Webinar Series

Webinar Date: 6 March 2024

Disaster Medicine in Today’s Environment of Escalating Hazards

This presentation examines Caribbean-specific hazards, vulnerabilities, and challenges. Incorporating readiness into disaster planning for the region and how that is best accomplished in small island nations where geographic constraints require more local capacity building will be explored. A discussion follows the presentation.

Presentation Slides - Dr. Donahue

Presentation Slides - Prof. Ciottone

Webinar Date: 13 November 2023

Unsafe Ground: Epidemiological Insights into the Health Impacts of Landmines - Stacey Pizzino

Explosive ordnance, including landmines, are the enduring legacy of war and threaten the health of affected communities across generations. For civilians within these communities, visible consequences are obvious and severe. However, there is a paucity of research evaluating the health impacts of these weapons; consequently, affected communities are often absent in global metrics.

This research addresses this knowledge gap by providing the world’s largest study of landmine and EO casualties evaluating mortality and non-fatal injury. Using the Hardly Reached Data (HARD) framework, developed as part of this research, data was collected from over 100,000 casualties across 17 countries. These data were pooled and analyzed to provide estimates of case fatality, mortality predictors, trauma distribution, and injury patterns.

This event was organized by the WADEM Pediatric Disaster Medicine SIG and moderated by Dr. Ashley Kane and Dr. Lea Sarna Cahan.

Webinar Date: 24 January 2024

From the two Realms: Disaster and Humanitarian Medicine

This webinar brings together experts from the fields of Disaster and Humanitarian Medicine. In the first session, Prof. Greg Ciottone delves into the world of Disaster Medicine, highlighting its fundamental aspects and addressing the challenges it faces. Following that, Dr. Wan Abdul Hannan shifts the focus to Humanitarian Medicine, discussing its principles and the challenges it encounters. In the final session, Dr. Srihari Cattamanchi discusses the intersection of these two disciplines, where disaster and humanitarian medicine meet.

Presentation Slides - Prof. Ciottone

Presentation Slides - Dr. Hannan

Presentation Slides - Dr. Cattamanchi

Webinar Date: 20 November 2023

Lessons from the Itaewon Crowd Crush Disaster: One Year Ago – Dr. Soon-Joo Wang

The crowd crush that occurred on 29 October 2022 in the Itaewon area of downtown Seoul, South Korea, was an unexpected type of disaster. At least 159 people were killed, and at least 196 others were injured. The large gathering of young people was related to the transition from the COVID-19 pandemic period to the endemic period when social isolation heightened the desire to participate in voluntary Halloween events. Implications should be drawn for preparing for and responding to crowd crush-type disasters such as what occurred in Itaewon in 2022.

Presentation Slides

Webinar Date: 26 September 2023

Earthquake Experience at a University Hospital in Türkiye: Response to an Unexpected and Devastating Event

This lecture features presentations and a moderated panel discussion with faculty from Hacettepe University Hospital, highlighting their experiences with pediatric patients from the earthquakes that struck Türkiye in February 2023.

• Introduction (Dr. Özlem Tekşam)
• Field Experience as a Pediatric Emergency Physician: Organization is Everything (Dr. Ahmet Ziya Birbilen)
• Earthquake Experiences in a Referral Center PED far from the Disaster Area (Dr. Burcu Akbaba)
• Pediatric Intensive Care Earthquake Experience (Dr. Selman Kesici)

Webinar Date: 14 September 2023

Legacy in Global Health Security for Mass Gatherings - Dr. Anas Khan

Mass gatherings impact global health security. It is important that capacity-building activities for mass gatherings focus on sustainable benefits for global health security. Such activities may include the integration of digital solutions in the mass gathering context. Of importance is the development of global health security strategies that lead to sustainable legacies.

This webinar was organized by the Mass Gathering Special Interest Group.

Presentation Slides

Webinar Date: 6 March 2023

Counter-Terrorism Medicine - Fireside Chat

Prof. Derrick Tin, Dr. Fadi Issa, and Dr. Ryan Hata discuss the latest developments and research around Counter-Terrorism Medicine (CTM). The presentation is followed by a discussion with the panel answering questions from the remote audience about this emerging subspecialty topic in disaster medicine.

This webinar was organized by the WADEM Counter-Terrorism Medicine Special Interest Group.

Presentation Slides

Webinar Date: 17 January 2023

Primary Care in Disasters - Fireside Chat

This presentation features a moderated panel with Dr. Penny Burns, Dr. Kaitlyn Watson, and Dr. Elizabeth McCourt discussing the importance of primary care in disaster management, how primary care historically has been involved in disasters and emergency situations, how things have changed over the last decade, and a snapshot of current trends. The presentation was followed by a Q&A with the remote audience.

This webinar was organized by the WADEM Primary Care Special Interest Group.

Webinar Date: 28 September 2022

Collaboration between Multi-Disciplinary Teams when Caring for ECMO Patients

Golan Shukron (Belinson Rabin Medical Center) and Alexander Furmanov (Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center) present an overview of ECMO, collaboration between multi-disciplinary teams, policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, and training for ECMO centers and teams.

The use of ECMO devices began about 50 years ago, to treat newborns who suffered from severe pulmonary failure. Today, the use is acceptable for the treatment of newborns, children, and adults who suffer from acute pulmonary and/or heart failure and do not respond to maximal conservative treatment.

The purpose of the ECMO device is to enable gas exchange and/or hemodynamic support in situations of pulmonary or heart failure, to recover, or to serve as a bridge in a waiting period, for cardiac assist device implantation or lung transplantation.

The treatment of patients supported by an ECMO device is complex and requires extensive theoretical knowledge and skills as well as tight cooperation of multi-disciplinary teams. COVID-19 increased the global use of ECMO to save lives while adapting new methods and protocols.

This webinar was organized by the WADEM Nursing Special Interest Group.

Webinar Date: 14 March 2021

Pediatric Response to the Manchester Arena Terrorist Attack 2017

This presentation looks at the events of 22 May 2017 when a suicide bomber detonated a device at the end of an Ariana Grande concert killing 22 people and injuring over 100. The talk will focus on how the emergency department prepared and managed the injured patients on the night and the aftermath of the incident. It will include the personal experiences of Dr. Peter Hulme and discuss the management of mass casualty events.

Due to the sensitive nature of some of the slides presented in the webinar, the video recording and slide deck are not available.

Webinar Date: 14 December 2021

Presentation Slides

Nursing in Disasters - Reflections from Médecins Sans Frontières

Listen to nurses from the international humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) as they reflect on their personal experiences and those of their nursing colleagues globally, describing the role and challenges of nursing in disasters.

This panel presentation features Melissa Hozjan, Maria Teresa Green, Corinne Heaume, Vicky Treacy-Wong. Special thanks to Odeda Benin-Goren for helping organize this presentation.

Webinar Date: 3 October 2021

Presentation Slides

One Health and the Pandemic Response

This presentation covers the One Health concept and approach, which have been of significant interest at the G7 and G20 summits and recent WHO meetings this year. For students and professionals interested in Public Health and Global Health, it is now necessary to know about One Health. For those who want to go into clinical medicine, having a One Health mindset can improve their quality of medicine.

Additionally, the pandemic response is evaluated and solutions to current challenges are explored in the presentation. Lastly, participants will learn how to improve communication skills to improve their medicine when working with patients and their families.

This presentation was organized in collaboration with One Health Lessons and student groups from the University of New England - College of Osteopathic Medicine and Rowan University - School of Osteopathic Medicine.

Webinar Date: 14 July 2021

Presentation Slides

Population-Based Management Approach to Pandemics and Other Public Health Crises

The COVID-19 response, recovery, and vaccine distribution challenges have highlighted the urgent need for a new multi-disciplinary model for population-based management (PBM). This model would be supported by a global public health database applicable to pandemics and other public health crises. The PBM teams would be led by public health professionals and incorporate physicians, nurses, veterinarians, anthropology, ecologists, data scientists, epidemiologists, emergency managers, environmental health specialists, geographers, and software developers.

The operational knowledge of prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery within this team would ensure data-driven decisions are made that reflect local community needs and risks. This would allow local, national, and global needs and capabilities to be identified and centered on the most vulnerable populations with informed decisions made by a multi-disciplinary team. Without this type of approach, there is an increased risk of interventions and mitigation strategies not reflecting “whole of society” needs, including unequal distribution of vaccines and treatment, care, and support during a health crisis.

This presentation describes how this model can be implemented, support the World Health Organization and its partners, the database requirements, and modalities of functioning for PBM teams.

Webinar Date: 22 June 2021

Presentation Slides

Reflections on Palliative Care in Public Health Emergencies from Ebola to COVID

This webinar, presented by Prof. Elysée Nouvet and Dr. Kevin Bezanson, provides reflections on the humanitarian imperatives, key challenges, and strategies for supporting individuals at risk of dying in public health emergencies involving the isolation of individuals for infection control reasons. In 2016, the Humanitarian Health Ethics (HHE) research group launched an international study on palliative care in humanitarian crises, that involved a number of sub-studies. This presentation summarizes findings from this research, with a focus on findings from the sub-study conducted in Guinea in the aftermath of its 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak and its implications for COVID-19 patients in a range of settings.

The Guinean study in focus involved Interviews with surviving patients, healthcare providers in Ebola Treatment Centres (ETCs), and families of Guineans who died in ETCs. Provide troubling and clear detail on life and death in the ETC, these accounts serve as a basis for clarifying the layers of factors rendering the provision of end-of-life palliative care difficult in this particular public health emergency healthcare setting. These accounts also, however, speak to elements of care that, even in the midst of loss, fear, and limited resources, can provide some comfort to the dying and their families. Findings from the Guinea Ebola study on palliative care serve as a point of departure for consideration of policies, practices, and training that might serve to support commitments to ensuring dignified death and a reduction of suffering in other public health emergencies involving the isolation of patients from loved ones.

Webinar Date: 10 February 2021

Presentation Slides

Lend a Shoulder - COVID-19 Vaccination Operation in Israel

Beginning in December 2020, Israel started the operation “Lend a Hand,” or as it is now called, "Lend a Shoulder.” By the beginning of February 2021, about 4.8 million Israeli citizens had received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and about 1.8 million have been vaccinated with the second dose. Although the Israeli population is getting vaccinated at a high rate, there is an increasing number of patients due to new variants of the COVID-19 virus. Furthermore, the character of recent infections is marked by an increase in critical patients and patients from younger age cohorts than seen in the preceding months. As a result, the criteria and priorities for vaccinations are being constantly updated on the basis of the accumulated data.

The “Lend a Shoulder” operation is a collaboration between the Ministry of Health, hospitals, HMOs, MDA (the national Israeli EMS), and the Home Front Command (HFC) of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). This complicated operation faces logistical issues such as receiving the vaccinations from abroad, storage of the vaccine doses in optimal conditions, and difficulties in distribution to hubs. The initiative also faces issues such as recruiting the staff for the operation, professional issues, and of course, the difficulty in convincing the population to come for the first vaccination and to return for the second one.