Tropical Storm Emily
Friday, August 5th, 2011FEMA is asking residents of Florida and the East Coast to be aware of the progress of Tropical Storm Emily. See the FEMA update: http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=57048.
Archive for the ‘Announcements’ Category
Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011Thanks to FEMA for the heads-up about this conference, being held tomorrow, June 15–check out the conference site here: http://www.meta-leadershipsummit.org/. Here’s the description from FEMA’s news update:
Empowering Business, Government and Nonprofit Leaders to Act Together in Times of Crisis
Leadership during large-scale disasters like terrorist attacks, natural disasters and pandemic flu is the focus of the Long Island Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness on June 15, where more than 200 leaders will gather to better prepare and respond to public health and safety emergencies. Offered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the CDC Foundation, the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative – Harvard School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Meta-Leadership Summit for Preparedness fosters greater cross-sector collaboration among business, government and nonprofit leaders during emergencies. The Long Island Meta-Leadership Summit is the 36th and final in the series of highly-evaluated Summits that have been held to engage leaders across the country. More than 4,700 leaders have attended a Summit to date, and over 2,500 have joined the Meta-Leadership Online Community. Visit the online community to watch a sampling of video soundbites from Summit participants in their own words: Tampa Bay; Nebraska; San Diego County; Greater Los Angeles and Greater Houston.
Devastation in Joplin
Monday, May 23rd, 2011We are all heartsick to hear about the catastrophic tornado damage that occurred in Joplin, MO last night, as well as in other areas of the Midwest. See the New York Times story about Joplin here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/us/24tornado.html?_r=1&hp. It gives better information than some other sources, particularly about St. John’s Regional Hospital in Joplin, which sustained a direct hit, and mentions near the end of the story that nurses who had been on the sixth floor when the tornado warning was announced, immediately began the appropriate response procedures. Sources say that the tornado was “rain wrapped,” which made it difficult or impossible to see.
New Promotional Brochure Available
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011We’ve just updated our promotional brochure, “NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit.” See it at http://nnlm.gov/webreports/ep/uploads/2009/06/NNLM-EPR-Toolkit-May-2011.pdf, or click on the “About the NN/LM Plan” tab on the top menu, then click on “Promotional Brochures.” The new brochure contains more detail about what’s in the Toolkit and how you can use it. Let us know what you think!
Disaster Information Outreach Symposium Re-cap
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011Over two hundred people gathered last week in Bethesda, MD on the campus of the National Library of Medicine and at the Marriott Bethesda North hotel for two days of immersion in information service needs and provision in times of emergency or disaster. “Disaster Information Outreach: A Symposium for Information Professionals Meeting Disaster Health Information Needs,” was held on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 29-30, and provided by the Disaster Information Management Research Center (DIMRC), Specialized Information Services, National Library of Medicine.
Stacey Arneson, Cindy Love and others at DIMRC did an outstanding job of gathering well-qualified speakers from an array of backgrounds and experiences, all of whom presented valuable insights and lessons learned, and answered questions from the large crowd at each session. Equally helpful were the great networking opportunities provided during breaks and at the evening session for catching up with colleagues, meeting new acquaintances in the world of emergency planning, and visiting with representatives from emergency management organizations from the area. One of the groups was Girl Scout Troup 5127 of Potomac, MD, who shared with us their accomplishment of having been awarded the ”Emergency Preparedness Patch”–and their motto for this activity: “Don’t be scared; be prepared.” Many thanks to everyone at DIMRC and NLM who contributed to the planning and execution of the symposium for these wonderful two days. If you weren’t able to attend or to listen to the webcast “live,” check the symposium site at http://disaster.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/symposium2011.html in the next few days to see the archived version.
DIMRC Symposium Webcasts
Thursday, February 17th, 2011We hope to see many of our readers at the Disaster Information Outreach Symposium in Bethesda on March 29 and 30, but if you can’t get there in person, there’s good news! Both days will be videocast via the web, see details here:
“Please see http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?live=9836 for day 1 and http://videocast.nih.gov/summary.asp?live=9837 for day 2. Prior to the event, you may wish to visit the Web site and click “Player Software” near the top of the page to download the software necessary to view the program. A recording will be archived for later viewing following the symposium.” (Thanks to Regina King whose email message provided this quote!)
To see what’s on the agenda and speaker bios, check the conference web site at http://disaster.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/symposium2011.html.
New TTE Page
Thursday, January 20th, 2011What is a TTE, you ask? TTE is the acronym for a key piece of emergency management and planning, the Table-Top Exercise. Over the past three years, we’ve used various TTEs in our training with NN/LM members and other groups, and they are always motivating and effective. They place people in roles in an emergency scenario and generate some very interesting and productive insights. Check our new “Table-Top Exercises” page (or see the top menu) for more information about TTEs and for two exercises we’ve written to help get you started.
