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Americans at Risk, by Irwin Redlener
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Redlener points out that any disaster with significant public health implications will be amplified by the inadequacies that afflict our basic healthcare systems. “No state is fully prepared to respond to a major public health threat.”
Redlener highlights how America is particularly vulnerable to natural disasters along its coasts and portals of entry. How our borders and transportation systems remain largely unprotected. How delaying maintenance on America’s aging infrastructure and providing inadequate security at chemicals plants are accidents just waiting to happen. And as profoundly abhorrent it is to contemplate, America’s children are vulnerable and may be deliberately targeted.
Political leadership has plagued efforts to make the nation disaster-ready since 2001, Redlener contends. Ill-defined goals and a virtual absence of accountability have become the fundamentals of our preparedness efforts.
What people don't recognize is their own roles in disaster preparedness, according to Redlener. They are moved to open their hearts and wallets to help victims of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, yet they are not moved to prepare themselves and their families for a major emergency.
Synopsis by Michelle Thomas
Plan. Provide. Protect…The Sovereign Deed Promise™