Outline for mass disaster response
Local dental societies can tailor ADA plan to meet needs
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Posted Sept. 16, 2005 |
By Arlene Furlong Dental societies have a head start in the development of a mass disaster action plan.
"Dentistry's Response to Bioterrorism and Other Mass Disasters" is an ADA-developed template all dental societies can use to plan for providing assistance in response to mass disasters. The template was distributed to all state dental societies in the fall of 2003.
"Local dental societies can use this template to custom-design a plan for dentistry's response in their own areas," recommends Dr. Albert H. Guay, ADA chief policy advisor and lead staff person in the Association's activities surrounding mass disasters and bioterrorism. "It was designed with the recognition that dental societies have varying levels of interest and resources that can be devoted to emergency response activities."
A groundbreaking consensus — that dentistry can make a significant difference in the event of a mass disaster or bioterrorist attack — was drawn at the Association's Role of Dentistry in Bioterrorism Conference held at ADA Headquarters in June 2002. Key representatives of state and federal agencies, dental organizations, the military, academia and ADA staff participated. (The complete consensus report was published in the September 2002 issue of The Journal of the American Dental Association. Also in JADA, Bioterrorism and Catastrophe Response: A Quick-Reference Guide to Resources, June 2003.)
In early 2003, a broad-scoped conference on dentistry's role in mass disasters, cosponsored by the Association and the U.S. Public Health Service, convened. Results from its findings and the ADA's ongoing efforts to identify the role of
dentistry in bioterrorism and mass disasters and its potential response formed the basis for the template.
"What we've done here is to eliminate the wasted effort of having every state society start from scratch in considering how to participate in an emergency response," says ADA Executive Director James Bramson.
"Dentists should want to know about state and local disaster planning efforts and learn how to become involved in these efforts," he suggests.
For a copy of the template and continuing information and resources, go to the Bioterrorism Dental Topic.
For information about your local dental society's bioterrorism and mass disaster response activities, call your local dental society directly.
For more information about disaster planning and recovery, visit www.ada.org/goto/disaster.
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