Drs. Amler and Markenson Speak at National Academies' Conference on Children in Disasters
Robert W. Amler, M.D., M.B.A., and David S. Markenson, M.D., M.B.A., brought their expertise in disaster medicine to the NASEM, on July 22-23, 2020.
Robert W. Amler, M.D., M.B.A., vice president for government affairs and dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice, and David S. Markenson, M.D., M.B.A., director and medical director of the Center for Disaster Medicine, brought their expertise in disaster medicine to a federal panel at the Washington D.C.-based National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM, formerly National Academy of Sciences), July 22-23, 2020. Titled “From Hurricane Katrina to Paradise Wildfires, Exploring Themes in Disaster Human Services,” the national conference focused on children and youth in disasters. Dr. Amler moderated the panel, which convened expert panelists from across the nation and focused on the critical child infrastructure and how it manages to function during and after a major natural or environmental disaster.
“Response to a disaster is always tough,” he said as he opened the discussion, “but we all know that recovery after a disaster can be even tougher in many ways – it takes longer, costs more, and has farther-reaching consequences that must be managed, sometimes for years after the initial disaster has occurred.”
“Far too often, communities limit their initial disaster planning, assuming a population entirely made up of healthy, mobile adults,” he said in his presentation to the workshop. “They fail to recognize that 20 percent or more of their people are young children, so their adult-only strategies are flawed. They need the recommendations of national panels like this one to ensure that all their people are properly cared for.”
The two-day conference was attended by an online audience of 250-300. NYMC’s Center for Disaster Medicine has published an online COVID-19 Bulletin semi-weekly since March 2020.