Monday, October 22, 2012

Firestorm is pleased to announce a new webinar from Pietro (Peter) D. Marghella, DHSc., MSc., MA, CEM, FACCP on October 24 2-3 PM EDT - Crisis Health Care: Enhancing Surge Capacity - A Non-Traditional Approach to a New Paradigm Demand - for those interested in learning more about Community Resiliency.

"If you don't prepare in advance of a disaster, your chance of an adequate response and recovery diminish in equal (but inverse) proportion to the magnitude and impact of the event."

The common denominator to all disasters is casualties. In as much, no other portion of our Nation's critical infrastructure and key resource (CI/KR) sectors will bear a more preponderant weight in adjudicating the success--or failure--of our incident management efforts. That said, it could be argued that the healthcare infrastructure of the United States is the least prepared to deal with a sudden, intense influx of casualties demanding support and treatment.

This present condition of unpreparedness is largely due to a national healthcare system dominated by managed care, which treats hospital beds as profit centers that demand being filled in order to maintain organizational viability. The result is a nearly wholesale lack of the surge capacity that will be needed when the severe environmental duress of a disaster enters our communities.

This webinar, "Enhancing Surge Capacity: A Non-traditional Approach to a New Paradigm Demand," will ask participants to consider new strategies for enhancing the posture of preparedness in healthcare organizations, measures which can, ultimately, improve community-based resilience.

About Pietro (Peter) D. Marghella, DHSc., MSc., MA, CEM, FACCP

Peter Marghella is a Keynote Speaker and Firestorm Expert Council Member.  He is a Senior Partner with Disaster Preparedness Resources, Inc. (DPR).  He is also a Senior Consultant to Diogenec, and is the President and CEO of Medical Planning Resources, Inc. (MPR).

Peter served for 20 years as a Medical Plans, Operations, and Intelligence Officer in the United States Navy, retiring as the Director of Medical Contingency Operations for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

His previous assignments include Chief of Medical Plans and Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Chief of Medical Plans and Intelligence for the US Pacific Command; and Chief of Medical Plans and Intelligence for the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (including assignment as the Navy's RED CELL Medical Officer).

He holds a Doctorate in Health Sciences from A. T. Still University of Health Sciences, and Master's Degrees in Health Services Administration from Central Michigan University and National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College. Read Peter's full Bio Here

About Firestorm

Firestorm is the premier, national leader in business continuity, vulnerability analysis, risk mitigation and crisis management, and knows that disaster readiness and enterprise value go hand-in-hand. Staffed by attorneys, engineers, physicians, law enforcement professionals, psychologists and many other talented individuals, Firestorm works directly with their Senior Management Team and Expert Council on behalf of clients. Firestorm maintains a network of offices in California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Washington DC, and Wisconsin. For more information visit www.firestorm.com