September 2015 marks the 12th annual National Preparedness Month, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The theme for 2015 is “Don't Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today.”
Being prepared to prevent, respond to, and recover from public health threats is critical to our nation’s emergency preparedness. TRAIN, the nation’s premier learning management network for professionals who protect the public’s health, allows anyone to search for and participate in trainings that build preparedness skills. With both the Public Health Preparedness (PHEP) Capabilities and Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHPR) Core Competencies integrated into TRAIN, public health professionals can search for courses directly tied to these competencies and capabilities.
Also available through a partnership between the Public Health Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a national training plan, Foundations of Public Health Preparedness. This plan is built upon the Public Health Preparedness and Response Core Competencies.
National Preparedness Month partners encourage you, your family, community, and workplace to take action by planning a National PrepareAthon! Day on or around September 30th. This is part of America’s PrepareAthon!, a national community-based campaign focusing on increasing emergency preparedness through hazard-specific drills, group discussions, and exercises.
Each week has its own preparedness theme. The links below go to a list of available courses on TRAIN that relate to each theme.
Begin your preparedness learning during National Preparedness Month by creating a TRAIN account and browsing the emergency readiness subject area. You can also visit Ready.gov to explore how else you or your organization can get involved during National Preparedness Month. Lastly, be sure to follow TRAIN’s Facebook and Twitter feeds and the #PHPR, #NatlPrep, and #PrepareAthon hashtags for highlighted trainings and news throughout September.
1. “2015 National Preparedness Month (NPM)”. http://www.ready.gov/september. Accessed on August 24, 2015.