I spoke with Jessica Cole, MA, the Senior Incident Specific Planner for the Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response (OEPR) at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH). In this role, Mrs. Cole is responsible for the coordination of planning for a wide variety of possible threats, such as novel disease outbreaks and radiological incidents. Prior to this position, Mrs. Cole was the Agency’s Pandemic Influenza Coordinator. In this capacity, she was responsible for the planning and revision of the Agency’s pandemic plan. Prior to her positions in DOHMH, Mrs. Cole was an Adjunct Professor in emergency management, a pandemic planner for a major financial institution, risk management consultant, and pandemic program manager for a private medical services company in addition to working for 4 years as an investigator for NYC’s Department of Investigation. She received two Masters, one from the University of Chicago in Social Sciences and another from John Jay College with a special certification in terrorism studies. She attended Barnard College as an undergraduate.
We spoke about what a pandemic influenza is, its potential impacts, and how the Dept. of Health and its partners in New York City are prepared, and how you can prepare. Here is a link to a checklist on how to prepare for pan-flu: https://www.pinnacleperformancemanagement.com/blog/dont-waste-a-crisis
