This press release contains dated information and should be used for background only.
Before April 19, 1995, few people in the United States, including emergency responders, concerned themselves with thoughts of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, or chemical and biological attacks against civilians. Very few individuals, fire departments, police departments, paramedics, or hospital staff members were involved in planning, developing, and executing a mass-casualty response plan. That changed at 9:02 a.m. on that day.
The University of Kansas Medical Center Safety Office and University of Kansas Continuing Education are hosting a daylong seminar on Friday, December 13, 2002, at the Hilton Garden Inn–Reardon Center, 520 Minnesota Ave, Kansas City, Kan. The seminar, titled "Immediate Response to Weapons of Mass Destruction," will feature speakers from the Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism and other Oklahoma City responding organizations, who will present lessons that the entire community learned from the Oklahoma City bombing. The most important lesson was the degree to which contingency planning contributed to an effective response.
The lessons learned from Oklahoma City are applicable not only to terrorist attacks, but to industrial accidents, natural disasters, and other catastrophes. Seminar topics will include immediate incident response, the need for reliable communication, evaluating the scene, problem-solving, crowd control, post-incident debriefing, and stress management. At the end of the seminar, participants will be able to apply the Oklahoma City lessons to similar potential incidents in the Kansas City area.
Preregistration is requested and a discount is available for groups of 10 or more. Registration is available on the Web at www.kuce.org/kumcor by calling University of Kansas Continuing Education: toll free 877-404-KUCE (5823) or 785-864-5823. The registration fee includes refreshments, lunch, and continuing education credit.