Coalitions help healthcare facilities prepare for disasters

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the federal government saw a need to improve readiness in the healthcare sector, so in 2002, the federal government funded the Hospital Preparedness Program, according to an article on the Messenger-Inquirer website.

Before that, readiness funding primarily went to fire and law enforcement agencies rather than healthcare.

Today, there are nearly 500 health care coalitions across the U.S. The nation's Hospital Preparedness Program is the only federal funding source for healthcare system readiness, the article said.

"Hospitals are much more prepared now for a contagious event or large industrial accident than they were a decade ago,"  said Jim Duke, Ohio's Region 3 Healthcare Preparedness Coalition chairman.

Read the article.