Fourth Annual Pacific Preparedness Conference to be held on September 16

In conjunction with National Preparedness Month in September, the Pacific Emergency Management, Preparedness, and Response Information Network and Training Services (Pacific EMPRINTS) at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and the Hawai‘i State Civil Defense are pleased to announce the Fourth Annual Pacific Preparedness Conference: Challenges for Practice, Policy and Public Health, to be held on September 16, at the Ala Moana Hotel. Target audiences for this conference are disaster management personnel, including first responders, health professionals, laboratory personnel, emergency managers, librarians and social services advocates.

 

The upcoming conference will address timely topics at the forefront of emergency planning, preparedness, management and response concerns. Participants will have the opportunity to learn from national and state experts in the field with decades of knowledge and experience, network with disaster management and preparedness partners, discuss collaborative opportunities, new approaches, perspectives, and ideas; and explore systematic and coordinated options to heighten resiliency in the Pacific region including culturally appropriate approaches.

The conference will help participants understand public health consequences frequently seen in disasters and public health emergencies, understand functional and/or access needs of those who are medically vulnerable in a low resource disaster setting, learn about just-in-time resources in the event of a disaster, understand strategies that may potentially better address the standard of care at disaster sites, explore strategies for increasing the resilience of individuals and communities affected by a disaster and understand the challenges of practice and policy in public health.

 

Pacific EMPRINTS (Emergency Management Preparedness and Response Information Network and Training Services) is a consortium of fourteen organizations, which was established in late 2005 with funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources Services Administration.  Today, it has grown to a premier disaster preparedness and management training program in the Pacific region.  In addition, since 2008 Pacific EMPRINTS has been designated as the National Disaster Life Support (NDLS) Regional Center under the American Medical Association, one of thirty-five (35) such centers in the U.S, and the only center in the Pacific region, focusing its trainings efforts within the State of Hawaiʻi and the surrounding Pacific region. 

 

In addition to its NDLS training, Pacific EMPRINTS offers 100+ online and podcast courses, 150+ informational lectures, mini-simulation and live training exercises and annual conferences to prepare for and respond to natural disasters and technological hazards. Enrollments in its courses are from the Pacific region, Hawaiʻi as well as all of the fifty (50) states and sixty-two (62) countries. More information about Pacific EMPRINTS and the training opportunities it offers can be found at www.emprints.hawaii.edu.  Pacific EMPRINTS is currently funded by the Hawaiʻi State Civil Defense.

 

For more information and to register visit: http://www.emprints.hawaii.edu/2011PPC.