screening" mandate issued by Congress. The issues involved are numerous, costly, and extremely complicated. Nonetheless, failure is not an option. read

Three to Get Ready The could-have/should-have (but did not) scenarios of the past serve as abundant reminders that the cost of national preparedness is only a fraction of the much higher cost that must always be paid for not being prepared. read