Disaster Medicine Section Newsroom

July 19, 2024

2024 Summer Newsletter

If you have ever read this newsletter, you have probably seen the “Calendar” which highlights upcoming disaster medicine events and opportunities for our members to explore. This May, I had the chance...

May 7, 2024

The WCK Family Mourns the Loss of These Heroes

These are the heroes of WCK. These 7 beautiful souls were killed by the IDF in a strike as they were returning from a full day’s mission. Their smiles, laughter, and voices are forever embedded in our...

May 7, 2024

Slothful Sabotage: Analyzing the Impact of Ransomware on Hospital Systems

Cyberattacks have the ability to bring entire hospital systems to a complete halt, leading to potentially devastating financial and medical consequences

May 2, 2024

Gender and Diversity Within Disaster Management: A Framework for Effective Analysis

Recent improvements in disaster management are mainly due to technological advancements, state-of-the-art preventive computer mapping, and decreased aid arrival times.

May 2, 2024

Letter from the Editor

Today, I find myself contemplating the March 26th collapse of the Key Bridge in Baltimore and the sequence of events that led to such a catastrophic incident. For this event to have occurred several c...

May 2, 2024

Disaster in the News

Strongest Earthquake in 25 Years Rocks Taiwan, Killing 9 People and Trapping 70 Workers in Quarries https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2024-04-02/a-strong-earthquake-hitsnear-taiwan-tsunami-al...

May 2, 2024

Upcoming Disaster Opportunities

Our goal is to align the ACEP Disaster Medicine Section with the educational and professional goals of our members.

February 27, 2024

Winter Newsletter

2024 is shaping up to be a very important year for the field of Disaster Medicine.

October 9, 2023

Reflections on the Response to a Resident Physician Strike in New York City (NYC)

From the morning of May 22 to May 27, 2023, New York City Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst in Queens, also known as Elmhurst Hospital Center, faced the first resident physician strike in NYC over the last ...

August 23, 2023

Active Shooter Disasters in the Hospital: An Expert’s View

Writer Lucinda Millsom interviews Dr. Matthew J. Levy, Deputy Director of Operational Medicine, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

August 23, 2023

Categorizing Technologies for Use During Health Emergencies and Disasters

From drone deliveries of medical supplies to remote monitoring of patients and real-time telehealth consults in austere environments, the implications of technologies utilized for disaster and prehosp...

August 22, 2023

Tele-Disaster Medicine: A Conversation with Dr. Jarone Lee

As the newsletter editor of the ACEP Telehealth section, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Jarone Lee about the NGO he co-founded – Health Tech Without Borders (HTWB).

August 22, 2023

Issues Identified by an Immediate Frontline Assessment Team for the 2023 Türkiye Earthquake

On February 6, 2023, at 04:17, a seismic event with a magnitude of 7.7 Mw on the moment magnitude scale occurred in the southeastern region of Turkey.

August 22, 2023

Controlled Chaos to Uncontrolled Chaos – Tornado Fallout

Writer Lucinda Millsom interviews Dr. Rebecca Tracy, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine - Division of EMS, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine about the December 2021 Edwardsville, ...

March 7, 2023

Aid for Earthquake in Turkey and Syria

We have been watching with great sorrow the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Many of you may be looking for ways to aid in the humanitarian response, so we would like to provide some g...

March 3, 2023

Ukraine Trauma Care Training

On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Surging numbers of trauma patients have strained Ukraine’s emergency care system – a system already under duress after eight yea...

March 3, 2023

Strengthening Trauma Care Capacity with Remote Training in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has caused a profound humanitarian crisis with trauma patients exceeding the nation’s healthcare capacity.

January 27, 2023

Supply Chain Challenges, Coordination, and the DASH Tool

Shortages of radiologic contrast materials, normal saline, N95 masks, even aspirin. Shortages of a frequency and intensity that were once unthinkable.

September 7, 2022

Disaster Response to Mendon, Missouri Train Derailment

On June 27, 2022, the north central Missouri rural community of Mendon, Missouri, population 161, suddenly became the site of an unexpected railroad disaster when Amtrak passenger train 4 known as the...

September 7, 2022

Reflections of 9/11

September 11, 2001 has forever left an indelible impression in our minds and hearts. Like a computer-generated scene out of a movie, American Airlines flight 11 abruptly crashed into the north tower o...

July 6, 2022

Intersection of CSC and Load Balancing in Washington State

Load balancing by patient transfer across regions and health systems during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a response to limited and maldistributed resources.

December 8, 2021

Letter from the 2019-2021 Chair

A letter of thanks from the Immediate Past Chair

December 8, 2021

Advances in Response to Collapse Disasters

Lillian Lockwood, MD, FACEP ACEP, Disaster Medicine Section Secretary and Newsletter Editor It has been 40 years since the devastating 1981 walkway collapse of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, ...

December 8, 2021

COVID-19 Long-haulers Syndrome in Healthcare Workers?

Lillian Lockwood, MD, FACEP ACEP, Disaster Medicine Section Secretary and Newsletter Editor The stress and fatigue are palpable. We have all been working harder and juggling multiple demands. Many of ...

December 8, 2021

Disaster, Covid-19, and Resources

Lacey Menkin-Smith, MD, FACEP South Carolina Chapter Emergency department staff are accustomed to a high-stress environment filled with varying degrees of uncertainty. We never know what may come thro...