In Case of Emergency, Read This Blog

In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A Citizen’s Eye View of Public Preparedness

Entries from November 2009

‘The Top 10 Public Health-Related Books’, According To County & City Health Officials Assoc. And They Want To Hear Your Favorites

November 18th, 2009 · 1 Comment

Taking a little time away from their work dealing with the H1N1 flu among other issues for a bit of fun, the staff of the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO) has assembled their Top 10 list of favorite public health books. As the group explains on their website:
In an effort to develop [...]

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Tags: Uncategorized

New Book Offers State/Local Homeland Security Models, Asks ‘Would You Pay To Prepare Yourself & Your Family?’ (Almost One-Third Of Israelis Said ‘Yes’)

November 18th, 2009 · No Comments

I was just sent an interesting new book, Safeguarding Homeland Security: Governors And Mayors Speak Out (Springer), edited by Simon Hakim and Erwin A. Blackstone. The book is comprised of individual chapters written, as the title indicates, primarily by state and local officials about their own experiences with some aspect of homeland security.
Several of the [...]

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Tags: Books · International

‘Random Hackers’ Put Aside Rivalries To Help On Disaster Relief; Fugate Offers “FEMA Prize” For Best Family Disaster Communications ‘Hack’ & Will Fly Winning Team To D.C. To Present To State Emergency Directors

November 17th, 2009 · Comments Off

As I had mentioned last week, the first-ever Random Hacks of Kindness took place this weekend in Mountain View, California. The event — which came out of discussions at the inaugural Crisis Camp held in May of 2009 in Washington, D.C. — was aimed at identifying key challenges and developing technological solutions to ‘real world’ problems [...]

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Tags: Preparedness 2.0 · Preparedness Events

New Ready LA Website Aims To Prepare Angelinos For Diverse Threats By Making “Unfriendly Subject More Friendly;” City’s Social Media Effort Tries To “Fish Where The Fish Are”

November 16th, 2009 · 1 Comment

I recently had the opportunity to speak with James Featherstone, the General Manager of Los Angeles’ Emergency Management Department, about the City’s citizen outreach efforts, particularly the relaunch of the Department’s website Ready LA.
When it comes to public preparedness, Featherstone has a bad news/good news situation. On the negative side, the Department must prepare and respond [...]

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Tags: City Preparedness · Preparedness 2.0

Michael Chertoff/Fmr. DHS Secretary: We All Should Think Through Our Response To An Emergency In Advance (’What Should We Tell The Public?’ Video Series)

November 15th, 2009 · No Comments

Michael Chertoff makes a second appearance in the “What Should We Tell The Public?” video series. The first was last year when Chertoff was U.S. Homeland Security Secretary; now he heads the Chertoff Group. In this video, Chertoff urges that all Americans think through their plans in the event of a personal or community emergency [...]

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Tags: "What Should We Tell The Public?"

One Of The (Few) Perks Of Leukemia…I Just Got My H1N1 Vaccination

November 14th, 2009 · No Comments

There are few positives about contracting Leukemia, but I got one perk  – a H1N1 vaccine. Because of my illness,  I am a member of the ‘underlying condition’ priority group, and therefore just received the vaccination shot.
Around the nation, authorities are now distributing the limited supplies to priority groups. Here in New York, the low [...]

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Tags: City Preparedness · Pandemic Flu · Preparedness 2.0

Citizen “Flu Fighters” Being Recruited By City; Volunteers Requested To Help Staff H1N1 Vaccination Centers & Promote Vaccine Info Among Friends, Kids’ Schools, Community

November 13th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Yesterday, as I was searching the website of New York City Department of Health to find a vaccination center location near me to get a H1N1 vaccine I came upon a new citizen volunteer initiative just launched by the City, “Flu Fighters,” as part of its NYC Service program.
According to the “Flu Fighters”/NYC Service web [...]

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Tags: City Preparedness · Volunteer Opportunities

“Random Hacks Of Kindness” Starts Today; “Give Camp” Brings Together Tech Competitors (Incl. Microsoft, Google, Yahoo) With Disaster Experts To Help On Crisis Preparedness/Response

November 12th, 2009 · No Comments

As part of the inaugural “Random Hacks Of Kindness: Disaster Relief Codejam” (RHoK), a group of more than 150 leading crisis and technology experts are coming together for the next several days to work on identifying key challenges and developing solutions to ‘real world’ problems related to emergency management and response here in the U.S. [...]

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Tags: Preparedness 2.0

“The Cavalry is Assembling”: Social Media’s Response To Hurricane Ida (& Beyond)

November 11th, 2009 · No Comments

Jeannette Sutton has a terrific post on her Disaster Sociologist blog, “The Cavalry is Assembling: Two Social Media Responses to Hurricane Ida.” She describes how two different online initiatives — the Hurricane Information Center and Emicus.com — began mobilizing to respond to what was initially predicted to be a major storm.
In the end, Ida ended [...]

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Tags: Hurricane Preparedness · Preparedness 2.0 · Preparedness Models

On Veterans Day: Thank You, Fifth Avenue Parade, Special DHS Website, Red Cross’ “Holiday Mail For Heroes”

November 11th, 2009 · No Comments

To all veterans, thank you. I had the great opportunity to attend today’s Veterans Day parade on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.

MARCHERS AT TODAY’S VETERANS DAY PARADE ON FIFTH AVENUE IN NEW YORK CITY
A relatively big (though not nearly big enough) and emotional crowd lined the parade route shouting “thank you” to the marching veterans, young and old. [...]

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Tags: Department of Homeland Security · Red Cross