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In the United States, community emergency response team (CERT) can refer to
Forensic pathology is pathology that focuses on determining the cause of death by examining a corpse. A post mortem examination is performed by a medical examiner or forensic pathologist, usually during the investigation of criminal law cases and civil law cases in some jurisdictions. Coroners and medical examiners are also frequently asked to confirm the identity of remains.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders on April 1, 1979. The agency's primary purpose is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities. The governor of the state in which the disaster occurs must declare a state of emergency and formally request from the President that FEMA and the federal government respond to the disaster. The only exception to the state's gubernatorial declaration requirement occurs when an emergency or disaster takes place on federal property or to a federal asset—for example, the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, or the Space Shuttle Columbia in the 2003 return-flight disaster.
A morgue or mortuary is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have customarily been refrigerated to delay decomposition.
Forensic dentistry or forensic odontology involves the handling, examination, and evaluation of dental evidence in a criminal justice context. Forensic dentists assist investigative agencies in identifying human remains, particularly in cases when identifying information is otherwise scarce or nonexistent—for instance, identifying burn victims by consulting the victim's dental records. Forensic dentists may also be asked to assist in determining the age, race, occupation, previous dental history, and socioeconomic status of unidentified human beings.
A diener is a morgue worker responsible for handling, moving, and cleaning the corpse. In the UK, the equivalent job title is 'Mortuary Assistant', whilst the preparation, evisceration and reconstruction of the deceased is performed by an Anatomical Pathology Technician. In the US, Dieners are also referred to as "mortuary assistants" or "autopsy technicians". The word is derived from the German word Leichendiener, which literally means corpse servant.
Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actually focus on the management of emergencies, which can be understood as minor events with limited impacts and are managed through the day to day functions of a community. Instead, emergency management focuses on the management of disasters, which are events that produce more impacts than a community can handle on its own. The management of disasters tends to require some combination of activity from individuals and households, organizations, local, and/or higher levels of government. Although many different terminologies exist globally, the activities of emergency management can be generally categorized into preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery, although other terms such as disaster risk reduction and prevention are also common. The outcome of emergency management is to prevent disasters and where this is not possible, to reduce their harmful impacts.
The disaster recovery response to Hurricane Katrina in late 2005 included U.S. federal government agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the United States Coast Guard (USCG), state and local-level agencies, federal and National Guard soldiers, non-governmental organizations, charities, and private individuals. Tens of thousands of volunteers and troops responded or were deployed to the disaster; most in the affected area but also throughout the U.S. at shelters set up in at least 19 states.
A disaster medical assistance team (DMAT) is a group of professional medical personnel organized to provide rapid-response medical care or casualty decontamination during a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or other incident in the United States.
The National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) is a federally coordinated healthcare system and partnership of the United States Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS), Defense (DOD), and Veterans Affairs (VA). The purpose of the NDMS is to support State, local, Tribal and Territorial authorities following disasters and emergencies by supplementing health and medical systems and response capabilities. NDMS would also support the military and the Department of Veterans Affairs health care systems in caring for combat casualties, should requirements exceed their capacity.
The Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York (OCME) is a department within the city government that investigates cases of persons who die within New York City from criminal violence; by casualty or by suicide; suddenly, when in apparent good health; when unattended by a physician; in a correctional facility; or in any suspicious or unusual manner. The OCME also investigates when an application is made pursuant to law for a permit to cremate the body of a deceased person.
A mass fatality incident is an emergency management term used to identify an incident involving more dead bodies and/or body parts than can be located, identified, and processed for final disposition by available response resources.
Disaster medicine is the area of medical specialization serving the dual areas of providing health care to disaster survivors and providing medically related disaster preparation, disaster planning, disaster response and disaster recovery leadership throughout the disaster life cycle. Disaster medicine specialists provide insight, guidance and expertise on the principles and practice of medicine both in the disaster impact area and healthcare evacuation receiving facilities to emergency management professionals, hospitals, healthcare facilities, communities and governments. The disaster medicine specialist is the liaison between and partner to the medical contingency planner, the emergency management professional, the incident command system, government and policy makers.
A mass casualty incident describes an incident in which emergency medical services resources, such as personnel and equipment, are overwhelmed by the number and severity of casualties. For example, an incident where a two-person crew is responding to a motor vehicle collision with three severely injured people could be considered a mass casualty incident. The general public more commonly recognizes events such as building collapses, train and bus collisions, plane crashes, earthquakes and other large-scale emergencies as mass casualty incidents. Events such as the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the September 11 attacks in 2001, and the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 are well-publicized examples of mass casualty incidents. The most common types of MCIs are generally caused by terrorism, mass-transportation accidents, fires or natural disasters. A multiple casualty incident is one in which there are multiple casualties. However the key difference from a mass casualty incident is that in a multiple casualty incident the resources available are sufficient to manage the needs of the victims. The issue of resource availability is therefore critical to the understanding of these concepts. One crosses over from a multiple to a mass casualty incident when resources are exceeded and the systems are overwhelmed.
The Unified Victim Identification System (UVIS) is an Internet-enabled database system developed for the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York (OCME) in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on New York City and the crash of American Airlines Flight 587. It is intended to handle critical fatality management functions made necessary by a major disaster. UVIS is a strong flexible role-based application and permissions can be controlled dynamically.
Homeland Security Grant Program (HSGP) is a program in the United States established in 2003 and was designated to incorporate all projects that provide funding to local, state, and Federal government agencies by the Department of Homeland Security. The purpose of the grants is to purchase surveillance equipment, weapons, and advanced training for law enforcement personnel in order to heighten security. The HSGP helps fulfill one of the core missions of the Department of Homeland Security by enhancing the country's ability to prepare for, prevent, respond to and recover from potential attacks and other hazards. The HSGP is one of the main mechanisms in funding the creation and maintenance of national preparedness, which refers to the establishment of plans, procedures, policies, training, and equipment at the Federal, State, and local level that is needed to maximize the ability to prevent, respond to, and recover from major events such as terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies. The HSGP's creation stemmed from the consolidation of six original projects that were previously funded by the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness. The HSGP now encompasses five projects in the program: State Homeland Security Program, Urban Areas Security Initiative, Operation Stonegarden, Metropolitan Medical Response System Program, and Citizen Corps Program. During the 2010 fiscal year, the Department of Homeland Security will spend $1,786,359,956 on the Homeland Security Grant Program.
National Response Scenario Number One is the United States federal government's planned response to a nuclear attack. It is one of the National Response Scenarios developed by the United States Department of Homeland Security, considered the most likely of fifteen emergency scenarios to impact the United States. The Scenarios are related to the National Response Framework (NRF), which describes the structures and mechanisms of a response and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) that gives a framework to orchestrate emergency management.
Forensic and Scientific Services (FSS) is part of Queensland Health and provides specialist scientific and medical analysis and independent expert advice in the state of Queensland, Australia. It is sometimes referred to as the John Tonge Centre.
Human identification by forensic scientists can be done by three primary methods; friction ridge Analysis, DNA analysis and comparative dental analysis which is one of the roles of a forensic odontologist. It is the process of identification by a post-mortem dental examination of a deceased individual comparing these findings with the ante-mortem dental records, radiographs, study casts, etc. Believed to be those of the individual implicated assessing the concordance and/or discrepancy of the comparison of results. Teeth are resilient, and along with the highly specific and unique type, location and configuration of restorations, might be the only features used for the identification of bodies found in burnt, decomposed, skeletonised, or macerated condition.
Mary Huffman Manhein is an American forensic anthropologist. Nicknamed The Bone Lady, she was the founding director of the Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services (FACES) laboratory at Louisiana State University (LSU) in 1990, and of the Louisiana Repository for Unidentified and Missing Persons Information Program in 2006. The repository is considered the "most comprehensive statewide database of its kind".
References
- 1 2 3 "DMORT". National Disaster Medical System. Archived from the original on September 6, 2006. Retrieved September 6, 2006.
- 1 2 "DMORT History Page". DMORT.org. February 28, 2004. Archived from the original on September 25, 2006. Retrieved September 7, 2006.
- ↑ "The NTSB and DMORT". DMORT.org. April 23, 2005. Archived from the original on September 25, 2006. Retrieved September 7, 2006.
- ↑ "Who Became Part of the Department?". History of the Department of Homeland Security. Department of Homeland Security. Archived from the original on September 5, 2006. Retrieved September 7, 2006.
- ↑ "Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams (DMORTs)". Public Health Emergency. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. September 25, 2015. Archived from the original on 2011-02-28. Retrieved 9 April 2011.
- ↑ Lopez William, William; Celona, Larry; Golding, Bruce (24 March 2020). "Makeshift morgue for coronavirus victims set up outside NYC hospital". New York Post. Retrieved 25 March 2020.