Material Management Specialist and member of the Emergency Management Team, Scott E. DeLong, from Douglas County Hospital, recently completed training offered by the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP), in Anniston, Ala. The CDP is operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency and is the only federally-chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training facility in the nation.

“The tremendous firsthand knowledge and information from the instructors who have active participants in catastrophic events was unparalleled,” said DeLong. He added, “Learning the most current, up-to-date methodologies and techniques when dealing with an emergency situation has given me and our Emergency Management Team at Douglas County Hospital the tools to appropriately and effectively respond to critical situations. This training has also given me the opportunity to consider and plan for the various potential emergency situations that could arise in our community knowing our diverse industry, demographics and proximity to a major interstate. Without a doubt I feel this training is excellent and would recommend it to any emergency preparedness professional.”

The CDP develops and delivers advanced training for emergency response providers, emergency managers, and other government officials from state, local, and tribal governments. The CDP offers more than 40 training courses focusing on incident management, mass casualty response, and emergency response to a catastrophic natural disaster or terrorist act. Training at the CDP campus is federally funded at no cost to state, local, and tribal emergency response professionals or their agency.

Resident training at the CDP includes healthcare and public health courses at the Noble Training Facility, the Nation’s only hospital dedicated to training healthcare professionals in disaster preparedness and response.

A number of resident training courses culminate at the CDP’s Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological (COBRA) Training Facility. The COBRA is the nation’s only facility featuring civilian training exercises in a true toxic environment using chemical agents. The advanced hands-on training enables responders to effectively prevent, respond to, and recover from real-world incidents involving acts of terrorism and other hazardous materials.

Responders participating in CDP training gain critical skills and confidence to respond effectively to local incidents or potential WMD events.

Information about CDP training programs can be found at http://cdp.dhs.gov.