WASHINGTON, D.C. — As an advocacy coalition interested in enhancing emergency response, COMCARE will be hosting its monthly membership meeting with family and community preparedness as the theme. The event will feature presentations by representatives from numerous national organizations with expertise in emergency preparedness and response. The goal is to identify best practice approaches to enhance national disaster preparedness; to determine the best ways individuals and families can prepare themselves and their local communities; to educate local communities as to the possible threats that they might face either in day-to-day life or in mass-scale events; and to discuss ways in which a prepared neighborhood can aid the work of emergency responders.
When an emergency event occurs, individuals and their families can often help prevent injuries and casualties, as well as physical and emotional trauma, through effective preparedness tactics. COMCARE and its member organizations understand that effective emergency response is often reliant upon actions taken well before an emergency event occurs. For this reason, COMCARE has joined with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the American Red Cross, various public and private sector organizations, and national, regional, and local coalitions to sponsor National Preparedness Month this September.
“Emergency preparedness — particularly citizen preparedness — is a major factor in the ultimate effectiveness of any response effort,” says Will Chapleau, EMT-P, RN, TNS, the manager of the ATLS Program at the American College of Surgeons. “When individuals organize their families and communities around a sound, responsible plan, it saves lives. Not just their own, but many others, because it allows our response operation to work far more efficiently than it would have otherwise.”
COMCARE will be using its website to disseminate information to its members as well as the public. The “Facts of Life” section, on the site’s homepage and National Preparedness page, includes numerous statistics related to family and community preparedness and gives visitors an overview of agencies they can contact to get more involved.
These organizations, many of whom are participating in National Preparedness Month for the third straight year, together make up the National Preparedness Month Coalition. They have joined together for the express purpose of increasing awareness of the importance of emergency preparedness in the event of a natural disaster like a hurricane or flood or a man-made event like a terrorist attack. The initiative is intended to reach individuals from all walks of life, helping to promote preparedness at home, at school, and at work. It aims to encourage individuals across the country to take a more active approach towards ensuring their own safety.
According to research conducted by Citizen Corps, a volunteer council created after September 11, 2001 and coordinated by the Department of Homeland Security, local bystanders are the first available responders in 95% of all emergency situations. Yet the majority of Americans lack even the most basic training, and most have not created a disaster plan to aid themselves and their families in the event of a day-to-day or mass-scale crisis. Fewer still have coordinated with their neighborhoods and communities at large to make preparations for children, the elderly, and special needs individuals. The National Preparedness Month Coalition hopes to encourage individuals and families to make their own emergency kit, plan their own emergency evacuation strategy, and make arrangements with neighbors to accommodate local individuals who may need special assistance in the event of a crisis.
Because the issue of emergency preparedness is so integral to the basic mission of COMCARE and its member organizations, the September membership meeting will be open to all of the Alliance’s outreach contacts who would like to attend. The meeting will be held via conference call on September 20th, 2006 from 1:00-2:30pm.
“COMCARE is delighted to have this opportunity to promote emergency response in a way that directly engages the public,” says Richard Taylor, COMCARE Chair. “American citizens have come to expect much from our emergency responders and through National Preparedness Month initiatives they can keep abreast of what actions they can take to ensure the safety of themselves and their communities.”
For more information about participating in COMCARE’s September meeting and for information on other National Preparedness Month efforts, visit www.comcare.org.
About COMCARE:
COMCARE is a national non-profit alliance dedicated to advancing emergency response. We promote the adoption of modern, interoperable emergency systems and the development of new procedures, training, and tools to maximize their value for emergency responders. We encourage cooperation across professional, jurisdictional and geographic lines, seeking to improve effectiveness through solutions that integrate emergency response professions, government, the public, and private industry. COMCARE’s 100+ organizational members represent the wide diversity of the emergency response community.