In Case of Emergency, Read This Blog

In Case Of Emergency, Read Blog

A Citizen’s Eye View of Public Preparedness

In Red Cross Video, Jamie Lee Curtis Personalizes Her Emergency Kit — Top EM Folks Should Also Be Talking More About Their Own Family Preparedness Planning To Help Guide, Engage Public

August 2nd, 2010 · 3 Comments

I recently watched an American Red Cross video that actress Jamie Lee Curtis made last year called “What’s In My Kit”. (see below). In the two-minute spot, Curtis shows how she has personalized her emergency kit to “make it more user friendly”. It’s a pretty straight forward video, but I wanted to highlight it, because [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Ideas · Red Cross

Using The ‘Shared Responsibility’ Approach For Convincing Americans To Get The H1N1 Vaccine

November 2nd, 2009 · 1 Comment

In a post on his Atlantic.com blog, David Shenk makes the point that “vaccines have become something of a civic responsibility: they work best when everyone takes them.”
Media reports have continued to highlight the skepticism of many Americans about the H1N1 vaccine. More than half of Utah residents surveyed in a KSL-TV/Deseret News poll said they were planning [...]

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Tags: Pandemic Flu · School Preparedness

In Interview, Ex-Sec. Chertoff Recommends Condensing Color Alerts (“Because We’re Not Going To Get Below Yellow”); Suggests School Preparedness Course (Incl. First Aid, CPR, Mechanics, Firearms Training); Acknowledges He “Would Have Liked To Have Done More” On Citizen Preparedness; Says Successor Napolitano Is Doing “A Very Good Job” — New Book Out Tuesday

August 31st, 2009 · Comments Off

In an interview just before the release of his new book, former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff urges that the terror color codes should be condensed to three levels, calls for the development of a new preparedness course (including first aid, CPR, basic mechanics, and firearms training) for schools across the U.S., acknowledges “he would [...]

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Tags: Education · Preparedness Interviews

Walking (& Communicating) The Fine Line With The Public On H1N1

August 10th, 2009 · No Comments

In today’s Washington Post, there’s a good front page piece, “Northern Hemisphere Braces As Swine Flu Heads North”, which looks at the government’s efforts to plan and prepare for the possible return of the H1N1 flu in the Fall. In fact, H1n1 is on the agenda for President Obama’s meetings with the leaders of Canada and [...]

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Tags: Pandemic Flu

New Study Says U.S. Not Prepared To Respond To Children’s Needs During Disasters

June 20th, 2009 · No Comments

A new study released by the group Save The Children contends that only seven states are meeting crucial minimum standards to ensure that schools and child-care facilities are prepared to respond to the needs of children during a disaster.
The report, “The Disaster Decade: Lessons Unlearned for the United States.” reviewed four standards in all 50 states and [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Reports

Israel Completes Its Largest Civil Defense Exercise With Citizens Of All Ages Participating

June 9th, 2009 · No Comments

Just weeks after the release of a Department of Homeland Security report indicating that the U.S. could learn from Israel about citizen preparedness,  the Mideast nation last week undertook its largest civil defense drill ever,  a five-day exercise called “Turning Point 3″. 
As has been mentioned regularly on the blog, Israel offers a helpful model for the U.S. [...]

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Tags: International · Preparedness Ideas · Preparedness Lessons

In Interview, House Homeland Security Chairman Thompson Calls For New Commitment To Citizen Preparedness, Urges President Obama To Ask Public To Prepare

April 6th, 2009 · 2 Comments

I recently had the opportunity to interview Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, on the subject of citizen preparedness. Speaking in his Capitol Hill office, Thompson told me that he believes there needs to be more emphasis on public readiness and engagement in the U.S. 
He says he hopes President Obama will [...]

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Tags: Preparedness Ideas · Preparedness Interviews · President Obama

Doing A “Prep” School Appearance With My Daughter — 250th Blog Post

February 23rd, 2009 · 1 Comment

As has been discussed often on this blog, I believe that a key to creating a real culture of preparedness throughout the nation is getting the topic taught in schools. Not only would it prepare a generation for the future, but sometimes the best way to convince parents in the present is through their kids. Yet [...]

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Tags: CERT · Education

Meri-K Appy (Home Safety Council) — “What Should We Tell The Public?”/National Preparedness Month

September 17th, 2008 · 1 Comment

One non-profit organization which has been in the forefront of citizen preparedness is the Home Safety Council. Under the leadership of Meri-k Appy, the Council has developed a number of creative and user-friendly preparedness education programs. In this daily segment of “What Should We Tell The Public?” (for National Preparedness Month), Appy discusses the Council’s ‘Get [...]

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Tags: "What Should We Tell The Public?" · Education

In ‘”Blogger Roundtable” Interview, DHS Secretary Chertoff, FEMA Head Paulison Offer Next Administration Advice On Preparing U.S. Public For Catastrophic Emergencies

July 3rd, 2008 · 4 Comments

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a “Blogger Roundtable” on emergency preparedness with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff and Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) chief R. David Paulison held at DHS Headquarters in Washington, D.C. I joined Jonah Czerwinski of the Homeland Security Watch and Rich Cooper of Security Debrief as one of three questioners. The full transcript can be found here. 
It was a wide-ranging, [...]

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Tags: Department of Homeland Security · Media