Pediatric Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness: A ... - PHE Home

information, health and safety education, and counseling. One aspect of long-term recovery
involves assessing the infrastructure, how it held up during the incident, what the cost of the
response was, and how that cost can be recovered. Recovery efforts in economic support include
paying out insurance/loans and grants to cover damage, providing disaster unemployment
insurance, and performing economic impact studies. Information resources and services related
to recovery include data collection related to rebuilding, claims processing, and documentation
of lessons learned.
During long-term recovery, participants also review and critique the response, evaluating how
the overall plan worked in a real event, determining what needs to be done to update the plan and
educate responders, and making changes necessary to improve the original response plan and
prevent a recurrence.
Regional Response
State and Federal
Communication and information sharing are key parts of successful incident management—both
before and during an actual event. Although each area of the country handles emergency
responses in somewhat different ways, all emergency response agencies use some form of an
incident management system. Almost all use the NIMS with unified command.
Regional physicians should review community emergency response plans, as well as the
collaborative efforts between responders and planners designated by pertinent emergency
response agencies. Local physicians should become familiar with the following:
• The response agencies in their area.
• Regional medical, operational, and administration protocols.
• The various levels of training and the roles of all the different responders in a mass
casualty incident, and how these change with the changing situation. For example, some
responders may move victims only after they have been triaged by other more highly
trained responders. In a different scenario, those same responders may actually move
victims before triage because of unstable conditions (e.g., structural collapse, hazardous
materials release). The dynamics of the incident dictate whether triage or transport is
done first.
• Whether the firefighters or police officers in their community are certified emergency
medical technicians (EMTs) or paramedics.
• The person who is in charge of an incident when there is a multi-agency response.
• Where to go for information and to offer assistance during an actual emergency.
• The regional and State emergency planning interface. Each state has its own unique
emergency planning office and incident management system that ties in with the overall
National Response Plan (see Figure 3.1).
Emergency Medical Services
The availability and capabilities of emergency medical services (EMS) in the United States have
undergone explosive growth over the last 40 years. The Comprehensive Emergency Medical
Services Systems Act of 1973 established the regional basis for coordination of emergency
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