Emergency Preparedness Blog

Another year is just about in the books, and it has been another memorable year for weather. The year has left an indelible mark in terms of severe weather across the United States. From catastrophic hurricanes to widespread wildfires and record-breaking heatwaves, this year underscored the growing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events.

As emergency managers, some may think that we are pessimistic about what could be coming down the pike. Perhaps a better way to think about it is our reliance on a forward-leaning posture to be ready to meet the emergency when it occurs.

Preparing for severe winter weather is exactly like preparing for a hurricane. Well, kind of.  A recent article in Becker’s Hospital Review highlighted how some facilities prepared for, managed, and successfully navigated Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

But even if you do not live in a region affected by hurricanes, I’m here to tell you that you should pay attention to the emergency response from these incidents.

Sometimes the role of an emergency manager can encompass making sure the boxes are checked from a regulatory standpoint—and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. At times, those tasks we are required to mark off the checklist help us to accomplish our broader goal to ensure we are as protected and prepared as possible.

Hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA) is one of those big-ticket items. HVA guides our emergency exercise development and planning and leads us to complete our after-action reports (AAR).

A few years back, I wrote a blog discussing the uncertainty and instability within the supply chain. With today’s current events and the impact of Hurricane Helene, the supply chain is again a top priority.

Emergency management is always evolving, especially when it comes to preparedness, response, and recovery for a complex health care landscape like Pennsylvania’s.

As we worked through the COVID-19 pandemic, most facilities were short on needed supplies to combat the growing threat. As a result, universally, different standards of care were enacted to combat the problem. However, when supply shortages affect only a portion of health care facilities, we don’t routinely see those sweeping changes to standards of care that assist with our daily operations.

Water can hydrate, nourish, clean, and soothe us. When boiled, it can cook our food. As ice, it cools our drinks. It’s essential to sanitize, sterilize, and disinfect. It can erode a shoreline, or it can be used to power an electrical grid. But, too much or not enough water can lead to headaches in health care.

As emergency managers and policymakers, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment where the intersection of technology and public safety offers unprecedented opportunities to enhance our disaster response capabilities.

The news from Butler County, Pennsylvania this past weekend was shocking and scary. Many of the residents interviewed after the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump mentioned they could not believe that something like that could happen in their community, an otherwise quiet, rural area that regularly stays out of the national spotlight. 

As we hit the middle of summer, exercises and enhancing our emergency plans are among our top priorities—perhaps only second to vacations and coverage for our teammates who are on vacation.

The 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season officially began on June 1. We typically see peak hurricane season from mid-August to mid-October with the peak date of September 10.