USF Community Engaged Homeland Security & Emergency Management

Our Disaster by Design class recently hit the road for a mass casualty exercise in Manatee County, where students stepped into the shoes of patients as they served as actors and observers to experience a hospital emergency response in action.

The day started with moulage and makeup, where students transformed into casualties with realistic injuries—from smoke inhalation and head lacerations to gunshot wounds. Stephanie Beaudoin shared, “…even though the exercise was a simulation, I got to be immersed in a real-world hospital setting … I found it extremely helpful to be able to learn from real-life medical staff and nurses how to act in a disaster exercise and what the first steps are to do.”

Students then entered the Emergency Room with assigned roles and scenarios. Some were wheeled in on stretchers, others ran in a panic, creating realistic chaos for security, medical providers, and hospital staff to respond. Austin Craven reflected, “The highlight for me was the performances by our rabble-rousers … I look forward to discussing this exercise in class and applying what I learned in planning future exercises.”

The exercise gave students an invaluable patient perspective as well. Andres Duarte explained, “Seeing the response from a patient’s perspective helped me understand how preparation and teamwork save lives.” For many, it was a chance to connect classroom concepts like emergency preparedness, interagency coordination, and the HSEEP exercise design cycle to real-life practice.

Beyond the action, students observed the behind-the-scenes planning and coordination that make these exercises possible. Maritza Eddington noted, “This experience connected to class topics on emergency preparedness and interagency response and opened my eyes to mass casualty response.” Meanwhile, Cyndia Hao was inspired by the teamwork on display: “Watching everyone work together was like seeing a real Marvel movie. Biggest takeaway for me? Communication and teamwork save lives.”

The day concluded with a hot wash debrief, where students, volunteers, and emergency personnel reflected on what went well and what could be improved for future exercises—demonstrating the full HSEEP cycle in action while providing students with a unique opportunity to evaluate and share their thoughts about what the providers did well and where they could improve.

We’re incredibly grateful to Manatee County FDOH and Lakewood Ranch Medical Center for making this hands-on learning experience possible. Our students left with a deeper appreciation for the response to a mass casualty incident, public health coordination for designing and evaluating exercises, and the critical role of preparation when disasters strike.

On September 25th, USF faculty members Dr. Jennifer Collins (School of Geosciences) and Elizabeth Dunn (College of Public Health) met with Yuka Horimoto, a visiting meteorologist from Toyama Television Broadcasting. Through her company’s overseas study program, she chose Florida to deepen her understanding of weather systems abroad and requested to meet with Dr. Collins and Elizabeth Dunn in Tampa, having learned in Japan about their expertise in evacuation and disaster studies. Yuka gained insights into hurricane studies and will be bringing that knowledge back to her own country and profession. She also shared with Jennifer Collins and Elizabeth Dunn tools from Japan that are used to track various hazards.

Our students recently toured the Tampa Bay Surface Water Treatment Plant and gained a new appreciation for the critical infrastructure that keeps our communities safe. The visit began in the conference room, where students learned about the complex water systems that serve the Tampa Bay area, followed by a walking tour of the facility. From the initial stages of “dirty water” to the chemical processes of lime and ferric sulfate coagulation that make water safe to drink, students saw the science of water treatment come to life while learning about the detailed planning and response to potential threats that goes into securing our water.

The experience is connected directly to class discussions regarding critical infrastructure across the homeland security enteprise with a strong linkage to public health preparedness. As Alex noted, “I never realized how important water treatment is to public health and homeland security. Of all the critical infrastructure, this is probably the one most people don’t think about.” Nicolas added, “Clean drinking water is absolutely critical to public health and safety… this experience got me thinking in ways I wasn’t before.”

Students were also struck by the facility’s layered approach to resilience. They learned how operations can continue even during cyberattacks or disasters, with manual backups and annual drills in place to test existing plans. Trenyce reflected, “I found it interesting how they can run operations manually if the computer system is hijacked. It won’t completely cease operations,” while Jazmin highlighted, “The cybersecurity preparedness stood out to me—annual drills are mandatory to ensure resilience.”

The site visit also revealed the interconnectedness of infrastructure systems. Kailee observed, “Potable water supports hospitals, schools, and agriculture—but it also depends on power and communications to function. It’s a reminder of how interdependent our systems are.” Austin added, “I took away how much I take for granted these public systems and the intricate way they’re run. I’ll carry forward a better awareness of what it takes to keep our city running.”

For many, the highlight was seeing the scale of operations firsthand. Samantha remarked, “One thing I found cool was how they can remotely section off parts of the water system to preserve pressure for other critical infrastructure,” while Arsh*ta concluded, “Water infrastructure is critical for safety and preparedness. It was inspiring to see how they plan in advance for disasters.”

This experience not only connected classroom theory to real-world practice but also deepened student understanding of how essential and vulnerable water systems are to the resilience of critical infrastructure systems.

Check out the following Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) Program sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Receive a stipend to engage in a summer research experience in Tampa Bay after the region experienced two back-to-back hurricanes. Apply at https://usf.edu/arts-sciences/departments/geosciences/undergraduate/research-experiences/weather-climate-and-society.aspx

Last week USF students participated in the City of Tampa’s Special Event Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) Full-Scale Exercise at the Tampa Convention Center and surrounding areas. This mass casualty exercise involved a mock active threat incident with over 150 casualties that needed to be triaged and treated by first responders on scene, and then transported to two local hospitals—Tampa General Hospital and HCA South for more advanced care.

USF students assisted with moulage in partnership with the USF Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS), volunteered as actors that sustained these various wounds due to the incident, and many served as evaluators for assessing their interactions with participants testing their capabilities and existing plans when responding to a mass casualty situation.

Photos provided by Tampa Fire Rescue, check out more photos from the day at https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB5F4a

Every year, the National Homeland Security Conference brings together over a thousand attendees from the homeland security and emergency management disciplines, representing local, state, federal government, military, and the private sector. The National Homeland Security Association is preparing for the 2023 National Homeland Security Conference on July 24 - July 27, 2023! The conference, hosted in Chicago, promises to be a magnificent draw for homeland security professionals.

For the 2023 conference, the NHSA will be hosting 50-minute presentations within multiple tracks across all homeland security subject areas. In preparation for this event, the NHSA is officially announcing a call for presentations which will be open from October 22nd, 2022 til January 21st, 2023

The proposed session tracks include:

• Combating Domestic Violent Extremism
• Community Preparedness and Resilience
• Counterterrorism
• Cybersecurity
• Enhancing Information & Intelligence Sharing
• Grants and Program Management
• Health Security
• Lessons Learned from Recent Events
• Personnel, Policy, & Mental Health
• Planning
• Training and Exercise

https://nationalhomelandsecurity.org/events/2023-presentation-call-open

2023 Call for Presentations - OPEN | National Homeland Security Conference 2023 Call for Presentations - OPEN Every year, the National Homeland Security Conference brings together over a thousand attendees from the homeland security and emergency management disciplines, representing local, state, federal government, military, and the private sector. The National Homeland S...

Did you have to make plans for yourself and/or your family as Hurricane Ian was approaching? Did residents in your community have to make an evacuation decision during Hurricane Ian? Or are you work in communities affected by the hurricane?

We are working with a team of meteorologists and emergency management practitioners, and researchers to learn more about risk perception, preparedness, and evacuation decision-making. Please help us to disseminate the survey through your connections by sharing this post and/or copying the message below.

: Were you impacted by Ian? Help better inform emergency management and public health officials about your evacuation decision-making and experiences before, during, and after hurricane landfall. Please visit the following link to complete this 10-15 minute survey: https://tinyurl.com/ianEvacuationSurveyFB


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: ¿Fue usted impactado por el Ian? Ayude a informar mejor a los funcionarios de gestión de emergencias y de salud pública sobre su toma de decisiones y experiencias de evacuación antes, durante y después de la llegada del huracán. Visite el siguiente enlace para completar esta encuesta de 10 a 15 minutos: https://tinyurl.com/ianEvacuationSurveyFB

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Course gives students hands-on experience in emergency management—and a lot more - College of Public Health News Facebook0Tweet0LinkedIn0 USF College of Public Health (COPH) students in Elizabeth Dunn’s service-learning “Disaster by Design” course culminated their semester-long class in disaster management by designing, teaching and evaluating disaster-training exercises. The training exercises were pres...

The Hillsborough County News Room captured footage and interviews from our annual Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) exercise that the USF Disaster by Design students developed for our CERT programs across Hillsborough County.

Check it out the video here:

On Alert, All Year Round For more tips and information on COVID-19 visit HCFLGov.net/StaySafeThe Official Hillsborough County, Florida Government YouTube channel is powered by Hillsb...