Category: preparedness

Get a Flu Shot to Protect Your Heart and Your Health

Doctor holding a heart

“When you have a chronic illness, you do everything you can to stay as healthy as you can, which includes getting a flu shot,” says Donnette Smith, president of the heart disease support network, Mended Hearts. Donnette leads Mended Hearts with a mission to inspire hope and improve the quality of life of heart patients, Read More >

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The Power of Us

Evacuteer checking someone in during 2017 full-scale city assisted evacuation exercise.

“I am a Katrina survivor.” These were the first words out of Joan Ellen’s mouth when I spoke with her. And she was one of the lucky ones. She made it out of New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005. But not everyone was so fortunate. One of Joan Ellen’s neighbors Read More >

Posted on by Kali Rapp Roy, Executive Director, Evacuteer.orgLeave a commentTags , , , , , , , , , ,

Preparedness and Response in Action: Stories from the States

CDC’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) cooperative agreement is a critical source of funding, guidance, and technical assistance for state, local, tribal, and territorial public health departments to strengthen their public health preparedness capabilities.  Since 9/11, the PHEP program has saved lives by building and maintaining a nationwide public health emergency management system that enables Read More >

Posted on by Kelcie Landon, MPH2 CommentsTags , , , , , , , ,

Preparing for the Worst-case Scenario

"ROTTERDAM, HOLLAND - SEPTEMBER 5, 2010: Demonstration of handling of car crash victim by medics at the annual World Harbor Days in Rotterdam, Holland on September 5"

Setting the Stage Imagine this: Explosions across New York City target elementary schools. Hundreds of severely injured and traumatized children, teachers, and parents flood hospital emergency departments in the five boroughs. Municipal emergency medical services (EMS) are rushing to respond. Fortunately this scenario wasn’t really happening – it was part of an exercise conducted on Read More >

Posted on by Celia Quinn, MD, MPH, CDC Career Epidemiology Field Officer assigned to NYC Department of Health and Mental HygieneLeave a commentTags , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Empowering Kids to Make Their Families Safer

American-Red-Cross-volunteer-with-pillowcase-in-Alaska_BLUR

After graduating from college I moved to Anchorage, Alaska for a year of post-graduate service through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps NW and AmeriCorps. I served as the Preparedness and Casework Specialist for the American Red Cross of Alaska. Though often overlooked, Alaska is the largest state in the country (more than twice as big as Read More >

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Beat the Heat at DragonCon

Drago Con

DragonCon is a convention that combines science fiction and fantasy, with gaming, comics, and entertainment for the largest multi-genre event in the world. In 2016, an estimated 77,000 people from around the world attended this annual event that is held every Labor Day weekend in downtown Atlanta. “This is a bad idea,” she said. “No, Read More >

Posted on by Tanisha Kelley and Latoya Simmons1 CommentTags , , , , , , ,