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Model for Preparedness of a Public Institution for a Terrorist Attack

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Izak Lifshitz ,
Jakov Adler  and
Joseph Katz
Izak Lifshitz*
Affiliation:
Jerusalem, Israel
Jakov Adler
Affiliation:
Jerusalem, Israel
Joseph Katz
Affiliation:
Division of Diagnstic Sciences, Department of OralMaxillofacial Surgery and Diagnostic Sciences, Gainesville, Florida USA
*
Division of Diagnostic SciencesDepartment of OralMaxillofacial Surgery and Diagnostic SciencesPO Box 100416Gainesville, FL 32610-0416USA E-mail: jkatz@dental.ufl.edu
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Abstract

Public institutions such as governmental facilities, hospitals, universities, and amusement parks may be targeted by terrorists using weapons of mass destruction due to their potential to cause large numbers of casualties.

Consequentially, these institutions should be prepared to manage such an event by the development and implementation of specific preparedness guidelines for any conventional or unconventional terrorist attacks.

In order to test the preparedness of such an institution for a chemical event, a large-scale drill focusing on the first medical team to respond was conducted.

Some important lessons regarding the way the medical team operates and communicates were learned from this drill. Periodic drills should be performed in order to assess the practicality and applicability of these guidelines.

Keywords

chemical weaponsexercisepublic institutionterrorism
Type
Brief Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 23 , Issue 5 , October 2008 , pp. 467 - 471
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2008

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