Planning for the health and safety of those attending mass gatherings is an enormous challenge for local officials. Mass gatherings are defined as those attracting more than 1,000 participants and include events like the Olympics, Super Bowl, religious services conducted by the Pope, state funerals, and presidential inaugurations. Public health concerns range from ensuring adequate drinking water, food safety, first aid, and toilet facilities to planning for the extremes of possible major accidents, dangerous weather and even terrorist threats.

 The National Library of Medicine (NLM) has compiled a Web page of links to information on the public health aspects of planning for all kinds of mass gatherings, http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro/massgatherings.html. These resources include a search of PubMed for medical journal article citations as well as documents from government and other sources. Topics include preparedness for large numbers of casualties and management of disease outbreaks. For more information on the Disaster Information Management Research Center at NLM, please visit http://disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/. [scb

The Radiation Event Medical Management System (REMM) http://remm.nlm.gov/ is available for download to mobile devices (Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Palm) with selected key files from the full online version. REMM is produced by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, Office of Planning and Emergency Operations, in cooperation with the National Library of Medicine, Division of Specialized Information Services, with subject matter experts from the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and many US and international consultants. For more see http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/nd08/nd08_sis_reprint_remm.html [NLM New files for the week of Dec 29, 2008]

WISER 4.2 is now available! You may download it from the WISER web site http://wiser.nlm.nih.gov/ , or access the on-line version, WebWISER. http://webwiser.nlm.nih.gov/ WISER is a system designed to assist first responders in hazardous material incidents. WISER provides a wide range of information on hazardous substances, including substance identification support, physical characteristics, human health information, and containment and suppression advice. [NLM-WISER-L]

DisasterAssistance.gov
http://www.disasterassistance.gov/
DisasterAssistance.gov is an easy to use website that consolidates disaster information in one place. Currently, 17 U.S. Government agencies, which sponsor more than 40 forms of disaster assistance, contribute to the website. You can apply for many forms of assistance with a single, online application. Your application information is shared only with those agencies that you identify and is protected by the highest levels of security. Ultimately, DisasterAssistance.gov will speed the application process and allow you to check the progress of your application online. [[DISASTR-OUTREACH-LIB ]

Ready or Not 2008
http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/bioterror-report-2008.pdf
Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) released the sixth annual Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism report, which finds that progress made to better protect the country from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and bioterrorism is now at risk, due to budget cuts and the economic crisis. In addition, the report concludes that major gaps remain in many critical areas of preparedness, including surge capacity, rapid disease detection, and food safety. [MRC National Listserv][scb]

Taken from the article After the Storm-Disaster Evacuees and Rural Communities http://www.naccho.org/topics/emergency/AHPIP/upload/Prep-Brief-Feature-November-2008.pdf

The online map based planning tool developed by WNYPHA and its partners, the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago and the Pennsylvania State University Center for Environmental Informatics (PSUCEI), is the central element of the APC’s set of tools. This online tool http://www.cei.psu.edu/evac [note: registration is required] is predicated on the assumption that when a disaster strikes an urban area, a significant number of residents will selfevacuate to surrounding rural communities.

Intended to give local officials a framework around which to focus their planning efforts, the online tool
enables users to select a city of interest and model how surrounding counties (within a 150 mile radius) might be impacted by the spontaneous evacuation of urban residents following one of three scenarios: a dirty bomb explosion, chemical incident, or influenza pandemic. Users may explore each county’s resources, such as number of hospital beds or hotel rooms, and display maps delineating the numbers of evacuees received by each of the surrounding counties and their resulting population changes. Detailed scenario descriptions give users a means by which to visualize each disaster precipitating the evacuation. The information contained in this tool gives planners the ability to anticipate how many evacuees their community might receive, how this influx compares to the county’s existing population, and what resources the region might leverage to respond to evacuee and resident needs. [scb]

“Health and Wellness Guide for the Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services”
The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), in partnership with the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). Oct 2008.
http://www.nvfc.org/files/documents/HealthWellness_guide.pdf
This Guide provides the rationale and suggestions for successfully implementing a health and wellness program in the volunteer fire and emergency services. It also addresses many common roadblocks. The chapters are divided to help volunteer departments develop a program from the ground up. [posted on the Medical Reserve Corps listserv] scb

AHRQ releases hospital surge capacity tool
September 15, 2008
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has released a Web-based tool to help hospitals and emergency planners estimate the resources needed to treat an influx of patients in a disaster. The Hospital Surge Model can estimate the number and flow of casualties needing medical attention for scenarios consistent with the Homeland Security Counsel’s National Planning Scenarios. http://hospitalsurgemodel.ahrq.gov/ [posted on the Medical Reserve Corps listserv http://www.medicalreservecorps.gov/ListservRulesRegulations ] scb

An emergency can be as wide-scale as an earthquake or flash flood or as local as a burst pipe in the book stacks. Do you know how to ensure the continuation of your primary services and access to your primary resources in the event of an emergency at your library? Learn and share strategies for creating a service continuity plan during this 90-minute online class.

Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Time: 2:30-4 pm MT, 3:30-5pm CT
Instructor: Dan Wilson, Coordinator, NN/LM Emergency Preparedness Project

To participate via Adobe Connect go to: https://webmeeting.nih.gov/contplan/

Log in as Guest with your first and last name. There will be instructions for having the system call your phone.

If you have a phone with an extension or another reason it can’t call you, you can also call in manually at the number below. You can call in starting 15 minutes prior to the start of the teleconference. 1-866-846-3997 Passcode: 579437

If you have questions please contact Claire Hamasu chamasu@RML4.utah.edu or 1-800-338-7657 (1-800-DEV-ROKS)! /ch

Hurricane Ike, South Central Region Medical Libraries, Hurricane Web Links, and a New Listserv.

As many of you are aware, the South Central RML is currently closed, and will remain closed until Thursday, September 18^th, due to affects of Hurricane Ike. In accordance with the NN/LM National Emergency Preparedness & Response plan, South Central’s buddy RML, the Middle Atlantic Region (MAR), is backing up the office by taking calls and redirecting DOCLINE, when necessary. A special thanks to MAR staff for temporarily taking on this important responsibility.

For information on emergency preparedness planning for libraries as well as some post-disaster updates, see the NN/LM Emergency Preparedness & Response Toolkit at http://nnlm.gov/ep/. I am pleased to report that the toolkit received a lot of traffic the day before Hurricane Ike struck the Gulf Coast, which shows that libraries are using the toolkit as a preparedness resource. To see additional updates (or provide a status report), check the SCR blog, Blogadillo, at http://nnlm.gov/scr/blog/

Also of note, the National Library of Medicine home page has added a news item on hurricane resources, “Online Resources for Hurricanes, Floods, and Disaster Preparedness and Recovery” at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/disaster_resources_online.html

Finally, a new listserv, DISASTR-OUTREACH-LIB, is now available as a discussion forum for librarians, information specialists and others interested in disaster information outreach to their communities and responding to information needs for all-hazards preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery. It is also the primary source for information announcing the activities of the National Library of Medicine’s Disaster Information Specialist Pilot Project. List members may post comments and resources of interest to those involved in disaster information outreach as well as relevant announcements of meetings, training, conferences, job openings, etc.

The listserv is provided by the National Library of Medicine’s Disaster Information Management Research Center. You can sign up for the list and view the archives at https://list.nih.gov/archives/disastr-outreach-lib.html

Please contact Cindy Love, lovec@mail.nlm.nih.gov, if you have any questions or comments about the listserv.

http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2008/drillelempr.htm
Hospitals can now identify the most important strengths and weaknesses in their disaster response plans using a new tool from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). [posted on PHPartners http://phpartners.org/ - New Links for the week of Aug 22, 2008 [scb]

The Changing Face of Preparedness: Building and Sustaining Public Health Capacity for Disaster Response
February 18- 20
San Diego, CA

Help advance the field of public health preparedness by presenting your innovations and experiences at the nation’s largest gathering of public health preparedness and emergency management professionals. Showcase best practice training models, tools, and resources that illustrate proven results in building and sustaining public health preparedness at the local, state, or national level. Abstracts will be accepted for posters, roundtable discussions, interactive sessions, and 2-hour to full day workshops. Abstracts may be submitted until Sunday, August 31, 11:59 P.M. EDT. For more information about the Summit, including complete abstract submission instructions, visit http://www.phprep.org [posted on the Medical Reserve Corps Listserv] scb

The Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau has launched a Clearinghouse dedicated to the collection, evaluation and dissemination of public safety and healthcare communications information. http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/clearinghouse/index.html This site contains valuable information for healthcare providers. Topics include:

• Best Practices
• Case Studies/ Lessons Learned
• Communications Plans
• Continuity Plans
• Emergency Plans
• FAQs
• Federal Resources/ Grant Information
• Guidelines
• Handbooks
• Interoperability Plans
• Reference Materials

[posted on the Medical Reserve Corps listserv] scb