As recent events on the East Coast demonstrate, it is important to be prepared for the unexpected.
September is National Preparedness Month, and in honor of it, as well as the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, Saint John’s Health Center is hosting disaster preparedness and response speakers to better inform staff and the community of proactive ways they can prepare for emergency events. Each of the sessions is free of cost and the entire community is encouraged to attend.
To kick off Saint John’s National Preparedness Month sessions, the Program Director of the LA County Disaster Healthcare Volunteers (DHV) had an informational presentation on Thursday, September 1, 2011. The Disaster Healthcare Volunteers are a group of registered medical, health, mental health and other professionals willing to assist in the event of a disaster or public health emergency. The LA Surge Unit enables health volunteers to register before a disaster occurs and quickly deploy in the event of a disaster to provide medical and health services to communities that need them most.
On Thursday, September 8, 2011 Saint John’s will host the American Red Cross who will demonstrate how to prepare a disaster kit and make a plan for what to do in case of an emergency.
The City of Santa Monica Office of Emergency Services will talk about how to prepare for local emergencies on Thursday, September 15,2011.
And, on Thursday, September 22, 2011 Saint John’s own Disaster Preparedness Coordinator, Lindsay Barker, will speak about Health Responder Readiness.
All of the Disaster Preparedness Sessions will take place from 12:30pm -1:00pm in the Paula Kent Meehan Conference Room on the Garden Level of the Howard Keck Center.
Space is limited and available on a first come, first serve basis. To attend, please RSVP to Lindsay Barker, Saint John’s Health Center Disaster Preparedness Coordinator, at Lindsay.Barker@stjohns.org or 310-829-8336.
For more information, on St. John’s: www.newstjohns.org.
