Ryan Smith EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Wastewater systems have arguably improved quality of life by protecting public health and the environment. They provide a method of sanitation that uses water to manage human excreta. However, extending the current wastewater paradigm is becoming problematic due to water’s increasing scarcity, mounting costs, contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, and deleterious…
Posts Tagged with Public Health and Safety
How Can Architecture Make Communities and Urban Environments More Resilient to Disease?
Jeffrey Garofalo EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Today, a gathering storm of forces are building that will increase the frequency and intensity of infectious disease outbreaks. According to disease ecologist Peter Daszak, “Pandemics are like terrorist attacks: we know roughly where they originate and what’s responsible for them, but we don’t know exactly when the next one will…
Catch 22: Relations Between Labor Unions and Management in Public Safety
Matthew Dudek EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Police, fire, and emergency medical services personnel are on the front lines of homeland security at the local level. These men and women are sworn to protect and serve the community, providing vital services and contributing to the safety and security of the citizens they serve. These people are also public…
Increasing Local Public Health Emergency Preparedness Capacity by Building from within the Current Infrastructure
Marcus Castle EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The absence of state and federal funding in state and local public health departments is resulting in a declining and inexperienced workforce, forcing departments to shutter programs and reducing response capacity and capabilities. The United States public health system, created over a century ago, is struggling to better protect the population…
Law Enforcement’s Role in Preventing Epidemics: Enforcing Communicable Disease Quarantine Policies
Donald Lowenthal EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) currently has no policy providing guidance to its police officers on how to enact the quarantine enforcement component of the Isolation and Quarantine Plan (IQP) developed by the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH). Quarantine restricts the movement of healthy people who may have been exposed…
Convergence, Guns, and the Public Safety Response
Jason Lyon EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A detailed review of relevant literature has revealed that crisis events, such as mass shootings and natural disasters, have triggered dramatic changes in gun-related laws, policies, and social perceptions in the United States. Particularly following Hurricane Katrina and the Sandy Hook school shooting, citizens and legislators called for either relaxing or…
Legal Weed: A Lifesaver?
Michael Schaub EXECUTIVE SUMMARY At the OxyContin launch party in the mid-1990s, Richard Sackler, a member of the family that owns Purdue Pharma, stepped up to the podium to address the audience. Sackler, then senior vice president for sales, proclaimed that the launch party would be “followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury…
Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Automated External Defibrillator Delivery in the Seattle King County Region following Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest
Aaron Tyerman EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Using an automated external defibrillator (AED) to deliver a shock to a cardiac arrest patient before the arrival of emergency medical services (EMS) increases the chance of the patient’s survival. Studies both within the United States and abroad have explored using unmanned aerial systems (UASs, also known as drones) to deliver…
I Am the Dragoman: EMS Translations and Boundary Objects in National Preparedness
James Robinson EXECUTIVE SUMMARY I have worked in emergency medical services (EMS) for nearly thirty years; from working on an emergency ambulance, to leading an EMS agency, developing local, regional, state and national EMS policy, and applying it in the real world. I have developed a breadth and depth of experience in and knowledge of…
Prospective Vigilance: Assessing Complex Coordinated Attack Preparedness Programs
Jared Goff EXECUTIVE SUMMARY State and local first responders in the United States lack a common strategic approach to preparing for complex coordinated attacks (CCAs).[1] Scholarly research, analysis, and shared best practices are important pillars to help first responders become better prepared and resilient, yet these components are mostly absent from the CCA narrative. Inconsistent…