Today's Top Picks
Use Caution: Retirees & the Direct Clinical Setting
To help with the increasing surge of COVID-19 patients, there have been a number of calls to re-enlist retired physicians and nurses in the healthcare setting. These calls from those within the government and the clinical setting are understandable on the surface. However, some elements are not being fully considered and could actually have harmful effects if not implemented effectively.
Resilience When Help May Not Be on the Way
Disasters like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina physically devastated the regions in which they occurred,
affected people who were not directly impacted, and spurred nationwide action to assist in the response
and recovery activities. As significant as those events were, though, they could not prepare the nation
for the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike most disasters in recent history, every community is feeling the
impact and there is no end in sight. Daily routines have been universally interrupted, and everyone is
now living in the hot zone.
PPE Shortages & Funding Gaps for Pandemics
SARS, H1N1, Ebola, Zika, and now the COVID-19 pandemic blindsided U.S. public health officials and the world at large. Although this is a newsworthy headline, it is not entirely accurate. Hyperbole may sell newspapers, but has ignored the great progress that has been made in national public health emergency preparedness. This narrative downplays the lessons learned, many which resulted in improvements in preparedness. Preparedness for well understood threats and expert knowledge of how to respond to those threats – from a scientific, medical, and logistics perspective – is already established. Addressing the many lurking yet unknown threats is more challenging.
From Hysteria to Complacency, Then Back Again
With recent urgent stories about the coronavirus, it seemed to be just a matter of time for the nation to revert to hysteria. Instead of a calm, resolute culture of preparedness, there has been a “PowerGlide” of public sentiment. In the 1960s, many Chevrolet automobiles had a PowerGlide transmission with just two gears: low gear and high gear. Similarly, in the past eight years, society has had two collective mental gears: complacency and hysteria.
Police as Medical Responders in Active Threat Events
April 20, 1999, was a bellwether day in American law enforcement history. An act of mass murder occurred at Columbine High School in Colorado that left 13 people dead and 21 injured, and the old model of responding to active threat events was changed forever. The active pursuit of the killer would no longer be a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) problem to solve – it would be a first-arriving officer’s problem. Fast forward 18 years and the mass killing event at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shows how far the nation has come and needs to go to prevent more deaths.
Trending
Emergency Management has Evolved: Why the… While initially useful, the term “all hazards” no longer accurately describes the functions or mission of the emergency management discipline.…
Imagining the U.S. Without Power: A Dual-World EMP Exercise A dual-world tabletop exercise simulating an electromagnetic pulse event in Chicopee, Massachusetts, revealed startling discrepancies in outcomes between the city’s…
Elevating Healthcare Emergency Preparedness… Overlooked until disaster strikes, many emergency management departments struggle with personnel and budgetary constraints, yet the demand placed on these…
Keeping Humans in the Loop: The Future of Emergency… The emergence of powerful artificial intelligence tools generates excitement and apprehension, raising profound questions about the future of emergency response.…Trending
Elevating Healthcare Emergency Preparedness… Overlooked until disaster strikes, many emergency management departments struggle with personnel and budgetary constraints, yet the demand placed on these…Keeping Humans in the Loop: The Future of Emergency… The emergence of powerful artificial intelligence tools generates excitement and apprehension, raising profound questions about the future of emergency response.…Emergency Management has Evolved: Why the… While initially useful, the term “all hazards” no longer accurately describes the functions or mission of the emergency management discipline.…Imagining the U.S. Without Power: A Dual-World EMP Exercise A dual-world tabletop exercise simulating an electromagnetic pulse event in Chicopee, Massachusetts, revealed startling discrepancies in outcomes between the city’s…Domestic Preparedness Journal
Featured in this issue: Editor’s Note: Emergency Communications—Tough Lessons From the Maui Wildfires, by Catherine L. Feinman; Emergency Alerts: The Missing Link, by Rodrigo (Roddy) Moscoso; Hidden Barriers to Public Safety Interoperability, by Gabe Elias; AI Software in 911 Dispatch Centers: An Innovative Solution, by Tanya M. Scherr; A Systems Thinking Approach to Improving Emergency Communications, by William Chapman; Connectivity: The Foundation of Disaster Response and Preparedness, by Cory Davis; Know the Audience: Five Keys to Effective Communication, by Marc Hill; Bridging Communication Gaps: Lessons From Hurricane Helene, by Greg Hauser; A Regional Approach to Public Safety Communications Planning, by Charles (Charley) Bryson
Articles Out Loud
Article Out Loud – Bridging Communication Gaps: Lessons from Hurricane Helene
April 30, 2025
This is an article by Greg Hauser, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 30, 2025. Hurricanes in 2024
Article Out Loud – Connectivity: The Foundation of Disaster Response and Preparedness
April 30, 2025
This is an article by Rodrigo (Roddy) Moscoso, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 23, 2025. As satellite-to-cell
Triggered Collapse, Part 3: Lessons in Lawlessness