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Training for Multi-Agency Response Efforts

Jennifer Smither August 10, 2011
Even successful responses can highlight areas in which improvement is needed in the training of responders, which is one reason – a big one – why the sharing of lessons learned is so important. Enhanced training that includes lessons from real-world situations and events can help responders familiarize themselves with

Public Health Monitoring Systems: Two ‘Good Stories’

Jennifer Smither May 4, 2011
New Jersey calls on Hippocrates to help top officials cope with a major mass-casualty incident with significant international implications; the initial result was a burning success. In Tarrant County, Texas, NACCHO and school nurses put the emphasis on children in fighting the flu and both detecting and controlling the outbreak

Bio-Preparedness: From the Top Down

Jennifer Smither November 3, 2010
A smart leader recruits the most capable assistants he/she can find – and uses them wisely. But some topics in today’s dangerous world are of such transcendent importance – bio-preparedness, for example – that decisions cannot be relegated to subordinates. And neither can the drills, training sessions, and tabletop exercises

Technology and Equipment: Training Needed on Both

Jennifer Smither October 26, 2010
Baltimore knows, and so do the great states of Oregon and Pennsylvania, that the first requirement in preparedness training is having the right type of equipment – in the quantities needed to meet all possible contingencies. The “other” first requirement is to ensure that all users of that equipment are

Lessons Learned From an ‘Almost’ Evacuation

Jennifer Smither June 23, 2010
In December 2014, an unknown patient zero visited Disneyland in California. Whether that person knew that he or she was carrying a highly contagious infectious disease is not as important as the speed in which the disease spread and the reason behind it. There is a correlation between the resurgence

Preparing for Unexpected Hospital Surges

Jennifer Smither May 26, 2010
Some of the best “solutions” create other problems, as Canada found out during the 2003 SARS outbreak. Once again, the best way to avoid such secondary problems is through advance planning, plus training and exercises, with all stakeholders involved every step of the way.

Pandemic Preparedness: Advance Planning Is Mandatory

Jennifer Smither April 21, 2010
Healthcare workers, first responders, and emergency managers in Louisiana and Missouri used the H1N1 global pandemic to demonstrate how an imminent disaster – combined with information sharing, the early promulgation of preparedness plans, and a modicum of managerial expertise – can provide valuable lessons learned to cope with future disasters

Responding to CBRNE Attacks: A Quick Primer

Jennifer Smither March 17, 2010
The dangers posed by IEDs, chemical and biological weapons & devices, and other WMDs has grown exponentially in recent years – to the point that many analysts now use the term “when, not if” in answering questions about the possibility of additional terrorist attacks against the United States. The time

Advance Planning: The Key to Preparedness for Special Events

Jennifer Smither January 27, 2010
Goal: Ensure that all goes well before, during, and after a major public event. How to do so: Prepare an all-contingency plan, well in advance and involving all stakeholders involved, provide enough flexibility to cope with unexpected/unforeseeable “what if” contingencies, then practice, practice, practice.

Protecting Citizens by Predicting Future Threats

Jennifer Smither December 30, 2009
The threat is imminent, and can become a reality at almost any time. But no one knows about it except those who plan to carry out the threat. Chicago’s new District Intelligence Bulletin System (DIBS) is helping to even the odds by the extremely rapid dissemination, to law-enforcement agencies throughout

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Article Out Loud – Realizing the Power of Community in Disaster Recovery

August 21, 2024
  Full article by Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, August 21, 2024. In this feature article, a behavioral and social scientist understands that no two communities are the same. Each community has unique vulnerabilities, capacities, and needs, and each has its own leaders, areas of cooperation,

Article Out Loud – Return on Investments in Public Engagement

August 14, 2024
  Full article by June Isaacson Kailes, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, August 14, 2024. In this feature article, a disability policy consultant reminds community leaders that public engagement and participation involve community members in problem-solving, decision-making, and policy development. Result-centered engagement can help protect people with disabilities

Article Out Loud – A Homeland Vulnerability Continues

August 7, 2024
  Full article by Robert C. Hutchinson, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, August 7, 2024. In this feature article, a former police chief and deputy special agent in charge with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations in Miami, Florida, revisits the U visa process. The

Article Out Loud – What Level of Ugly Are Communities Prepared For?

July 31, 2024
  Full article by Joseph J. Leonard Jr., an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, July 31, 2024. In this feature article, a retired U.S. Coast Guard commander reflects on the July 2024 attempted assassination of Former President Donald Trump. That incident raises questions about event security, the roles that

Article Out Loud – Volunteers: Incident Management Assets or Liabilities?

July 31, 2024
  Full article by David Wells, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, July 31, 2024. In this feature article, the director of disaster relief for a faith-based nonprofit describes how his organization has refined its volunteer program over the past 57 years of disaster response in the U.S. and

Article Out Loud – Mitigating Disasters Through Collective Resilience

July 24, 2024
  Full article by Andy Altizer and Barrett Cappetto, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, July 24, 2024. In this feature article, an emergency preparedness coordinator and a pipeline controller emphasize the importance of leveraging existing social bonds to help communities better adapt to, respond to, and collectively cope
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Domestic Preparedness

2883 Highway 71 E
P.O. Box 285
Del Valle, TX 78617-9998

Editorial Statement

Founded in 1998, Domestic Preparedness continues to be a pioneering thought leader in the emergency preparedness, response, and recovery space. The multidisciplinary editorial focus helps professionals acquire critical information to develop collaborative, real-world solutions. With relevant, multidisciplinary, whole-community intelligence from the front lines, practitioners can learn from diverse perspectives. The authoritative, practitioner-centered, multimedia information platform disseminates intelligence the way busy management-level public- and private-sector professionals want to learn. This is the trusted source for content written by practitioners, for practitioners, with relevant, real-world best practices.

DomesticPreparedness.com, the Domestic Preparedness Journal and the Weekly Brief include facts, views, opinions, and recommendations of individuals and organizations deemed of interest. The Texas Division of Emergency Management and the Texas A&M University System do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of, or otherwise endorse, these views, facts, opinions or recommendations.
©2024 Texas Division of Emergency Management

Domestic Preparedness

2883 Highway 71E

P.O. Box 285

Del Valle, TX 78617-9998

Editorial Statement

Founded in 1998, Domestic Preparedness continues to be a pioneering thought leader in the emergency preparedness, response, and recovery space. The multidisciplinary editorial focus helps professionals acquire critical information to develop collaborative, real-world solutions. With relevant, multidisciplinary, whole-community intelligence from the front lines, practitioners can learn from diverse perspectives. The authoritative, practitioner-centered, multimedia information platform disseminates intelligence the way busy management-level public- and private-sector professionals want to learn. This is the trusted source for content written by practitioners, for practitioners, with relevant, real-world best practices.

DomesticPreparedness.com, the Domestic Preparedness Journal and the Weekly Brief include facts, views, opinions, and recommendations of individuals and organizations deemed of interest. The Texas Division of Emergency Management and the Texas A&M University System do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of, or otherwise endorse, these views, facts, opinions or recommendations.
©2024 Texas Division of Emergency Management
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