VOLUNTEERISM ARCHIVES
Mortuary Services & The Lessons Learned From Real-Life Tragedy
Jennifer Smither
November 11, 2009
First responders do their utmost to save the lives of those seriously injured in mass-casualty incidents. Medical examiners and local volunteers have what is sometimes a more difficult job: identifying the bodies, “processing” the remains, and notifying the victims’ families.
Ham Radio – An Emergency Tool for Public Health
Barry Kanne
November 4, 2009
Many citizens served their communities heroically in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and some of their stories are well known – but most of them remain untold. One of the still relatively unknown heroes is a legally blind New Orleans jazz musician, who also happens to be an amateur radio
Communicating With the Public During a Pandemic Influenza
Amanda Rhyne and Sarah Weiss
October 28, 2009
The United States is home to probably the most ethnically diverse population in the world. That is a blessing in many ways – but it poses major difficulties for emergency-management officials and other leaders in times of crisis, when the responsibility of warning the public becomes a polyglot challenge.
HLS & EM: Blueprinting the Future
Dennis R. Schrader
October 21, 2009
Today’s homeland-security and emergency-management professionals are highly skilled and exceptionally well motivated. Their second most important goal, though – after keeping the nation safe – is to ensure that their second- and third-generation successors are even more competent and capable than the first-generation leaders now setting the pace.
Discovery Channel TV Series: The Colony – Week Ten
Adam Montella
September 23, 2009
The ambitious, entertaining, and stunningly innovative series ends with the volunteers’ “Exodus” – “Escape” would be an equally accurate description – to a new and seemingly better world 150 miles or so south, a bit further inland, and apparently blessed with a greater abundance of the resources needed for human
Discovery Channel TV Series: The Colony – Week Nine
Adam Montella
September 16, 2009
The Colonists fight, then reunite, but recognize that their chances of long-term survival diminish almost visibly with each passing week. They have done well – exceptionally well, under the circumstances – but know that a brighter tomorrow is many miles away. Can they make it?
California Focuses on Mass-Fatality Management Planning
Robert Gerber
September 9, 2009
Two fairly recent natural disasters have produced clarion calls for greater emphasis on planning, training, exercising, and funding for the management of mass-fatality incidents and events. The 24 December 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami – which resulted in over 250,000 dead – and the earlier Hurricane Katrina catastrophe along the U.S.
Discovery Channel TV Series: The Colony – Week Eight
Adam Montella
September 9, 2009
The survivors gain an additional member, and encounter not one but several additional problems. Tempers flare, supplies dwindle – but human genius provides a spark of mobile optimism. What are the lessons learned that future generations can use to develop and implement their own survival plans?
Discovery Channel TV Series: The Colony – Week Seven
Adam Montella
September 2, 2009
Another trip (always dangerous) to the L.A. River teaches the Colonists that the challenges they face are psychological and emotional as well as physical. They also know that they need a continuing supply of protein; fortunately, there is a lot of it scurrying about the warehouse.
Discovery Channel TV Series: The Colony – Week Six
Adam Montella
August 26, 2009
The ten volunteers continue their quest for survival – but are suddenly rocked by the unexpected, and unexplained, disappearance of one of their members. The “real” loss of this one person is in some ways emotionally more distressing than the cataclysmic loss of the entire nation in which they had
Qualifications, Credentials, and a Need for Speed
Glen Rudner
August 19, 2009
Progress in the development of a national credentialing system has ranged from slow to slower. Which is no longer good enough for government work, particularly in the new Age of Terrorism when the nation’s enemies strike suddenly, at random, and without remorse.
Discovery Channel TV Series: The Colony – Week Five
Adam Montella
August 19, 2009
The volunteers learn that hard work, good intentions, and ingenious solutions will not ensure their survival. What also is needed is elected or appointed leadership. And maybe a few common-sense laws applicable to all hands.
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