Sunday, January 31, 2010

Medical Care Volunteers

Thank you for your interest in volunteering to assist in disaster relief efforts in Haiti. HHS, as part of the overall U.S. government effort, is working closely with the international community and the Haitian government. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the lead federal agency for the U.S. response and has set up a Web site where you can learn more about current needs and how to help. Please visit http://www.usaid.gov/helphaiti/ for more information.

The immediate and long-term health and medical needs of Haiti are currently being assessed by the United Nations and the Pan American Health Organization with the Haitian government. Once we know more about the results of this assessment, we'll have a better sense of the possibilities for volunteering. In the meantime, HHS has set up an email where medical professionals can send offers of volunteer medical care services. If you are interested in volunteering, please send an email to Haiti.volunteer@hhs.gov and include your name, clinical area, specialty skills, degrees, and language capabilities (in particular, whether you speak Haitian Creole or French and if so, your level of fluency). We'll log your information and share it with USAID; you may be contacted if an opportunity becomes available that matches your skill set.*

We are receiving an outpouring of offers, indicative of the generosity of the American people. Please keep in mind that volunteer opportunities in disaster settings are rare, and it may not be possible to accept your offer for assistance at this time.

We would like to make it easier to take advantage of your skills and willingness to volunteer in future health emergencies, whether domestic or international. Please consider participation in two important disaster relief programs that would greatly benefit from your interest and expertise, the Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP) (esarvhp@hhs.gov) and the Medical Reserve Corps. These programs allow you the opportunity to establish a relationship with your state or the federal government in advance of an event, so that you can be prepared, credentialed and ready to go before the need strikes.

* We are collecting this information under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 217b. The information below must be completed and submitted to determine suitability to serve as a volunteer with the HHS. The purpose is to gather basic contact information and information about your background and skill set. Please answer all questions as fully and completely as possible. To accomplish the purpose of this collection, we may disclose information outside of the Department of Health and Human Services, consistent with the routine uses found in system of records notice, OPM/GOVT-5, available at http://privacy.defense.gov/govwide/opm_govt-5.shtml. If you do not provide the requested information, HHS will not be able to register your offer to volunteer.

http://www.hhs.gov/haiti/volunteers.html

The Aidmatrix Network

FEMA, the Aidmatrix Foundation and Corporate Sponsors have partnered to launch a virtual portal to allow companies or individuals to offer their support on-line to leading organizations in humanitarian relief. This portal is designed to make it as easy to offer financial support, product donations, or to donate your skills and time to nonprofit organizations active in disaster relief. Please select below if you would like to extend your support to national nonprofits or to a specific state and their nonprofit partners.

The Aidmatrix Network helps nonprofit organizations get access to offers of support. If you are a nonprofit and are interested in becoming a member of VOAD, please click here for a listing of VOADs by state or here to see the membership criteria and application for National VOAD membership. For information on disaster preparedness for individuals and businesses, please click here. To apply for disaster assistance, please click here.
http://www.aidmatrixnetwork.org/FEMA/Index.aspx

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Free Web-Conference on SE Pediatric Surge Capacity

The Alabama Department of Public Health and The Center for Public Health Preparedness are hosting a free web-conference on pediatric surge capacity in the Southeast. The webcast is 1:00-2:30 p.m. (Eastern) next Wednesday, February 3rd. Click the link below to register, and please share this information with anyone else who may have an interest in this topic.

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A Multi-state, Multi-organizational Solution to Limited Regional

Pediatric Medical Surge Capacity in the Southeastern United States

Conference Details

Target Audience: Nurses, physicians, pediatricians, emergency responders, emergency management officials, public health care workers, and hospital administrators.

Registration: www.adph.org/alphtn

Cost: There is no cost to view.

Continuing Education: Nurses 1.5 hours Social Workers 1.5 hours

Technical Information: To receive complete technical information you must register at www.adph.org/alphtn

Satellite - Live satellite conference on C band (analog).

Webcast - Live webcast with RealPlayer or Windows Media Player. Be sure to test your computer with the “test connection link” at www.adph.org/alphtn

Audio - To listen by phone, call 1-888-557-8511. Enter access code 972-1530 #. Press # again to listen to the conference.

On Demand - Available 2-3 business days after the live broadcast from the On Demand page of our website.

Conference Materials: Posted on our website approximately one week before the program for registered participants.

Conference Details Questions: Call: 334-206-5618 Email: alphtn@adph.state.al.us

A lack of pediatric surge capacity is particularly acute in the Southeastern United States because of the relatively low number of pediatric facilities and limited health resources. Program faculty will address the obstacles faced in regional pediatric surge and discuss the efforts of more than 40 organizations to organize and maintain the Southeastern Regional Pediatric Disaster Surge Network – a voluntary group of health care providers, public health departments, volunteers, and emergency responders from five southern states.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Making the UK safer: a five year review

http://royalsociety.org/Making-the-UK-safer-a-five-year-review/

Making the UK safer: a five year review

In 2004 the Royal Society published a major report, Making the UK safer: detecting and decontaminating chemical and biological agents, which provided recommendations for improving the UK's capability to respond to a chemical or biological incident and minimise its impact.

Today we are publishing a statement, Making the UK safer: a five year review, which reviews UK Government progress against some of our major recommendations. Five years on the UK is better prepared to detect and respond to the malicious use of chemical and biological agents against the civilian population.  However, the statement highlights several outstanding issues requiring further attention.


Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Update on Haiti

We will be working through Sahana for resource and other needs in dealing with the earthquake in Haiti. Please use the link below for finding out resource needs, missing persons, and other information. We will continue to update from here as well.

http://haiti.sahanafoundation.org/prod/

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Support Haiti

If you are interesting in deployment we are looking for disaster/emergency managers, logisticians and emergency medical personnel to be put on standby. Must have valid passport, be willing to deploy for up to 90 days and ready to live in adverse conditions. If interested, please send me your resume to: arichman@itrrintel.org

Friday, January 15, 2010

Haiti Assistance

Many citizens will be looking for ways to provide assistance to the people of Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake that recently occurred. The U.S. Department of State is the lead federal agency for relief efforts and has provided the following (attached) information regarding donations, requests for information and other relief issues.

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U.S. State Department Haiti Relief Information

The State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747 (due to heavy volume, some callers may receive a recording). Our embassy is still in the early stages of contacting American Citizens through our Warden Network. Communications are very difficult within Haiti at this time.

Private Offers of Assistance for Haiti Relief Efforts
Anyone wishing to donate or provide assistance in
Haiti following the devastating earthquake that struck near Port au Prince on Jan 12, 2010, is asked to contact the Center for International Disaster Information. The Center, operated under a grant from the United States Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and initial support from IBM, has become a valuable resource to the public, as well as US government agencies, foreign embassies and international corporations. CIDI has established a dedicated page to coordinate Haiti support at: http://www.cidi.org/incident/haiti-10a/

You can also text "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill. Or you can go online to organizations like the Red Cross and Mercy Corps to make a contribution to the disaster relief efforts.

Official U.S. Department of State website. Contains contact information for those looking for family members, as well as donation information. http://www.state.gov/

Official U.S. Department of State blogsite called, “A Disaster in Haiti and How You Can Help”. Contains information on ways to provide assistance. http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/site/entry/