(courtesy of Dragonfly)
On December 12 at 12:00 – 1:00 PM (Pacific), the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice (NWCPHP) will broadcast a webcast called "Emergency Plan Implementing Procedures for All Hazards Preparedness and Response".

This session is one of a series of "Hot Topics in Preparedness" offered by NWCPHP. It is geared for local health departments but general principles about planning and implementing emergency preparedness plans will be useful for any type of organization.

Registration is limited to 55 computer connections throughout the Northwest United States area (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, NPAIHB, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming). They encourage participation by groups at central locations. If you are interested in this free session, first contact the appropriate state coordinator at your state health department.

If there are no seats (connections) available from your state coordinator, Nicola Marsden-Haug at the NWCPHP regional office might have extra "seats".
Please contact her at: nicolamh@u.washington.edu.

For those of you who can't watch the session, it will be available later to be viewed via the NWCPHP archives for the "Hot Topics in Preparedness" presentations at:
http://www.nwcphp.org/training/hot-topics/index_html

By the end of this session participants will be able to:

• Describe the purpose of an emergency plan.Differentiate between a plan and a procedure.
• Explain the relationship between an all hazards emergency plan and the Emergency Plan Implementing Procedures (EPIP)
• List the steps for developing EPIPs
• Summarize how to organize a set of EPIPs.
• Discuss the need for a process for administrative review and approval.

While this doesn't focus on emergency preparedness and libraries it might have some good information to use. If possible I plan on watching the video later from the archive. My library actually serves as one of the hospital's command centers during an emergency, because we are centrally located, have lots of computers and telephones in one area, and we are accross the hall from many lecture rooms where groups can gather and work. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say, perhaps what I learn can help our emergency preparedness team in some small way.