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Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness

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Submitted By cbrockway66
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Overview With a plethora of mass casualty events that could occur at any given time, it is imperative for public support agencies to be as ready as possible to effectively respond. This includes first responders—firefighters, paramedics, and police—as well as structural entities such as city, state, and Federal governments. To bring the efforts of these first responders and government entities together, health care organizations will ultimately bear the heaviest burden as sick and injured citizens arrive at their doors. This paper will explore disaster preparedness from a health care organization’s perspective, looking at the extensive preparation required to adequately deal with an event of serious magnitude.
The Importance of Planning Ahead In today’s highly complex world, with the threat of terrorist attacks and natural disasters impacting virtually every major population center, there are myriad scenarios that must be considered and planned for in advance of an actual event. To not do so would render communities woefully unprepared and thus potentially increase the number of casualties through ineffective treatment or no treatment at all. Disasters, both man-made and natural, are characterized through four stages: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery (National Governors' Association, 1979). While prevention would be the desired mode for disasters, mitigation is sometimes the best case scenario. Since mitigation can only dampen the impact of disasters, preparedness is the key stage, because it ultimately determines the following stages of response and recovery. Within the context of a health care organization, detailed preparations, both on paper and in resources, are vital to a hospital’s ability to cope with an onslaught of casualties. This anticipated burden of responsibility should drive organizational leadership to dedicate

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