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Emergency response was completely lacking in man power and containment efforts. There wasn't much structure to the efforts taken by emergency response in terms of containment and education of the public. There were far too many of those in need and way too few emergency response teams. Hospitals closed due to lack of personnel as well as doctors getting infected themselves. People were dying left and right and being left on the side of the street. Responders weren't able to get to people in time in some cases. Locals began to take out aggressions and frustrations on emergency responders, despite them working at full capacity. The lack of man power, communication and education lead to the emergency response being sub par in this situation. 

Emergency response isn’t directly addressed in this article. Yet, conditions and forms of violence that are discussed in the article that emergency responders have been documented with facing, clearly effect the way they work and respond to calls. Though emergency response isn’t directly addressed, this article is very relevant to emergency responders since its implications can highly effect the work of EMS and other medical care providers.

I researched current protocols and strategies in place in terms of biosafety. I also researched current microbial threats in terms of organisms and the ways in which we have currently developed to help prevent those specific forms of bioterrorism. I also read up on past bioterrorism events and the effects it had on global protocols as well as the development of emergency response. 

One argument presented is that public engagement leads to increased vigilance and emergency preparedness. Nuclear emergency response should not be governed by one elite body of scientists. Information should be crowd sourced from the public to increase awareness and transparency and lead to more ideas as well as public support. Another argument presented is that risk prevention has historically been the focus of governing bodies instead of risk acceptance and emergency response. A nuclear reactor being placed near the ocean is more fiscally responsible but natural disasters are unavoidable, regardless of the amount of risk prevention that has been taken. Instead, the focus should be on emergency response after natural disaster strikes. Safety is also sometimes substituted for profitability.

This site runs like any run of the mill website. If there are any issues or questions about the website there is contact information provided to seek assistance with the site or ask questions regarding the information. 

By phone: 866-692-9827
By email: wtchr@health.nyc.gov
By fax: 347-396-2893
By mail: WTC Health Registry
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
42-09 28th Street, CN 6W
Queens, NY 11101-4132

I have not found any opinions in the news about the program but several other educational institutions have released announcements about the program appearing to be advertisements.

The way in which the research was done is what made this an interesting read and peaked my interest in this article. Primary sources of information are quoted and interviewed. The conditions and treatment of inmates were documented and revealed by residents both past and present of Rikers, who have first hand insight into what it was like being detained there. Inmate testimony, as well as facts and statistics about the deteriorating facilities, pollution and poor conditions there were also provided. This information was supplied by numerous different organizations as well as studies and articles and then complied into this article. 

The report addresses disaster and health in how it describes actors' emergency response to the initial disaster as adequate but states the aid supplied does not allow progress to occur. The victims of the disaster were given temporary shelter in tents, but many still live in tents at the time of this report being written. These conditions led to a cholera outbreak which the actors did not seem to care about or provide aid for.