In Case of Emergency, Read This Blog

In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A Citizen’s Eye View of Public Preparedness

Entries from May 2010

Success Of New York City Nicotine Patch/Gum Giveaway Program Underscores Role Of Incentives To Change Social Behavior On Smoking (& Preparedness)

May 25th, 2010 · 3 Comments

New York City’s Nicotine Patch and Gum Giveaway Program enrolled more than 40,000 smokers in 2010, nearly one and a half times more than last year’s enrollment of 28,000 smokers (and the most successful giveaway since the program’s inception in 2003), the City’s Health Department reported today.
As was discussed in the previous post, incentives can be [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Incentives

Virginia’s Top Preparedness Advisor Says 3rd Annual Tax Free Supplies Holiday Starting Today Has Been ‘Win-Win-Win’ Success For Govt./Business/Public — Question Is What’s Keeping Other States, Feds From Trying Similar Incentives?

May 24th, 2010 · 2 Comments

With Virginia’s third-annual tax-free preparedness supplies holiday week starting today, the Governor’s top preparedness adviser told me in an interview that the idea has been a win-win-win’ success increasing focus on disaster readiness among the public, business and the media. ”The holiday gets people’s attention, says Terrie Suit, assistant to Governor Bob McDonnell for Commonwealth Preparedness, “before [...]

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Tags: Hurricane Preparedness · Preparedness Incentives · State Preparedness

Israel Begins Annual Nationwide Civil Defense Drill; “Turning Point 4″ Offers Guidance For U.S. Preparedness Citizen Training, Engagement

May 24th, 2010 · 1 Comment

Israel yesterday began its 4th annual Turning Point national civil defense drill Sunday. The five-day exercise, developed in response to a concern about the nation’s preparedness, involves the Israeli public of all ages. Though the U.S. does not face the daily threats of Israel, the Turning Point exercise offers useful guidance for this country’s public [...]

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Tags: International · Preparedness Events

National Media’s Lack Of Coverage Of Tennessee Floods: Good Or Bad News For Tennesseans?

May 24th, 2010 · 1 Comment

The latest issue of the Natural Hazards Center’s informative newsletter, Disaster Research, has an interesting article about the national media’s lack of coverage of the Tennessee flooding. The piece, “15 Minutes Lost: Disaster Media Disses Tennessee Flooding,” provocatively asks whether that oversight was necessarily all bad for the locals:
While disaster news coverage is often characterized [...]

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Tags: Flooding · Media

Be Nice To Your Employees Or Don’t Have A Heart Problem At Work: Red Cross Survey Finds Only 58% Of Workers Would Give CPR To Their Boss

May 23rd, 2010 · No Comments

A new Red Cross survey suggests that bosses better be nice to their employees or else not have a heart problem in the workplace. The poll indicated that only 58% of Americans would give CPR to their boss. The organization’s annual summer safety poll of more than 1,000 adults also found:
that Americans say they are most [...]

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Tags: Public Opinion · Red Cross

Covering A Lot Of Homeland Security Territory With “60 Homeland Security Blogs”

May 22nd, 2010 · 2 Comments

In a post on Friday, Christopher Bellavita from the Homeland Security Watch blog noted how the topic of “homeland security” covers a lot of territory and crosses a number of issue stove-pipes. He’s absolutely right: keeping on top of the relatively new subject of homeland security requires a familiarity with many different disciplines (and blogs) [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Resources

One Small Positive Of My Recent Hospitalization: An Opportunity To Contribute To Radiological Preparedness Through Radiation Experiment

May 21st, 2010 · 1 Comment

Related to a previous discussion about improving public information and preparedness for the nuclear threat, I thought I’d mention that I unexpectedly will be making a small contribution to medical research in this area as part of my recent hospitalization. Before starting my treatment for leukemia, I volunteered to be part of a medical study, “Radiation [...]

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Tags: Nuclear Terrorism

Center For Biosecurity’s “Resilient American Communities” Report Offers Ideas For Improving Local Public Preparedness

May 21st, 2010 · No Comments

In December of  2009, the Center for Biosecurity of UPMC held a conference in Washington, D.C., “Resilient American Communities: Progress In Practice And In Policy”. The aim was “to apply state-of-the-art knowledge of resilience to the design of federal policies that will strengthen local communities and their environments to withstand disasters, epidemics, and terrorism.”
Co-sponsors included [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Events · Preparedness Ideas

As Government Trains Parking Attendants, ‘Meter Maids’ & Doormen On Terrorism, What (If Any) Training/Information Should Other Citizens Get?

May 20th, 2010 · 2 Comments

An Associated Press article, “Parking attendants trained to watch for terrorists,” I saw last week (thanks to the informative National Terror Alert Twitter feed) highlighted a new federal homeland security program that:
aims to train thousands of parking industry employees nationwide to watch for and report anything suspicious — abandoned cars, for example, or people hanging around garages, [...]

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Tags: See Something/Terrorism Tips

New Report Says Most Americans Approve Of Govt. Flu Pandemic Handling, But Many Say They (& Their Kids) Might Not Get H1N1 Vaccine In Future

May 19th, 2010 · 1 Comment

A new report released today says that a majority of Americans have a positive impression of the U.S. government’s response to the H1N1 pandemic, but many citizens would not get a vaccine in the future either because they may believe that the illness does not pose a serious health threat or over concern about its [...]

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Tags: Pandemic Flu · Preparedness Reports · Public Opinion