Jeffrey S. Upperman, MD, director of the Trauma Program and Pediatric Disaster Resource and Training Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, is guest editor of the December issue of Clinical Pediatric Emergency Medicine. This issue focuses on Disaster Readiness for Children and covers a range of topics including:

• Current status of training and education for pediatric preparedness in response to chemical, biological, radiologic, nuclear and explosive disasters• Meeting children’s mental health needs following a disaster• Identifying children and reuniting them with their families following a disaster

“Children have unique needs before, during and after a disaster because they differ from adults in their physiology and emotional development,” says Upperman, who is also associate professor of pediatric surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. “In order to be prepared for the specialized care they require, we need to be developing additional infrastructure at the local and national levels.”

Earlier this year, Upperman was selected to serve on the newly established National Advisory Committee on Children and Disasters. This group was organized to provide expert advice and consultation to the Secretary of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services on comprehensive planning and policy development to address the unique needs of children around the time of a disaster or other public health emergency. Upperman is also a member of the American College of Surgeons Disaster and Mass Casualty Management committee and a member of the American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Committee.

Site of the Pediatric Disaster Resource and Training Center, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is the only freestanding pediatric trauma center in Los Angeles County designated by the American College of Surgeons as a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center.

LINK: http://www.clinpedemergencymed.com