These common elements allow you to prepare for and protect yourself and your animals from a disaster. Prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery are the five steps of emergency management. Mitigation is the most cost-effective method for reducing the impact of hazards. A pioneering activity for mitigation is the identification of risks.
Physical risk assessment refers to the process of identifying and evaluating hazards. The greater the risk, the more urgent the need to address hazard-specific vulnerabilities through mitigation efforts. An example of mitigation at the University Hospital is the 96-hour Business Continuity Plan, which includes strategies and mitigation plans that have been developed to ensure business continuity in areas such as public services, communications, food, water, medicines, personnel and medical supplies when the community cannot support the hospital due to an external disaster scenario. Preparedness is a continuous cycle of planning, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, evaluating and improving activities that allows Upstate Medical University and Hospital to ensure effective coordination and improved capacities to prevent, protect, respond, recover and mitigate disaster events that have been identified in the Hazard/Vulnerability Analysis (HVA).
In the preparation phase, the Emergency Management Department develops action plans to manage and counteract risks and takes steps to develop the capacities needed to implement those plans. The response phase includes mobilizing identified emergency personnel, including first responders, to an internal or external event that could have an impact on patient care operations or on campus. Response procedures are predetermined by the university and hospital, and are detailed in disaster plans during the preparation phase. The response to an internal or external incident on campus or in the hospital is directed through the Incident Command System (ICS).
Response plans remain flexible in nature due to the different staff members available at any given time. Recovery operations are an extremely important phase in the continuity of emergency management, and yet they are often overlooked. The Incident Command System team is responsible for the implementation of the recovery phase. The basis of the All Hazards approach begins with the hazard vulnerability (HVA) analysis of the Northern Medical University and the hospital.
The HVA identifies disasters and other events from a technological, natural, artificial and hazardous materials perspective that are most likely to affect the upstate community. These events are ranked in order of severity and greatest impact for Upstate Medical, University and Hospital. A risk factor is obtained for each identified hazard by classifying the probability, human impact, impact on property, business impact and the overall readiness of internal and external response entities. The hazard and vulnerability analysis is reviewed annually, or as required by leaders and the Emergency Management Committee.
The HVA, which includes the five highest-ranked disasters, is shared with community government and emergency response agencies, including the Office of Emergency Management, Public Health, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Police, Firefighters and the Office of the Medical Examiner (ME). The response is defined as measures taken to reduce mortality and morbidity, and to prevent further damage to property when the hazard occurs. The answer is to put preparedness plans into practice. Response activities may include preparedness, which takes the form of plans or procedures designed to minimize physical and property damage when an event occurs.
These activities ensure that, when a disaster occurs, disaster (emergency) managers can provide the best possible response. The model helps to frame issues related to disaster preparedness, as well as economic and business recovery after a disaster. It is not uncommon for disasters to reveal a weakened economic development landscape, with significant gaps in the organization's capacity, staff and resources. Recovery is the fourth phase of disaster and is the restoration of all aspects of the impact of the disaster on a community and the return of the local economy to a certain sense of normality.
Preparedness focuses on understanding how a disaster can affect the community and how education, outreach and training can develop the capacity to respond to and recover from a disaster. The guide to disaster preparedness activities provides more information on how to better prepare an organization and the business community for a disaster. These activities ensure that, when a disaster occurs, disaster (emergency) managers can provide the best possible response. .
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