Community-Based Medical Disaster Planning: A Role for the Department of Defense and the Military Health System

摘要

The Department of Defense (DoD) historically has provided medical assistance after major disasters within the United States but the response is often limited, uncoordinated, and unplanned. Most local jurisdictions understand the value in planning, but lack the resources to consider low probability events, even those of a catastrophic nature. The authors brought together military and civilian emergency response planners from various agencies in the National Capital Region and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Their conclusion was DoD and local jurisdictions should leverage DoD's planning expertise to develop a system of community-based medical response planning. Over the long term, the authors propose a new paradigm in medical response planning away from the traditional "respond-to-requests" approach to a "sense-and-respond" system that is scalable and more responsive to a wider range of national disasters.