Emergency Management Disaster Response

We live in a world that has changed dramatically as a result of worldwide events that began for Americans with the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. The general public attitude is no longer, "this cannot happen to me and it will never happen here." Now, the American perception has changed, becoming less naive. The attacks represented a loss of security, heightened awareness of vulnerability, and an expression of aversion toward America. This has led us to implement a course of disaster preparedness. What exactly is preparedness?

"Preparedness is learning from past experiences, testing ourselves, and then building upon the experiences in the tests to build a better product and to prepare ourselves better." (Press Conference on TOPOFF 3 Exercise, April 4, 2005)

UMC PURPOSE

The purpose for the UMC Emergency Plan is to attend promptly and effectively to all individuals requiring medical attention in an emergency situation as well as to protect patients, visitors, and staff from injury.

	To prepare the staff and hospital resources for optimal performance in an emergency.
	To protect people, property, facilities, and equipment.
	To correlate with the overall community disaster plan.
	To outline each department's responsibilities.
	To satisfy all applicable regulatory requirements.