September is National Preparedness Month
Preparedness is in ORAU's DNA
September is National Preparedness Month, an observance to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that could happen at any time. Disaster and pandemic preparedness have been among ORAU’s capabilities for decades. In this episode of Further Together, a team of preparedness experts gather to discuss preparedness in the pre-9/11 era, post-9/11 work, pandemic preparedness and so much more.
How Hurricane Katrina changed America's disaster preparedness response infrastructure
ORAU's team of experts look to the past to help map out the future of preparedness. They discuss Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in Southeast Louisiana on August 29, 2005. The powerful Category 3 storm left 1,800 people dead, caused $100 billion in damage, and demonstrated that America was ill prepared to respond to a disaster of such magnitude. A lot has changed in the last 16 years. Our experts explain the changes, and how ORAU has remained involved in preparedness work.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Preparedness Month takes place over the month of September each year, and “serves as a dedicated time to empower individuals, families, businesses, and communities with the knowledge and resources they need to effectively respond to and recover from emergencies.” The overall goal is to “minimize the impact of disasters and improve overall resilience.”
With this in mind, ORAU’s Emergency Preparedness & Response Team understands the increasing demand on our nation’s healthcare and public health systems to prepare for, respond to, and recover from pandemics, natural disasters, terrorism, and other unforeseen, disruptive events. The team has more than three decades of real-world operational experience supporting national and global preparedness programs and responses, including the Ebola outbreak in the U.S. and West Africa as well as the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. The team provides the following proven capabilities to establish whole-community preparedness:
- Effective partner engagement – We successfully engage members of diverse communities to solve important public health and healthcare preparedness issues.
- Healthcare systems readiness – We offer exceptional public health and healthcare program management and technical assistance.
- Radiological and nuclear readiness – We provide tools, training, and other resources that assist to prepare for, protect from, respond to, and recover from radiological and nuclear emergencies.
- Technology-based solutions for readiness – We lead readiness management, technical support, software solutions, and online collaboration platforms for:
- The HHS Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response’s Strategic National Stockpile and CHEMPACK sites, which are stockpiles of medical countermeasures and nerve agent antidotes and supplies that can be accessed quickly in an emergency.
- Emergency Manager 360, an integrated, online, secure software suite accessible at all levels within an organization, designed to assist in resiliency, preparedness, continuity and rapid recovery of services during disasters and other potential disruptions.
- Exercise Builder Nuclear™, an online platform and app used by emergency preparedness managers in the nuclear power industry to manage the many drills and exercises required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to prepare plants to meet any type of threat.
- Exercise Builder Energy™, modeled after ORAU’s highly successful Emergency Management Nuclear™ for use by the U.S. energy sector.
- Veterans Health Administration Performance Improvement Management System (VHA PIMS), a web-based system that provides a consistent and efficient approach to plan, develop, evaluate, and improve emergency management activities throughout the VHA and enables multi-level participation and collaboration.
ORAU’s Public Health and Healthcare multi-disciplinary team of experts stands ready to improve our nation’s readiness for any type of emergency.
