Need To Learn A Lesson From Al Gore’s Disaster Preparedness PR Image
I read an article in the New Jersey Jewish Standard. It talks abut he 6th anniversary of the Anthrax disaster and how New Jersey is now unveiling a mobile disaster response unit that can respond to all kinds of critical incident situations including hurricanes that often affect New Jersey as the hurricane winds come in off the Atlantic shore.
Since I live only 90 minutes form the southern portion of NJ it is nice to know that such a resource is available. Three sentences in that article that struck me profoundly in the article. This morning I want to share m thoughts on them and how they relate to hurricane preparedness.
“It’s [mobile disaster response unit] useful because it not only provides an advanced method of helping victims, it reminds all of us of the importance of preparedness.”
“Not only will the development of this ‘trauma theater’ benefit New Jerseyans, but the Defense Department plans to replicate it in urban and suburban areas all across the country."
“Menendez said that the unit ‘will undoubtedly change the nature of emergency medical response; it will change the response our emergency personnel are able to provide in the moments after an event; and it will change the lives of those in need of immediate and comprehensive medical attention’."
These three sentences speak volumes to me in considering disaster preparedness in general and in hurricane preparedness in particular. I want to discuss each sentence in more depth.
“Not only will the development of this ‘trauma theater’ benefit New Jerseyans, but the Defense Department plans to replicate it in urban and suburban areas all across the country."
When we have high quality, state–of-the-art, and cutting edge developments in any field, they can become and often do become the model and new benchmark for ways things are looked upon and emulated. Those of us who are serious about emergency preparedness need to demonstrate the highest quality often low-tech but cutting edge developments in disaster preparedness so that others will also want to model our ways of doing things.
When we as “critical incident preparers” can demonstrate the usefulness in a well throughout, mature, calm, professional manner an approach to hurricane preparedness, many in our communities will then want to emulate what we are doing. It is when we present ourselves as upfront professionals in personal and community emergency preparedness and disaster response that can offer sound, not radical, non-anxious emergency preparedness tips that can result in low cost emergency survival kits, then we have a much higher probability of raising the consciousness and behaviors to individuals throughout our community and perhaps throughout the world.
It is when we can show high comfort and survival benefits that are not scary but are commonly used items that the ordinary person can relate to, that the local individuals will more likely begin to develop personalized disaster preparedness actions. It is then that you will see general members of our communities checking out the dollar store, home improvement center, grocery store or local box store like Wal-Mart for there supplies. Those are the places they always shop and will feel comfortable getting emergency supplies. Remember when the call went out to buy plastic sheeting and duct tape? Why do you think there was such a run on plastic and duct tape? It was because those were things that ordinary citizens could relate to, were easy to obtain in a safe situation and were within price-point budget range for most individuals and families.
For many in the general population, the image of those who are highly disaster prepared is not appealing. Many think of disaster supplies as eating baked beans out of a small ragged half charred can in the dead of winter with snow falling on their heads! Many think of disaster preparations supplies as a half a step up from eating tree bark for toast and pine cones instead of meatballs.
Frankly critical incident preparers in most areas have a very poor public relations image. Many think of critical incident preparers as some form of radical gun-slinging suspicious Daniel Boon character in the mountains somewhere. How can someone living in an apartment in the middle of Chicago relate to that image?
This emergency preparedness issue is compounded by the heightened anxiety that surrounds the whole issue of a very scary real issue called disasters. High percentage of people want to be like Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind who was known to say ‘I’ll think abut it another day” (paraphrase). We don’t mind watching blood and gore horror movies because of the fictional nature of the movie. It is much different to consider that at some point your home may be blown away. No one wants to think abut that!
The first step in general community hurricane preparedness is to work quickly and efficiently on disaster preparation image in the public arena. When we can generate comfortable urgency and even make it a ‘trendy’ thing to do, we will then have a much better opportunity to get more people to educated and prepared.
Al Gore is such a welcome leader in the Global Warming issues because he projects a ‘comfortable urgency’ and a down to earth practical and friendly approach to a very difficult subject. Look at the opening of the movie Inconvenient Truth as an example and you will see how an extremely scary topic was introduced and made acceptable and even comfortable for the ordinary world citizen to consider and respond to. The world’s most scary topic of global destruction is often viewed on our own home TV as an inexpensive DVD!
We as critical incident preparers need to learn some major lessons from Al Gore and the Inconvenient Truth movie. I seriously doubt if the same scary information had been presented in a high anxiety - Chicken Little presentation that the reaction and response would have been the same.
“It’s useful because it not only provides an advanced method of helping victims, it reminds all of us of the importance of preparedness.”
We get so caught up in so many activities and issues in life that often we forget the ‘importance of preparedness’. Many in society think critical incident preparers are a bunch of radicals who see disasters under our beds at night and that we usually have tin-foil hats as a ordinary part of our dress code so no one can read our minds. That is so far from the truth, that the stereotype is more of science fiction than that of the reality of individuals who wish to prepare for disasters.
History shows that disasters have a continuous patter and cycle in occurrence. It may not always be a fire but it may be a hurricane or an earthquake. It may be a plane crash or some other form of natural or human made disaster. No matter what form of disaster it should be we as individuals and as society need to be prepared. My general premise is “if you can fully prepare for a hurricane then you most likely will be prepared for almost any sort of emergency that may come your way”. I say that because in a hurricane disaster that sort of disaster is intense in the short term event of 3 days or less while being long-term in the course of recovery.
Many other traumatalogical events that are stressful to society also have this sort of short initial phase as well as a long-term phase pattern. Additionally , a hurricane will also result in secondary critical incident occurrences such as flooding, tornados, severe accidents in the recovery phase from people using tools etc that they are not well experienced at using, electrical fires from down power lines etc. All of these situations are similar to those found at other disaster situations. If we are prepared for a hurricane then we will be better prepared for all sorts of disasters that can come our way.
“Menendez said that the unit ‘will undoubtedly change the nature of emergency medical response; it will change the response our emergency personnel are able to provide in the moments after an event; and it will change the lives of those in need of immediate and comprehensive medical attention’."
When there is a highly concentrated focus of knowledge, resources and training, in most cases there is a significant change that occurs in the manner in which a particular action behaves or occurs. If we can place enough concentrated focused on the knowledge, resources and training for individuals and families / households then we will have the greatest chance of changing the current nature of how individuals response to hurricanes and other disaster situations. By focusing on cyclonic storms / hurricanes that are one of the most frequent disaster events that affect most parts of the world, we have the possibility of changing the way people globally think, react to and prepare for disaster situations of all kinds and particularly that of hurricanes, one of the most deadly annual disaster events collectively in our world.
Today we read about the 6th anniversary of the Anthrax occurrence which was terrifying and tragic. Yet people generally can to get their minds around the issue of anthrax that can potentially affect their lives directly and profoundly both as a health emergency as well as a structural situation since anthrax does not destroy property only lives and families. By focusing on cyclonic storms such as hurricanes there is a greater audience to teach about disaster preparedness as well as a greater segment of the population that can be protected from a natural disaster.
COMMENTS WELCOMED!
Please share your thoughts, emergency preparedness tips and stories here on this blog.
‘A grimmer anniversary’
By Rebecca Kaplan Boroson
New Jersey Jewish Standard
http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3318/1/%91A-grimmer-anniversary%92
As the area begins to mark the 100th anniversary of a Holocaust hero’s birth, another, grimmer anniversary is upon us. Six years ago this week, the deadly anthrax bacillus was found in the mailroom of a Florida office building. Then anthrax spores were discovered in the mail along the Eastern seaboard. Illness and deaths followed, setting off a nationwide scare — and creating a mystery that has yet to be solved, according to Leonard Cole, author of "The Anthrax Letters" (National Academy of Science/ Joseph Henry Press). This is an eerily appropriate time for Hackensack University Medical Center to unveil an emergency mobile trauma unit for use in responding to bioterror attacks and other mass casualty incidents.
The unit and its support vehicles were introduced at a press conference at the hospital on Tuesday attended by Rep. Steve Rothman and Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, who helped secure $3.2 million for the unit in their respective houses of Congress. (Rothman left a Ridgewood ceremony honoring Varian Fry to attend the press conference. See related story, page 18.)
Cole, the author as well of the recent "Terror: How Israel Has Coped and What America Can Learn" (Indiana University Press), lauded the acquisition. Interviewed by phone from his Ridgewood home on Tuesday, he noted that "the federal government has apportioned billions of dollars since 9/11 on a variety of projects to strengthen preparedness and response capabilities to terrorism and to disasters. This [unit] is an example of one of the most useful applications of that money. It’s useful because it not only provides an advanced method of helping victims, it reminds all of us of the importance of preparedness.
"The passage of time since 9/11 and the anthrax attacks has created some complacency. But we all must recognize that the threat of terrorism remains serious and deserves continuing attention."
At the HUMC press conference, Rothman called "the delivery of these vehicles … a milestone development for a project that will save lives and minimize harm." He called attention to the unit’s "compact design, which enables movement through tightly packed areas." This "is especially important," he said, "because in the event that we can’t get victims to a hospital for care, we will bring a hospital to the victims…. Not only will the development of this ‘trauma theater’ benefit New Jerseyans, but the Defense Department plans to replicate it in urban and suburban areas all across the country."
Menendez said that the unit "will undoubtedly change the nature of emergency medical response; it will change the response our emergency personnel are able to provide in the moments after an event; and it will change the lives of those in need of immediate and comprehensive medical attention."
Robert L. Torre, executive vice president of the HUMC Foundation, thanked the congressmen and senators "for helping Hackensack University Medical Center bring the ‘next generation in medical preparedness’ to northern New Jersey and the entire tri-state area."
Dr. Joseph Feldman, chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at HUMC, said that the medical center continues to work with the Department of Defense in developing and establishing HUMC’s Regional Biodefense Response Program. The introduction of the first emergency mobile trauma unit and its support vehicles is the first phase of a three-part program.
The second phase is developing and constructing a mobile operating theater that interlocks and attaches to the ETU. This will allow life-saving surgical procedures to be performed while the victim is still at the scene.
The third phase focuses on additional supportive vehicles for decontamination, pharmacy, and equipment as well as the development of a disaster institute to support a regional training center. In addition to hospital staff, training would be provided for civilian police, fire, and EMS services.
All I ask is that everyone be respectful and sensitive of each other and that identifying information about a person who is not the author be limited to protect their privacy.
Be Safe
Terrie
www.trainforahurricane.com
‘A grimmer anniversary’
By Rebecca Kaplan Boroson
New Jersey Jewish Standard
http://www.jstandard.com/articles/3318/1/%91A-grimmer-anniversary%92
As the area begins to mark the 100th anniversary of a Holocaust hero’s birth, another, grimmer anniversary is upon us. Six years ago this week, the deadly anthrax bacillus was found in the mailroom of a Florida office building. Then anthrax spores were discovered in the mail along the Eastern seaboard. Illness and deaths followed, setting off a nationwide scare — and creating a mystery that has yet to be solved, according to Leonard Cole, author of "The Anthrax Letters" (National Academy of Science/ Joseph Henry Press). This is an eerily appropriate time for Hackensack University Medical Center to unveil an emergency mobile trauma unit for use in responding to bioterror attacks and other mass casualty incidents.
The unit and its support vehicles were introduced at a press conference at the hospital on Tuesday attended by Rep. Steve Rothman and Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, who helped secure $3.2 million for the unit in their respective houses of Congress. (Rothman left a Ridgewood ceremony honoring Varian Fry to attend the press conference. See related story, page 18.)
Cole, the author as well of the recent "Terror: How Israel Has Coped and What America Can Learn" (Indiana University Press), lauded the acquisition. Interviewed by phone from his Ridgewood home on Tuesday, he noted that "the federal government has apportioned billions of dollars since 9/11 on a variety of projects to strengthen preparedness and response capabilities to terrorism and to disasters. This [unit] is an example of one of the most useful applications of that money. It’s useful because it not only provides an advanced method of helping victims, it reminds all of us of the importance of preparedness.
"The passage of time since 9/11 and the anthrax attacks has created some complacency. But we all must recognize that the threat of terrorism remains serious and deserves continuing attention."
At the HUMC press conference, Rothman called "the delivery of these vehicles … a milestone development for a project that will save lives and minimize harm." He called attention to the unit’s "compact design, which enables movement through tightly packed areas." This "is especially important," he said, "because in the event that we can’t get victims to a hospital for care, we will bring a hospital to the victims…. Not only will the development of this ‘trauma theater’ benefit New Jerseyans, but the Defense Department plans to replicate it in urban and suburban areas all across the country."
Menendez said that the unit "will undoubtedly change the nature of emergency medical response; it will change the response our emergency personnel are able to provide in the moments after an event; and it will change the lives of those in need of immediate and comprehensive medical attention."
Robert L. Torre, executive vice president of the HUMC Foundation, thanked the congressmen and senators "for helping Hackensack University Medical Center bring the ‘next generation in medical preparedness’ to northern New Jersey and the entire tri-state area."
Dr. Joseph Feldman, chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at HUMC, said that the medical center continues to work with the Department of Defense in developing and establishing HUMC’s Regional Biodefense Response Program. The introduction of the first emergency mobile trauma unit and its support vehicles is the first phase of a three-part program.
The second phase is developing and constructing a mobile operating theater that interlocks and attaches to the ETU. This will allow life-saving surgical procedures to be performed while the victim is still at the scene.
The third phase focuses on additional supportive vehicles for decontamination, pharmacy, and equipment as well as the development of a disaster institute to support a regional training center. In addition to hospital staff, training would be provided for civilian police, fire, and EMS services.
