Full article by Andrew (Andy) Altizer, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 17, 2024.

In this featured article, an emergency manager with military experience points out that emergency managers, public health officials, and first responders often stress the importance of physical fitness, but sometimes neglect mental fitness. Without focused mental agility in even one of the emergency management phases, mistakes or subpar performance are likely.

Learn about this author’s new acronym that can help prioritize mental health in the planning process.

Full article by Michael Etzel and Michael Prasad, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 10, 2024.

In this featured article, two emergency managers describe how advanced technologies are offering new ways to train personnel, exercise public health responses like COVID-19, and prepare response agencies for many other threats and hazards. Gamification integrates realistic scenarios in a controlled environment that can enhance community capabilities and build interagency collaboration and coordination.

Listen to expert insights on this innovative training and exercise tool that can change how professionals prepare for public health and other disaster responses.

Full article by George Schwartz, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 10, 2024.

In this featured article, an associate professor at Immaculata University addresses the challenge of defining resilience and the need to go beyond hazard mitigation. With 2024 being the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “Year of Resilience,” it is a good time for professionals to start rethinking this concept.

Listen to expert insights on a new vision of resilience for public health, emergency, and homeland security management professionals.

Full article by Charles Guddemi and Catherine Feinman, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 3, 2024.

In this featured article, the District of Columbia’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency’s statewide interoperability coordinator and the editor of Domestic Preparedness highlight the key takeaways from a 2024 interoperability workshop. During a mass casualty incident, response agencies must be able to communicate in real time. However, lessons learned from incidents have shown that hospitals and other often overlooked “responders” are not always included in interoperability plans. 

Listen to what agencies in Washington, DC, are doing to close communication gaps during a mass casualty incident.

Full article by Joseph J. Leonard, Jr., an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, April 1, 2024.

In this featured article, a retired U.S. Coast Guard commander points out that the Key Bridge collapse was not the first of its kind, and it will not be the last. Now in Week 2 of the response and recovery, it is critical to understand the short-term and long-term goals after such an incident. How will Baltimore and other communities restore these severely impacted transportation lifelines?

Learn about some measures community leaders can take to strengthen infrastructure and instill resilience.

Full article by Kay C. Goss and Catherine L. Feinman, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, March 27, 2024.

In this featured article, two attendees of a Senate briefing on “The State of Emergency Management” discuss the assistance needs of emergency managers working behind the scenes to ensure the safety, security, and resilience of communities before, during, and after a disaster.

Listen to their account of what the leaders from three nationwide organizations told Congress at that briefing in Washington, D.C.

Full article by Heather Issvoran, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, March 27, 2024.

In this featured article, the director of strategic communications for the Center for Homeland Defense and Security describes how homeland security education expanded after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, to ensure that local, state, tribal, territorial, and federal agencies had the tools they needed to combat these threats.

Listen to this academic leader share how homeland security programs are changing to meet new challenges and evolving threats.

Full article by Joseph J. Leonard, Jr., an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, March 26, 2024.

In this featured article, a retired U.S. Coast Guard commander describes the transportation, supply chain, and other critical impacts that are likely from the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore. Any such incident or event can easily disrupt the supply chain, whether local, regional, or international.

Listen to his six recommendations to ensure the plans, training, resources, capabilities, and facilities to safeguard the nation’s transportation networks.

Full article by Inés Bebea, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, March 20, 2024.

In this featured article, the deputy press secretary for the New York City Emergency Management Department shares how Emergency Management Assistance Compacts are helping communities and building new skills. Some people enter the field directly from college, some as a second career, and others have circumstances that lead them to this career over time. Each has a story.

Listen to the inspiring accounts that led three professionals to the emergency management field.

Full article by Kay C. Goss, an Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, March 20, 2024.

In this featured article, a former Associate Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency describes some of the agency’s accomplishments as well as some challenges she and the agency encountered during her tenure. FEMA has spent decades preparing for and responding to disasters.

Listen to expert insights on the latest efforts that FEMA is making to revamp its recovery process.