Emergency Preparedness Symposium
In spite of the surprise snowstorm on April 1, 2011, Dr. Roger Eaton, New England Newborn Screening Program, and the NEGC convened the first gathering dedicated to emergency preparedness of the Newborn Screening (NBS) community across New England. The occurrence of natural disasters worldwide makes clear the necessity to prepare for disaster in order to ensure the protection and care of the very vulnerable babies identified as at risk from the newborn screening programs in New England.Click here for the Agenda or Summary Report. The range of people in the room led to lively discussions throughout the day. 23 People attended the intereactive symposium in Ashland, MA, including: - experts in laboratory screening, diagnostics, or clinical management of babies identified by NBS, with little knowledge of emergency preparedness
- state officials with emergency preparedness expertise, with little knowledge of NBS
- parents of children with special health needs, experts in emergency preparedness in their own right
Experts shared their invaluable experiences after Hurricane Katrina struck the gulf coast in 2005. Dr. Hans Andersson was a medical director and clinician in New Orleans who needed to provide continuity of care in the face of a disaster, and Dr. Stanton Berberich was the laboratory director from Iowa who stepped in to provide back-up newborn screening for Louisiana. The group also participated in a simulated disaster exercise. William Perry, National Coordinating Center, led the exercise. When asked what did you learn, responses included: - the potential value of family to family interactions
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individual responsibility -
how much I don’t know -
don't wait for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to start planning -
it’s all about expectations – need to have clear cut protocols -
need to have contact information -
the importance of web site as a way to communicate -
need to think about the region as a whole -
resources on the web have to be up to date, easy to use, and people need to know about them A list of Action Items was identified by the group to carry forward the efforts and insights of the day. link
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