This is a new section that began in the previous issue. In this part of the Newsletter we will interview Health Administration Section leaders and members.
We are interviewing Linda Landesman, PhD, author of the book titled "Public heath management of disasters: the practice guide". Landesman is currently Co-Chair of the CEI Committee. She also served as the HAS Governing Council Representative from 1998-2003.
Our intent is to interview members as well as our leadership. If you know of a member who is both interesting and willing to be interviewed, please suggest his or her name to the Newsletter editor. If you are interested in being interviewed, please contact me. And now the interview with Linda Landesman.
HAS News: What is your background (What do you currently do?) and how did it prepare you to write this book?
Dr. Landesman: For the past nine years, I have been an assistant vice president at the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), where I am responsible for almost $600 million in contracts between the city hospitals and the medical schools and other provider groups, for graduate medical education and for research across HHC. I sit on numerous advisory boards, including the WMD Advisory Board for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the WTC Evacuation Study at Mailman School of Public Health Advisory Board, the Center for Public Health Preparedness at Mailman School of Public Health, and the Emergency Preparedness Council of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.
My interest in emergency preparedness began in the early 1980s when I was a practicing social worker in Orange County, California. In learning about earthquake preparedness - a big concern in southern California - it became apparent that there was a gap between pre-hospital and hospital mental health services. I worked with the Red Cross and with FEMA when there was a national push to increase medical sector participation in emergency management activities. In those years, there was a very active effort through the ASTM F-30 committee to develop national voluntary emergency medical service standards, and I was active in the efforts that developed those initial national disaster standards.
My interest in public health preparedness crystallized during my doctoral work - my dissertation assessed hospital preparedness for chemical accidents. As a doctoral student, I reached out to the then Program Development Board (now Science Board) of APHA and suggested that the organization expand its activities regarding disaster preparedness. As a result, the PDB, and then the Health Administration Section, organized solicited sessions about disaster-related topics for the annual meetings. Needing material for a presentation at one of those sessions, I surveyed the schools of public health to determine what disaster-related courses were being offered. Following the massive public health impact of Hurricane Andrew in Florida in 1992, that survey became the basis for a Letter to The Editor published in AJPH, calling for formalized public health training in disaster preparedness and response.
HAS News: What motivated you to write the book?
Dr. Landesman: While much has been accomplished in preparing the public health workforce since those early days, in the early '90s, most public health practitioners had little interest in emergency preparedness, nor did they see these activities as part of their role. In 1993 and 1994, I organized two conferences to generate interest in this area by bringing schools of public health together with current leaders in public health preparedness. In the initial conference, only 20 schools sent representatives. From those conferences came the Curriculum, which was the foundation for the first edition of "Public Health Management of Disasters: The Practice Guide."
As a practicing social worker in a hospital setting, one of the first tasks is to gather all of your resources – referral information, agencies which can provide follow-up services, etc. In emergency management, those resources are widespread. This is particularly difficult for public health which, needing expansive and diverse technical expertise, must bring together information from a wide range of specialized areas in which there had been minimal academic preparation. My goal, in the first edition of the book, was to facilitate both a basic understanding of the public health role and how it is integrated within the various components of emergency preparedness and response, and to provide one location for many of the tools needed by those in the field.
The draft of the first edition was finished in the spring of 2001 and published by APHA that October. After the events of the World Trade Center collapse, many more resources and response activities became available from a variety of sources. Foremost, the entire federal system was reorganized. The second edition began as an expansion of the chapter on federal, state and local response. I expanded the types of disasters described with morbidity and mortality and public health interventions, included a new chapter on disasters and those with disabilities, setting up assistance centers, credentialing providers, points of distribution centers, occupational health issues, tables on ensuring safe food, maintaining, vaccine cold chain, etc. Further, we printed the first edition without an index because of an interest in getting it out quickly after the events of 9/11/01. The second edition has an index, so it is easy to locate specific material.
HAS News: Who is the audience for your book? What degree of experience and knowledge does your audience need to have to gain the most from your book?
Dr. Landesman: The audience is quite broad - public health practitioners, emergency management, first responders, government officials, hospital administrators and providers. Students without any exposure to emergency preparedness can learn the basics from my book. Experienced practitioners can use the book as a handy resource. The first edition was purchased by libraries, by universities as a course textbook, by health departments, by offices of emergency management, by emergency medical services and by others. A copy is even in the White House library.
HAS News: What do you expect to have happen in public health disaster management as a result of your writing this book?
Dr. Landesman: Since the publication of the Letter to the Editor in 1993, academic preparation of the public health workforce is now ubiquitous. Before public health was involved, offices of emergency management, who may have lacked the necessary training, often handled the health related aspects of a disaster response. In many communities, public health is now an integrated member of the emergency response team. Public health practitioners participate in community planning and are often in the forefront when an emergency has resulted in events that have public health implications. In the end, this can lead to reduced morbidity and in some cases, mortality, from disasters and other public health emergencies. My goal is to see skillful public health practitioners being called upon in all communities in the U.S. Hopefully, public health preparedness today can protect us and help our nation prosper in as powerful a way as public health activities which ensured clean water and safe food in the turn of the last century.
HAS News: How did you come up with the title for your book?
Dr. Landesman: Despite my years in administration, I still think like a practitioner. The title of the book reflects that influence and the desire to aid those in the field.
HAS News: Do you have any plans for another book in the same, similar or totally different area?
Dr. Landesman: I am planning to convert the book to a consumer version and to write an instructor's guide, or something similar.
HAS News: Is there anything additional you would like to share with Section members?
Dr. Landesman: Health administrators have a lead role in emergency preparedness, and it is very gratifying to see the discipline evolve and be seen as experts in the field. I am proud to be one of the group.