Newswise — The headlines over the past few weeks have had an ominous tone: "UK Manhunt Under Way," "Vehicle aflame after driving into Glasgow airport," "Country on highest alert after carnage averted." As the United Kingdom reels from a terror scare, Americans might be wondering if our government is ready for a similar situation.
"The most important thing for local, state and national government to do is keep the lines of communication open," says Michael Thomas, MPH, associate director of the Heartland Centers at Saint Louis University School of Public Health. "While it's difficult to say whether or not we could avert a terrorist act, we must be prepared to react " and react effectively " at all times."
Thomas is leading the local production of the "National Incident Management System (NIMS): An Introduction to Public Health" CD-ROM education program, which lays out a clear response plan to natural disasters, bioterrorism and other emergencies for all jurisdictions, from city and state health departments including human services departments to the FBI and Homeland Security.
"After 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, we realized there was an utter lack of a developed unified command system " having all the first responders working in a collaborative manner and taking the correct actions," Thomas says. "What we needed was to speak the same language and understand the chain of command." The program is aimed at all of the Heartland Centers' public health partners " the City of St. Louis, the state, first responders and key decision-makers.
The purpose of the NIMS program is to introduce the public health workforce tomajor components of the National Incident Management System. In addition, the program emphasizes the role of public health within the unified command system structure in relation to all hazard response and recovery events.
Creating a comprehensive needs shelter designed for Katrina evacuees is an example of a multi-agency unified command structure involving public health.
"In the U.S., most public health policy is controlled by the states and localgovernments, and each jurisdiction has its own way of doing things," Thomas says. "But during a large-scale emergency that may require multiple agencies to communicate and respond, each agency has to be on the same page."
The Heartland Centers offer hundreds of online courses via its Learning Management System, ranging from food safety to public health/hospital preparedness to infectious disease. The NIMS educational program is part of a series of crisis leadership educational programs offered by the Heartland Centers.
Several thousand people have taken the courses over the last two years, says Thomas.
"We can never be too prepared," he says.
The Heartland Centers' main functions are to train public health officials and first responders in dealing with an emergency; to assess the effectiveness of existing preparedness programs for such individuals; and to help local and state government in dealing with major events, be they natural disasters, terrorist attacks or sporting events.
Saint Louis University School of Public Health is one of only 37 fully accredited schools of public health in the United States and the nation's only School of Public Health sponsored by a Jesuit university. It offers master's degrees and doctoral programs in six public health disciplines and a number of joint degrees involving business, law, medicine, nursing and social work. It is home to 12 nationally recognized research centers and draws students from across the United States and from 21 foreign countries.
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