The Joint Commission and JCR Present the 2013 Emergency Preparedness Conference

OAK BROOK, IL--(Marketwire - Feb 22, 2013) - Within just the past two years, NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, N.Y., has had to evacuate its staff and patients twice due to Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy. In the face of both natural disasters, the hospital's staff was able to keep patients safe and learn valuable emergency preparedness and management lessons in the process. On May 1-2, 2013, Kristin Stevens, the director of emergency management at NYU Langone Medical Center, will present what hospital staff learned before, during and after Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy's fury at The Joint Commission and Joint Commission Resources' (JCR) 2013 emergency preparedness conference, "Is Recovery Ever Really Over?" at the Tropicana Las Vegas Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev.

The 2013 emergency preparedness conference will feature first-hand accounts of lessons learned from disasters such as Superstorm Sandy. The conference will also supply attendees with a wide range of strategies for implementing effective emergency preparedness, management and recovery processes in their own hospitals. Plenary presentations will also detail how health care coalitions can improve performance and care during a disaster; new resources that can aid hospital evacuations; and how to develop a comprehensive continuity-of-operations program and identify potential emergency management challenges.

In addition to the plenary presentations, an in-depth panel session will provide a discussion session with speakers, including: Kristin Stevens from Langone Medical Center; Dennis Manley, RN, HRM, CPHQ, interim chief nursing officer and vice president quality at Mercy Hospital in Joplin, Mo.; John Maurer, CHFM, CHSP, engineer in the Department of Engineering at The Joint Commission; and Hank Wheeler, CHSP, CHFM, SASHE, director of Facility Services at Hancock Medical in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and surveyor for The Joint Commission. They will discuss how their hospitals and others have responded to different emergencies such as tornadoes, generator failures and hurricanes. The panel will also explain how Joint Commission standards can support short-term and long-term health care disaster recovery efforts.

The final day of the conference will feature a breakfast briefing and Q&A session for those new to emergency management on The Joint Commission's emergency management standards, as well as a choice of two separate learning tracks covering different aspects of disaster risk reduction and methods for recovery improvement.

The 2013 emergency preparedness conference is recommended for hospital and health system C-suite level leadership and any staff responsible for disaster planning, emergency preparedness, disaster medicine, patient safety, operations, risk management, supply chain and materials management, security, infection control, community health, or public health. For pricing information and to register for the conference, please call JCR Customer Service at (877) 223-6866 or to register online, view additional details and download a conference agenda, visit: http://store.jcrinc.com/emergency-preparedness-conference-may-1-2-2013/. To view additional details for all of JCR's educational events in 2013, visit: http://store.jcrinc.com/learning-events/conferences-and-seminars/.

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including more than 10,600 hospitals and home care organizations, and more than 6,600 other health care organizations that provide long term care, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission also certifies more than 2,400 disease-specific care programs such as stroke, heart failure, joint replacement and stroke rehabilitation, and 400 health care staffing services. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Learn more about The Joint Commission at www.jointcommission.org.

Joint Commission Resources (JCR), a not-for-profit affiliate of The Joint Commission, is the official publisher and educator of The Joint Commission. JCR is an expert resource for health care organizations, providing consulting services, educational services and publications to assist in improving quality and safety and to help in meeting the accreditation standards of The Joint Commission. JCR provides consulting services independently from The Joint Commission and in a fully confidential manner. Please visit our Web site at www.jcrinc.com.

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