(The Joint Commission: Oak Brook, Illinois) -- Representatives from the health care organizations involved in responding to recent disasters—the crash in Atlanta of the bus carrying the Bluffton University baseball team, the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the destructive San Diego County wildfires in California—will tell their stories at The Joint Commission and Joint Commission Resources’ 2008 Annual Emergency Preparedness Conference: Practical Approaches to Health Care Disaster Preparedness, April 8–9, 2008, in Alexandria, Virginia.

The panel of six includes experts in pandemic planning and guidelines for nuclear, biological, and chemical terrorist attacks.

Because each health care organization and community is unique in the emergencies it faces and the resources it possesses, this conference will provide the foundation and tools from which participants can build and enhance their states of readiness. The conference is geared toward hospital emergency staff, safety officers, medical directors, security directors, facilities managers, operations directors, emergency response planners, trauma nurse coordinators, and Joint Commission coordinators.

Participants will gain practical knowledge from organizations with successful strategies and approaches to meeting the 2008 Emergency Management standards, and will receive a CD of tools addressing the six areas of focus.

 …