Emergency Preparedness Blog

Emergency Management is full of acronyms and unfamiliar terms for the average person. However, in an emergency it's helpful to know the some of the basics, especially for those working in healthcare. This article provides some of the fundamental points of emergency preparedness, management, and recovery. 

The political tension around tariffs and the potential impact on goods and supplies is hard to avoid right now. As emergency managers we are tasked with pulling away from the "charged" situations to remember our core mission areas: prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery.

Hospitals are sanctuaries for health, safety, and comfort. I keep those words on a sticky note next to my computer as a reminder of the true purpose and intent of these sacred institutions.

Recently, our team at HAPevolve attended the 2025 Association of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness Professionals (AHEPP) Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. Our team offered resources for education and solutions for training/exercising and showcased our Portable Response Emergency Plan (PREP) platform.

Lately, I’ve been fascinated and slightly fixated on a rare natural event you probably haven’t heard about. The Greek Islands and the Island of Santorini, roughly 150 miles south of Athens, has seen over 20,000 earthquakes and tremors since January 26. That seems unbelievable. It strikes me as astonishing and bizarre. Just the thought of planning and preparing for 20,000 earthquakes seems ridiculous.

If you have been following the news and the data trends that we are seeing in Pennsylvania, influenza A is surging in ways that we have not seen during the last seven years. Five weeks ago, we saw the numbers go down temporarily, but since then they have marched forward with increases in a growing, stepwise pattern.

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to revolutionize various sectors, with recent developments highlighting both its transformative potential and the emerging challenges it presents. In this space, disruption happens quickly, so we all must pay attention.

A big part of emergency preparedness is getting ready for incidents that you hope you never see.

The tragic vehicle attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day is a stark reminder that our communities and our facilities are vulnerable to similar incidents—whether they’re intentional or unintentional. 
 

We are turning the page on another busy year in health care emergency management and preparing for all that lies ahead in the New Year.

As we close out 2024, let’s take some time to look back and understand what has occurred in the world of health care emergency management. Here are some notable events and trends in from the state and national level:

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.