1.4
"Under the Weather": Environmental extremes and Health Care Delivery in the U.S
Wendy Marie Thomas, AMS, Washington, DC
Weather events are indiscriminant re-arrangers of planetary thermal and moisture properties. In most cases these events simply break a pattern or bring about seasonal change, but extreme weather events often deliver changes that remain long after the atmosphere reaches a new steady-state. As in the case of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the F-4 tornado that blazed through Americus, GA in spring 2007, critical care infrastructures are no less vulnerable than any other facility, especially when mitigation is largely absent.
Yet, critical health care facilities provide a fundamental societal benefit from preventative to emergency care for individuals within a community. Aggregated throughout the country, critical care facilities secure the livelihood and well-being of the nation. Consequently, structural mitigation against known and probable environmental extremes should be more greatly considered and practiced for these facilities. The AMS Policy Program (APP), in close association with NOAA/NWS/OAR and FEMA Mitigation, has been working on cross-sector communication and coordination strategies to hopefully yield a higher utilization of weather information at the decision-maker level within critical health care facilities. This talk will give an overview of current strategies and the future steps and opportunities ahead.
Recorded presentationSession 1, Societal Dimensions of Hazards I
Monday, 21 January 2008, 4:00 PM-5:30 PM, 228-229
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