Already I am reading stories about people who are complaining about preparing for the “Storm of the Century” that didn’t happen. Complaints of the hype surrounding Irene and the extensive evacuations, shutting down public transportation, sandbagging, etc. are coming from residents up and down the Eastern coast.
One local old salt on North Carolina coast claimed that this was nothing but media hype and that he had gone through many worse storms before. All that evacuation was a waste of time and money according to him.
Some would-be politicians even have the gall to joke that Irene was a message from God to Washington lawmakers. Seriously? Over 30 people died, priceless personal objects lost or ruined, homes flooded, bridges and roads were washed away and the damage is estimated at around three billion dollars. Hardly joking material.
The obvious contrast to this is Katrina, where the shout of a wolf’s approach was too little, too late and too unrealistic. People either had nowhere to go, no means to do it, or simply didn’t want to leave their homes. As a result, over 1800 people died and the cost just in dollars was around 8.1 billion. Entire neighborhoods still lay in ruins.
That’s the problem with Emergency Preparedness. When you prepare well and relatively little seems to happen, people think a big deal was made of nothing. [Los Angelinos might well think of the recent shutting down of the heavily traveled 405 freeway for a weekend, or Carmageddon, which resulted in surprisingly little disruption.] However, that is the point. When you prepare well, you expect very little to happen because, well, you prepared well!
And, just for record, our salty North Carolina friend, also had a high-sitting house with plenty of food, water and an emergency generator, so he was well-prepared and was confident because of it.
So, when you hear the notice to prepare, to evacuate, to shelter in place, don’t think of it as a cry for a wolf who never comes. Think of it as a reminder that this is why we prepare. We are ready for that wolf, and even with that huff and puff, he simply can’t blow your house down.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Grandma, the Original Emergency Responder
I am old enough to have lived during a time when people looked after their neighbors. At least that was my grandmother’s philosophy. I remember the visits to my grandparents’ house always included trips to various neighbors as my grandma’s aide. There was never any indication that these trips were a burden on my grandmother and they seemed quite a natural thing to do. The persons we visited were all elderly and in need of some help and seemed to greet my grandmother with great appreciation yet with the same natural acceptance of her visit as if she were related to all of them.
As I look back on it, it was amazing that my grandmother, with no more than a grade school education and no formal training, knew what to bring to everyone and how to tend to their needs. She was efficient without seeming rushed and arranged every visit in some lengthy yet unwritten schedule. There was never money exchanged for any of her services, yet I could guarantee that when cookies or candy were around that I would be showered generously with them.
I wonder if my grandmother’s counterpart lives in my neighborhood. I wonder if that spirit of selflessly taking care of another, with no expectation of reward, exists today. I hope it does. I do feel that urge from time to time as I see one of my elderly neighbors take his trash to the curb, but then he disappears back into his house and I disappear into my own world of activities and responsibilities and then I forget all about him again until trash day allows us to meet again.
Maybe it is time for me to change things up. Make a promise to myself and my grandmother to go to my neighbor’s house and check on him, see how he’s doing, see what he needs and maybe how I can help him. She’d like that. In fact, because she’s my grandma, I'm sure she’ll go with me.
As I look back on it, it was amazing that my grandmother, with no more than a grade school education and no formal training, knew what to bring to everyone and how to tend to their needs. She was efficient without seeming rushed and arranged every visit in some lengthy yet unwritten schedule. There was never money exchanged for any of her services, yet I could guarantee that when cookies or candy were around that I would be showered generously with them.
I wonder if my grandmother’s counterpart lives in my neighborhood. I wonder if that spirit of selflessly taking care of another, with no expectation of reward, exists today. I hope it does. I do feel that urge from time to time as I see one of my elderly neighbors take his trash to the curb, but then he disappears back into his house and I disappear into my own world of activities and responsibilities and then I forget all about him again until trash day allows us to meet again.
Maybe it is time for me to change things up. Make a promise to myself and my grandmother to go to my neighbor’s house and check on him, see how he’s doing, see what he needs and maybe how I can help him. She’d like that. In fact, because she’s my grandma, I'm sure she’ll go with me.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Sadly, Why We Practice
It is still shocking to envision that island in Norway where on July 22 a lone gunman, dressed as a police officer, could simply walk through a youth camp and shoot 69 people dead. Immediately, we have all tried to sort it out – How could he do such a thing? Why would he target children? Why couldn’t anyone stop him?
As a parent, I am utterly heartbroken when I think of the parents running these very questions in a continuous loop through their minds, haunting every waking and sleeping moment. It was all so senseless, so inhumane. And yet, these things do happen. They happen in Norway, at Virginia Tech (32 dead), at Columbine (13 dead), at Northern Illinois University (21 dead), Beslan, Russia (334 dead, 186 were children)... Sadly, they happen.
If there is a small glimmer of silver hope in this story, it is that these occurrences are relatively rare. Generally, schools are safe places and gunmen do not freely roam the streets [in most of the world...]. But the fact that they DO happen, CAN happen, that we practice. We simulate “active shooter” scenarios and practice how we could quickly amount an attack and stop the attacker before he gets very far.
On Friday, July 29, we, at Cal State Fullerton, practiced this scenario. We set up a full-scale exercise to allow our first responders (University Police, surrounding Police and Fire agencies and our on-campus medical response team) to see, hear and feel what it is like to “be there.” We made our “victims” look like injured victims. [Kudos to our great make up team at CSUF!] We had guns that fire blanks so they everyone could hear what a gunshot sounds like and experience that first shock at how loud it really is. Police attack teams quickly formed and pursued the gunman. Police and Fire worked together in teams to rescue the injured.
Honestly, it was incredible to watch. They played, they worked, they learned. People who had never worked together before clicked into place. They had one common purpose – to pursue the gunman and bring him down.
I can’t help but think that if those teenagers in Norway had received some “fight back” training when confronted with an Active Shooter that the outcome could have been much different. We are now training people that sometimes you can’t just hide – that you have to actively participate in your survival. Of course when you just see yourself as a kid against a man – a “police man!” – with a gun, it must have seemed quite hopeless. But there are tactics out there that can be employed in such situations and we need to start teaching them.
So, this is why we practice. We try to engage as many people as possible that survival in any situation takes practice and knowledge. So, while it is sad that we need to practice these things, we practice because we know that if that one day comes, we will already have the skills to respond.
To see some great photos of our Active Shooter exercise, please to go http://prepare.fullerton.edu. Thank you to all who participated. You are awesome.
As a parent, I am utterly heartbroken when I think of the parents running these very questions in a continuous loop through their minds, haunting every waking and sleeping moment. It was all so senseless, so inhumane. And yet, these things do happen. They happen in Norway, at Virginia Tech (32 dead), at Columbine (13 dead), at Northern Illinois University (21 dead), Beslan, Russia (334 dead, 186 were children)... Sadly, they happen.
If there is a small glimmer of silver hope in this story, it is that these occurrences are relatively rare. Generally, schools are safe places and gunmen do not freely roam the streets [in most of the world...]. But the fact that they DO happen, CAN happen, that we practice. We simulate “active shooter” scenarios and practice how we could quickly amount an attack and stop the attacker before he gets very far.
On Friday, July 29, we, at Cal State Fullerton, practiced this scenario. We set up a full-scale exercise to allow our first responders (University Police, surrounding Police and Fire agencies and our on-campus medical response team) to see, hear and feel what it is like to “be there.” We made our “victims” look like injured victims. [Kudos to our great make up team at CSUF!] We had guns that fire blanks so they everyone could hear what a gunshot sounds like and experience that first shock at how loud it really is. Police attack teams quickly formed and pursued the gunman. Police and Fire worked together in teams to rescue the injured.
Honestly, it was incredible to watch. They played, they worked, they learned. People who had never worked together before clicked into place. They had one common purpose – to pursue the gunman and bring him down.
I can’t help but think that if those teenagers in Norway had received some “fight back” training when confronted with an Active Shooter that the outcome could have been much different. We are now training people that sometimes you can’t just hide – that you have to actively participate in your survival. Of course when you just see yourself as a kid against a man – a “police man!” – with a gun, it must have seemed quite hopeless. But there are tactics out there that can be employed in such situations and we need to start teaching them.
So, this is why we practice. We try to engage as many people as possible that survival in any situation takes practice and knowledge. So, while it is sad that we need to practice these things, we practice because we know that if that one day comes, we will already have the skills to respond.
To see some great photos of our Active Shooter exercise, please to go http://prepare.fullerton.edu. Thank you to all who participated. You are awesome.
Monday, August 8, 2011
No Shot in the Dark
A shot in the dark is basically some attempt to do something blindly. For some, this means picking lottery numbers, or dropping in your quarter in the gumball machine and hoping for a red one. Sadly, unfortunately and frighteningly, some people do this with their children. Parents who do not, or worse, refuse, to have their children immunized are doing just that. Shooting in the dark, hoping for the best, and risking the life of their own child.
There was paper published in a British medical journal 13 years ago that claimed a connection between vaccines and autism. That single, false claim has thankfully been routed out and it has been thoroughly established that NO link exists between the two, but somehow there are still some who manage to cough that one up when it comes to why they don’t vaccinate their most precious possessions.
Let’s be clear. Immunizations prevent disease and have completely eradicated others, savings millions of lives. Children, especially infants, who are the most susceptible to these diseases no longer die because of them. However, in cases where immunizations are not given, children do die and their numbers are growing. Diseases we thought had disappeared from the doctor’s office are now making regular appointments.
When I talk of emergency preparedness, it is not just talk of keeping enough water, or replenishing your first aid kits. This is preparedness at a very basic level. It’s preparing yourself from the inside. After a disaster hits, people seeking shelter often are forced in close quarters with a lot of other people. These are situations where people are anxious, possibly injured and their immune systems stressed -- situations where communicable diseases are easily transferred. And depending on the disaster, medical response may be a long way off when someone does fall ill. Now, what does this create? The perfect storm of disease transmission and those without immunizations will be the first to feel the brunt of it.
Immunizations are not horrible things. They are culture-less, race-blind, and without religious connotation or creed. They are given to those who need it most and it is up to all of us to make sure it happens. Rebel against something else if you feel you need to, but don’t let polio, rubella, measles and Type b influenzae be the thing that brings you down when your strength is needed most.
Be prepared. Get your shots and get shots for your kids. It just may be the thing that lets you – and your loved ones -- survive the disaster.
Please read Amanda Manscarelli’s thoughtful article from the Sunday, August 7, Los Angeles Times at: http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-vaccines-qa-20110801,0,4888541.story.
There was paper published in a British medical journal 13 years ago that claimed a connection between vaccines and autism. That single, false claim has thankfully been routed out and it has been thoroughly established that NO link exists between the two, but somehow there are still some who manage to cough that one up when it comes to why they don’t vaccinate their most precious possessions.
Let’s be clear. Immunizations prevent disease and have completely eradicated others, savings millions of lives. Children, especially infants, who are the most susceptible to these diseases no longer die because of them. However, in cases where immunizations are not given, children do die and their numbers are growing. Diseases we thought had disappeared from the doctor’s office are now making regular appointments.
When I talk of emergency preparedness, it is not just talk of keeping enough water, or replenishing your first aid kits. This is preparedness at a very basic level. It’s preparing yourself from the inside. After a disaster hits, people seeking shelter often are forced in close quarters with a lot of other people. These are situations where people are anxious, possibly injured and their immune systems stressed -- situations where communicable diseases are easily transferred. And depending on the disaster, medical response may be a long way off when someone does fall ill. Now, what does this create? The perfect storm of disease transmission and those without immunizations will be the first to feel the brunt of it.
Immunizations are not horrible things. They are culture-less, race-blind, and without religious connotation or creed. They are given to those who need it most and it is up to all of us to make sure it happens. Rebel against something else if you feel you need to, but don’t let polio, rubella, measles and Type b influenzae be the thing that brings you down when your strength is needed most.
Be prepared. Get your shots and get shots for your kids. It just may be the thing that lets you – and your loved ones -- survive the disaster.
Please read Amanda Manscarelli’s thoughtful article from the Sunday, August 7, Los Angeles Times at: http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-vaccines-qa-20110801,0,4888541.story.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Heart Attack? There’s an App for that...
Yes, if you see someone having a heart attack – or I suppose even if it is you – you can use this app to send a call for help to people around you who know how to perform CPR. This application for iPhone, iPads, and other smart phones and devices was developed by the San Ramon Valley, California, Fire Department folks – and called, obviously, “Fire Department.” While the area and users for this app are relatively small (although San Francisco now has it), it opens the gates to other similar emergency responses.
Apparently, the alert sent via this app call for anyone close enough to walk to the victim and offer their expertise. Additionally, the alerts go to Emergency Response personnel (i.e., EMT’s at the Fire Department) so that the professionals can be launched as well. As an added bonus, the location of the closest AED’s (automated external defibrillators) are displayed to aid responders as well.
As much as people often like to make fun of how people are literally attached to their cell phones, especially the “smart” ones, they are a burgeoning marketful of ideas for all kinds of resources – from the nearest pizza parlor or Ghirardelli Chocolate outlet to life-saving applications.
So, when you start to wonder just what those fire-fighters are doing when not responding to a fire, now you know they are not just testing the latest recipes from Iron Chef. They are programming cool stuff like this. Yeah, they can do all that AND fight fires. Cool, huh?
Apparently, the alert sent via this app call for anyone close enough to walk to the victim and offer their expertise. Additionally, the alerts go to Emergency Response personnel (i.e., EMT’s at the Fire Department) so that the professionals can be launched as well. As an added bonus, the location of the closest AED’s (automated external defibrillators) are displayed to aid responders as well.
As much as people often like to make fun of how people are literally attached to their cell phones, especially the “smart” ones, they are a burgeoning marketful of ideas for all kinds of resources – from the nearest pizza parlor or Ghirardelli Chocolate outlet to life-saving applications.
So, when you start to wonder just what those fire-fighters are doing when not responding to a fire, now you know they are not just testing the latest recipes from Iron Chef. They are programming cool stuff like this. Yeah, they can do all that AND fight fires. Cool, huh?
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