Preparing for Nuclear War: CDC's Public Health Response to a Nuclear Detonation

[tnbutterfly - Mary]

Hospitals have been conducting disaster training classes to prepare for mass casualties, active shooters, bombings, and natural disasters. Now a new potential catastrophic disaster looms on the horizon. Nuclear war. This is a very disturbing thought.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a briefing for healthcare professionals on how to respond to a nuclear detonation. The Grand Round briefing will take place at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 16 at the CDC Global Communications Center in Georgia and will be webcast live and later available on-demand.

Here is the official announcement from the CDC:

While a nuclear detonation is unlikely, it would have devastating results and there would be limited time to take critical protection steps. Despite the fear surrounding such an event, planning and preparation can lessen deaths and illness. For instance, most people don't realize that sheltering in place for at least 24 hours is crucial to saving lives and reducing exposure to radiation. While federal, state, and local agencies will lead the immediate response efforts, public health will play a key role in responding.

Join us for this session of Grand Rounds to learn what public health programs have done on a federal, state, and local level to prepare for a nuclear detonation. Learn how planning and preparation efforts for a nuclear detonation are similar and different from other emergency response planning efforts.

CDC's Public Health Grand Rounds Presents:"Public Health Response to a Nuclear Detonation"

Tuesday, January 16, 20181:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (ET)

Global Communications Center (Building 19)Alexander D. Langmuir AuditoriumRoybal Campus

Next for hospitals in disaster planning: How to prepare for nuclear war.

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

This is such a serious topic and I don't want to minimize it any way. But all I could think of when I first read this post's title was those drills we did as kids in grammar school in the 1950's and early 1960's (Cuban Missile Crisis era).

Hide under our desks! That was it for the time.

Like you, I am a child of the Cuban missile crisis. I also lived in Florida, and my father was in the military. Not until years later did I find out how serious the situation was, and how close we came to going to war.

It is comforting to know that if someone decides to drop the big one, all I have to do is find a school desk to protect me.

I suppose that they had to tell us something other than that we would be incinerated in a matter of seconds.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

CNN posted 1/15/17: CDC postpones session on nuclear disaster response; instead having ground rounds on the severe Flu Epidemic

CDC postpones session on nuclear disaster response

CDC: Public Health Response to Severe Influenza

[SummitRN, BSN, RN]

CNN posted 1/15/17: CDC postpones session on nuclear disaster response; instead having ground rounds on the severe Flu Epidemic

CDC postpones session on nuclear disaster response

CDC: Public Health Response to Severe Influenza

I wonder if this as anything to do with the false missile attack alarm in Hawaii over the weekend?