An important aspect of public health has always been preparedness. The COVID-19 pandemic and other contemporary recovery efforts from public health emergencies and disasters have highlighted the need to ensure resources, training, and tools are available so crucial health workers are prepared to meet the challenges ahead. In support of this effort, the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP) has developed a series of courses on pandemic preparedness and response, mass care community sheltering and relocation assistance, and post-disaster housing and economic recovery.
The NCDP of Columbia University, celebrating 20 years, is an academically based, interdisciplinary center focused on the capacity to prevent, respond to, and recover from disasters. NCDP’s approach combines research, policy, education, and high-level advocacy to ensure that the best thinking — and best practices — become part of our national disaster preparedness and recovery systems.
The web-based preparedness trainings, funded by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), are available to anyone with a FEMA student identification number (SID) and is designed to assist the public health workforce, and other practitioners and communities, in preparing and bouncing back from catastrophic events. These trainings highlight best practices and lessons learned, with a specific focus on the needs of society’s most vulnerable. Learners will have access to courses that cover multiple important recovery topics, including: