EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

It is time to think about emergency preparedness related to bioterrorism. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a revision of Emergency Preparedness for Dialysis Facilities in November 2002. This manual contains information such as How To Handle Anthrax and Other Biological Agent Threats, Letter and Parcel Bomb Recognition Point (including bomb threats), and Civil Disorder. The manual was mailed to Network 13 dialysis and transplant providers on March 24, 2003. The following resources concerning emergency preparedness are provided for your convenience as you begin to assess risk and develop facility policies and procedures. Please click hyperlinks below to access each site.

• CMS Publications – Emergency Preparedness for Dialysis Facilities: Guide for Chronic Dialysis Facilities http://www.cms.hhs.gov/esrd/9.asp
• United States Department of Homeland Security: see Emergencies and Disasters http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/

Home Land Security: http://www.whitehouse.gov/deptofhomeland

Home Land Security, Identify your State Contact: http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/contactmap.html/

• Occupational Safety and Health Administration: page down to Safety / Health topics or search terrorism http://www.osha.gov/
• First Gov. Gov – The United States Official Web Portal: http://www.firstgov.gov/
• Disaster Help: Select Disease: https://disasterhelp.gov/portal/jhtml/index.jhtml/
• United States Environmental Protection Agency: http://yosemite.epa.gov/oswer/ceppoweb.nsf/content/index.html/
• Federal Emergency Management Agency: http://www.fema.gov/

See bioterrorism @ http://www.fema.gov/hazards/terrorism/

See Emergency Management For Businesses and Industry @ http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/bizindst.pdf/

Are You Ready, a guide to citizen preparedness: http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/

“Be Ready” http://www.ready.gov

• American Red Cross; Terrorism: http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/keepsafe/unexpected.html/
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC): http://www.cdc.gov/ select Terrorism and Public Health

CDC, Public Health Practice Program Office: http://www.phppo.cdc.gov/

Public Health Preparedness and Response Capacity Inventories: http://www.phppo.cdc.gov/od/inventory/

CDC Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response: http://www.bt.cdc.gov/ discusses specific agents, preparedness, and CDC Bioterrorism funding to states

• National Mental Health Association, Tips for Coping in Challenging Times: http://www.nmha.org/
• United States Department of Education: Information on planning for school emergencies, with links to associated websites http://www.ed.gov/emergencyplan/