MediSys’ very own, Dr. Robert S. Crupi, Chairman of Emergency Medicine, Mr. Anthony J. Maffia, Vice President of the Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, and Mr. Paul F. Maguire, Administrator, Emergency Management were chosen from over 300 international submissions to present at the preeminent international conference on emergency management. The 2nd International Conference on Urban Disaster Reduction, to be held from November 27-29 in Taipei, Taiwan, focuses on Large Scale Disaster Management.
“We are excited about the opportunity to present on a topic relevant to the experience we have,” said Mr. Maffia. “Urban disaster reduction has become a major concern for the international community and we hope that our presentations provide insight to policies and strategies that should be implemented.”
Dr. Crupi, Mr. Maffia, and Mr. Maguire will present on the topic Lessons Learned and New Directions for Disaster Management. Mr. Maguire and Dr. Crupi’s research proves that most hospitals are not fully prepared for catastrophic events. As a result, their presentation will focus on the significance of developing a hazards disaster plan that specifically includes infectious disease outbreak preparedness; in addition to creating a Hospital Emergency Incident Command Structure that will effectively manage internal and external communications during emergencies.
A second presentation, by Dr. Crupi and Mr. Maffia, will explore the mental and psychological effects related to large-scale disasters. According to Dr. Crupi, "most emergency management triage plans are focused on assessing physical injuries and do not typically screen for psychological casualties despite evidence that early recognition and intervention of mental health effects can contribute to better outcomes and possibly prevent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)." The presentation will offer strategies that include psychological first-aid and identifying and triaging patients with serious mental illnesses.
“Lessons learned is about process and structure that can be applied in an all hazards response,” explained Mr. Maguire. “Doctors and respondents have to learn how to manage events--find practices and make them make sense--to effectively and predictably respond to disasters.”
Keynote speakers will include: Yuan-Tseh Lee, Former President of the Academia Sinica and the Nobel Laureate 1986; Gil Jamieson, FEMA’s Deputy Director of the Gulf Coast Recovery; and Saburoh Midorikawa, Professor, Department of Built Environment at Tokyo Institute of Technology.
This year’s conference was organized by the Disaster Management Society of Taiwan, along with the Institute of Social Safety Science, Japan, and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.
