Ebola Crisis Provides Organizations the Opportunity to Focus on Emergency Preparedness

FORT LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – The outbreak of Ebola virus in western Africa and the subsequent few cases in the United States should stimulate businesses, educational institutions and other organizations to review and update their emergency plans. The world today is smaller with international travel and trade. What appears to be a distant epidemic can be with us tomorrow. We need to be continually prepared to address all disasters.

James T. Howell, M.D., M.P.H.

As one of South Florida’s largest employers, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is focused on taking a proactive approach to ensure its students, faculty and staff are prepared for possible natural and manmade disasters. We conduct “practice drills” regularly and have protocols in place to help prevent and respond to disasters with the goal of educating our faculty and those we serve and preparing them to be safe.

As an example of NSU’s commitment to preparedness, we hosted an Ebola panel open to the NSU students, faculty and staff with representatives from several agencies, including Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue’s EMS Bureau, Broward Health and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport/North Perry Airport, along with experts from NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Institute for Disaster and Emergency Preparedness.

We want our students, faculty and staff to know that our inter-professional health teams are closely following the public health and medical implications of Ebola for the NSU community and for the public at large in coordination with local, state and national agencies. If needed, we are ready to initiate the appropriate response plans and protocols. This applies to more common diseases like influenza as well, and we recommend that the public considers vaccinations against this and other widespread preventable illnesses.

We encourage our colleagues in the community to hold open forums for their employees, students and other stakeholders to maintain a dialogue of understanding and preparedness for Ebola and other possible disasters that may occur. Education can help to reduce fear and panic. NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Institute for Disaster and Emergency Preparedness is available as a resource to our community and can be contacted at (954) 262-1850.

James T. Howell, M.D., M.P.H., is assistant dean for professional relations; chair, Department of Rural and Urban Underserved Medicine, professor of public health, and disaster and emergency preparedness specialist, NSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is also a former secretary of the Florida Department of Health.

The views expressed in this guest editorial are that of James T. Howell, M.D., M.P.H., and are not necessarily those of NSU, its President or Board of Trustees.

Contact information:
(954) 873-0867
jhowell@nova.edu                                       

# # #

About Nova Southeastern University: Situated on 314 beautiful acres in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a dynamic research institution dedicated to providing high-quality educational programs at all levels.  NSU is an independent, not-for-profit institution with 26,000 students at campuses in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Palm Beach and Tampa, Florida as well as San Juan, Puerto Rico. NSU awards associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, doctoral and first-professional degrees in a wide range of fields. NSU is classified as a research university with “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and it is one of only 37 universities nationwide to also be awarded Carnegie’s Community Engagement Classification. For more information, please visit www.nova.edu. Celebrating 50 years of academic excellence!

Media Contact:
Jeremy Katzman, M.B.A., APR | Office of Public Affairs
954-262-5408 (office)
954-661-7000 (cell)
j.katzman@nova.edu