NCJ Number
194386
Journal
The Beacon Volume: 2 Issue: 8 Dated: May 2000 Pages: 1-5
Date Published
May 2000
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This newsletter for emergency responders presents new information and resources pertinent to emergency management and related resources.
Abstract
The new Internet address for the National Domestic Preparedness Office (NDPO) is presented (http://www.ndpo.gov); the website has been redesigned, and plans are underway to expand the existing information base to improve information sharing with the emergency-response community and the general public. The newsletter also lists 37 websites that are useful for medical emergency planning and WMD (weapons of mass destruction) consequence event planning. Another section of the newsletter outlines the APIC (Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology) "Bioterrorism Readiness Plan: A Template for Healthcare Facilities." The plan, which can be downloaded from APIC's homepage on the Internet (www.apic.org/html/educ/readinow.html), serves as a reference document and initial template to facilitate preparation of bioterrorism readiness plans for individual healthcare institutions. The plan outlines the steps necessary for responding to the biological agents most likely to be used in any future biological attack. The newsletter also announces the next NDPO "chat session" for July 25, 2000. The tentative subject will be bioterrorism preparedness and the health community. Instructions are provided for chat participation. The newsletter contains questions and answers that have appeared on the NDPO helpline, and it concludes with an announcement of NDPO's creation of eight newsgroups on the Law Enforcement Online (LEO) system. These newsgroups facilitate information sharing on various topics related to emergency preparedness for WMD incidents. The procedure for joining these newsgroups is described.