[Ares-races] Changing Priorities in Disaster Response: Lessons Learned From Previous Disasters

[Rick Hampton]

Those of you in the Boston area may be interested in attending this
event.  For those of you outside the Boston area, you should be able to
view a video archive of this meeting at a later date by visiting the
CIMIT website at: www.cimit.org.

Rick Hampton, WD8KEL

-----Original Message-----
From:         Nathif, Anan A.
Sent: Friday, November 28, 2003 1:17 PM
Subject:      CIMIT Forum Agenda: December 2, 2003

Please Join Us At Massachusetts General Hospital For The Next CIMIT
Forum!

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2003
4:00pm - 6:00 PM

Wellman 1 Conference Room
50 Blossom Street, Boston

4:00 Pm Changing Priorities in Disaster Response: Lessons Learned From
Previous Disasters
Susan M. Briggs, MD, MPH, FACS, Massachusetts General Hospital

Disasters follow no rules. No one can predict the complexity, time or
location of the next disaster. Traditionally, disaster responders have
held the erroneous belief that all disasters are different, especially
those involving terrorism. Thus, one of the most significant problems in
mass casualty management has been the failure to recognize that all
disaster preparedness and response can be based on an understanding of
the common features and response expertise required of both natural and
man-made disasters (including terrorism). This strategy, called the Mass
Casualty Incident (MCI) response, has the primary objective of reducing
the mortality and morbidity caused by the disaster. Since the creation
of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), an integral part of the
Federal Disaster Plan, significant lessons have been learned which have
enabled the NDMS system to better respond to the changing priorities of
disaster response. Critical to meeting contemporary disaster needs has
been an understanding of the "Myths" of disaster response. This talk
will focus on critical areas where "myth" not "fact" has guided disaster
planning and response.

Susan Briggs is an assistant professor of surgery at Harvard Medical
School and an attending general and trauma surgeon at Massachusetts
General Hospital. Dr. Briggs also serves as supervising medical officer
of the specialty teams of the National Disaster Medical Systems (NDMS),
including the teams for international medical surgical response, and she
directs the Harvard Medical International Trauma and Disaster Institute.

5:00 PM Biodefense: Challenges of Developing a Radically New Paradigm in
Disaster Medicine- Care Of Mass Casualty Biowarfare Incidents
Michael Callahan, MD, Infectious Disease Unit, Massachusetts General
Hospital

Michael V. Callahan, MD, is the program leader of the CIMIT Biodefense
Team. A National Disaster Command Physician, he is boarded in internal
medicine, tropical medicine, and infectious diseases and has extensive
international disaster experience, including the Bhuj-Ghujarat
earthquake, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the September 11th World
Trade Center terrorist attacks. Dr. Callahan has been involved in
developing disaster response plans for mass casualty biological weapons
incidents since 1997. At CIMIT his team is designing biological weapon
detection technologies appropriate to protect military and civilian
populations. He has clinical experience treating anthrax and plague and
has modeled biological weapons technologies in six countries of concern
to the United States Government.