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<TITLE>5/3 - Disaster Preparedness in Massachusetts: Ready? Or Not?</TITLE>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:16.0px'><B>The Ford Hall Forum and the Massachusetts Medical Society <BR>
</B>Present<BR>
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<B>Disaster Preparedness in Massachusetts:<BR>
Ready? Or Not?<BR>
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with<BR>
<B><U>Paul D. Biddinger and Lisa Stone<BR>
</U></B>moderated by<B> Stephen Smith<BR>
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Thursday, May 3, at 6:30-8:00 pm<BR>
at the<BR>
Old South Meeting House <BR>
</FONT></SPAN></FONT><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'>(directions at www.fordhallforum.org/directions.html) <BR>
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<B>-FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC-
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Real and predicted calamities during the last decade have placed a sharp focus on America's need to prepare for disaster. In particular, Hurricane Katrina showed the nation just how devastating a lack of preparation can be. Massachusetts now faces a host of questions about our ability to respond to emergency situations — whether it is an LNG tank explosion or an avian flu pandemic. Officials are raising their voices to say we need to do more, and do it soon. But is anyone listening? With the State Legislature yet to act on a pandemic preparations bill and hospital emergency rooms throughout the Commonwealth already operating beyond capacity, just how ready is our state to cope with a major disaster? What really needs to be done to prepare? And what are the consequences of inaction? <BR>
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The evening’s program will feature <B>Paul D. Biddinger</B> (MD, FACEP, chairman of the Massachusetts Medical Society Committee on Preparedness, and physician at Massachusetts General Hospital) and <B>Lisa Stone</B> (MD, Hospital Preparedness Coordinator, Massachusetts Department of Public Health). The discussion will be moderated by <B>Stephen Smith</B>, <I>Boston Globe</I> public health reporter.
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<U>Come join the conversation.<BR>
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The <B>Ford Hall Forum</B> promotes freedom of speech and fosters an informed and effective citizenry through the public presentation of lectures, debates, and discussions. Its events illuminate the key issues facing our society by bringing to its podium knowledgeable and thought-provoking speakers, including some of the most controversial opinion leaders of our times. These speakers are presented in person, for free, and in settings, which facilitate frank and open debate. As the nation’s oldest free public lecture series, it has a storied past as a venue for some of the most intriguing figures in our nation’s modern history, including Maya Angelou, Isaac Asimov, Alan Dershowitz, W.E.B. DuBois, Stephen Jay Gould, Al Gore, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Henry Kissinger, Norman Mailer, Ayn Rand, Cokie Roberts, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Malcolm X, to name just a few. <BR>
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Programs of the Ford Hall Forum are made possible through contributions from individual members as well as corporations and foundations, including The Boston Foundation, The Boston Public Library, The Colonnade Hotel in Boston’s Back Bay, Fidelity Investments, The Fred and Marty Corneel Fund, Houghton Chemical Corporation, Levine Katz Nannis + Solomon P.C., The Lowell Institute, Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Nellie Mae Education Foundation, Northeastern University, The Old South Meeting House, Prince, Lobel, Glovsky & Tye LLP, and WBUR 90.9 FM. For more information log onto www.fordhallforum.org or contact Alex Minier at <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U>alex@fordhallforum.org</U></FONT>, 617-373-5800.<BR>
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<B>The Massachusetts Medical Society</B>, with some 18,300 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The Society publishes The New England Journal of Medicine, one of the world’s leading medical journals; the Journal Watch family of professional newsletters covering 11 specialties; and AIDS Clinical Care. The Society is also a leader in continuing medical education for health care professionals throughout Massachusetts. Founded in 1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in the country. For more information, visit <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://www.massmed.org">http://www.massmed.org</a></U></FONT>.<BR>
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The Ford Hall Forum and Massachusetts Medical Society present this program in collaboration with the <B>Old South Meeting House</B>, as part of their Partners in Public Dialogue Series. Old South Meeting House is a non-profit museum and historic site, located on the Freedom Trail, dedicated to sustaining the building’s tradition as a community-gathering place for the free exchange of ideas and to provide a place where people can connect the issues of the past with the issues of today. It receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency, and other public and private sources. Visit www.oldsouthmeetinghouse.org for more information.<BR>
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Many Ford Hall Forum programs are made available online by our partners at the <B>WGBH Forum Network</B>. To download free audio and video of recent events, visit <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://forum.wgbh.org/wgbh/forum.php?organization=Ford+Hall+Forum">http://forum.wgbh.org/wgbh/forum.php?organization=Ford+Hall+Forum</a></U></FONT>.<BR>
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<B><U>Additional Background information:<BR>
</U>Paul D. Biddinger, MD, FACEP<BR>
</B>Dr. Paul Biddinger is the Director of Operations as well as Director of Prehospital Care and Disaster Medicine in the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine in Boston. He is also Associate Director of the Harvard School of Public Health Center for Public Health Preparedness and he holds academic appointments at Harvard Medical School and at the Harvard School of Public Health. Additionally, Dr. Biddinger is the Medical Director for Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital EMS and the Assistant Medical Director for Boston Medflight. Dr. Biddinger has lectured locally, regionally, and nationally on topics of preparedness and disaster medicine. He has authored numerous articles and book chapters on multiple topics related to emergency medical services and disaster medicine. He completed his undergraduate study in international relations at Princeton University, attended medical school at Vanderbilt University, and completed residency training in emergency medicine at Harvard.<BR>
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<B>Lisa Stone, MD<BR>
</B>Lisa received her MD from the George Washington University School of Medicine, and completed her Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine at University Hospital in Boston. She received an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2001. She served on her local Board of Health for eight years, and began working for the Department of Public Health in 2004. As the Hospital Preparedness Coordinator for the Department of Public Heath, Lisa works with the six regional hospital planning committees and their coordinators to assist the hospitals in their preparedness efforts through the HRSA cooperative agreement. She also sits on two Pandemic planning committees and co-chairs the statewide Surge and MSAR advisory committees.<BR>
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<B>Stephen Smith </B>(moderator) covers public health issues for <I>The Boston Globe</I>.<BR>
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