Are We Ready? [electronic resource] : Public Health Since 9/11.

ISBN:

9780520940475

9781282360167

9780520249202

9780520250383

Title:

Are We Ready? [electronic resource] : Public Health Since 9/11.

Author:

Rosner, David, 1947-

Personal Author:

Rosner, David, 1947-

Publication Information:

CA : University of California Press, 2006.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (211 pages).

Series:

California/Milbank books on health and the public ; 15

Contents:

Cover; Contents; Foreword; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction: Remembering the Moment; 1 September 11 and the Shifting Priorities of Public and Population Health in New York City; 2 Emergency Preparedness, Bioterrorism, and the States; 3 Emergency Preparedness, Bioterrorism, and the CDC: Federal Involvement before and after 9/11; Conclusion: What Lessons Have We Learned?; Notes; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Y; Z.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Medical policy -- United States.

Emergency medical services -- United States.

Emergency management -- United States.

September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001 -- Health aspects -- New York (State) -- New York.

Geographic Term:

United States.

New York (N.Y.)

Added Author:

Markowitz, Gerald E.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2006

Publication Information:

CA : University of California Press, 2006.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
362.18	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A contemporary history of a critical period, Are We Ready? analyzes the impact of 9/11, the anthrax attacks that followed, and preparations for a possible smallpox attack on the nation's public health infrastructure. David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz interviewed local, state, and federal officials to determine the immediate reactions of key participants in these events. The authors explore the extent to which these emergencies permanently altered the political, cultural, and organizational life of the country and consider whether the nation is now better prepared to withstand another potentially devastating attack. This well-reasoned and well-researched book presents compelling evidence that few with hands-on experience with disease and emergency preparedness believe that an adequate response to terrorism--whether biological, chemical, or radiological--is possible without a strong and vibrant infrastructure to provide everyday services as well as emergency responses.

Are We Ready? begins with an examination of the experiences of local New York officials who were the first responders to 9/11 and follows them as events unfolded and as state and national authorities arrived. It goes on to analyze how various states dealt with changing federal funding for a variety of public health services. Using oral histories of CDC and other federal officials, the book then focuses on the federal reaction to 9/11 and anthrax. What emerges is a picture of dedicated public servants who were overcome by the emotions of the moment yet who were able to react in ways that significantly reduced the public anxiety and public health threat. Despite the extraordinary opportunity to revitalize and reinvigorate the nation's public health infrastructure, the growing federal and state budget deficits, the refocusing of national attention on the war in Iraq, and the passage of time all combined to undermine many of the needed reforms to the nation's public health defenses.

Copub: Milbank Memorial Fund

Author Notes

Rosner David :

David Rosner is Professor of Public Health and History at Columbia University and Codirector of the Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health. Gerald Markowitz is Distinguished Professor of History at John Jay College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. They are coauthors of Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution (UC Press).

Reviews (2)

Choice Review

The answer to the title's question is an ambivalent "maybe," and is contingent on many "ifs." Rosner (Columbia) and Markowitz (John Jay College and CUNY Graduate Center) direct their study's findings at public officials. They interviewed many of these officials in the aftermaths of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the subsequent anthrax cases and smallpox campaign. The Gulf Coast Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005 would have been a logical addition had it occurred three years earlier. Preparedness is the key concept, and that, in turn, hinges on a proper public health infrastructure at all levels--not only the physical infrastructure but also the logistics of response. Satisfactory funding is an obvious necessity, as is effective leadership in time of crisis. This book provides an excellent overview of the country's strengths and weaknesses for coping with unsettling disasters as they affect public health. It is a preliminary blueprint that the US must adhere to and improve upon if human and material sacrifices are to be minimized with future occurrences. Optimists might even argue that preparedness spells prevention. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above; general readers. M. Kroger emeritus, Pennsylvania State University, University Park Campus

Library Journal Review

Written by distinguished scholars Rosner (public health & history, Columbia Univ.) and Markowitz (history, John Jay Coll., CUNY Graduate Ctr.) and copublished by the respected Milbank Memorial Fund, Are We Ready? documents the public health response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the transformation of public health agencies in the tragedy's aftermath. Although firefighters are the best-recalled faces of 9/11, public health officers at all levels of government responded immediately, dealing with issues such as the control of rats fleeing damaged buildings and disposal of contaminated food from restaurants in blockaded areas. State and local public health personnel and facilities, reeling from years of budget cuts, were further challenged when threats of bioterrorism reached the press. Oral histories from state, local, and Centers for Disease Control staff and administrators who struggled through these crises yield important lessons, including the crucial role of mental health services and the urgent necessity for improved coordination of agencies at all levels. Completed before the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and before that department's infamous Hurricane Katrina response, this book may be part of a saga still in process, but medical and academic libraries will find it a useful addition.-Kathy Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.