Cookeville Regional emergency preparedness manager completes FEMA training

Lisa Screeton, Cookeville Regional Medical Center’s emergency preparedness manager, recently completed training offered by the Center for Domestic Preparedness, a program operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is the only federally-chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training facility in the nation.

Screeton joined other emergency managers from across the nation in completing the program, which meets requirements for the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), as well as the International Association of Continuing Education Training.

“Participating in this training proved to be a valuable tool in keeping with current trends in emergency preparedness,” said Screeton.  “Learning about emerging threats allows us to anticipate and prepare for the unexpected in order to care for the patients, staff, and visitors of Cookeville Regional Medical Center, as well as the good folks of our region as a whole.”

Screeton’s area of interest is WMD with an emphasis in biological and chemical threats. She is currently working on a book about the potential impact of WMD on healthcare in America.

The CDP develops and delivers advanced training for emergency response providers, emergency managers and other government officials from state, local and tribal governments. The CDP offers more than 40 training courses focusing on incident management, mass casualty response and emergency response to a catastrophic natural disaster or terrorist act.

Training at the CDP campus is federally funded at no cost to state, local and tribal emergency response professionals or their agency.

A number of resident training courses culminate at the CDP’s Chemical, Ordnance, Biological and Radiological (COBRA) Training Facility. The COBRA is the nation’s only facility featuring civilian training exercises in a true toxic environment using chemical agents. The advanced hands-on training enables responders to effectively prevent, respond to, and recover from real-world incidents involving acts of terrorism and other hazardous materials.

Responders participating in CDP training gain critical skills and confidence to respond effectively to local incidents or potential WMD events.

“Emergency preparedness is so much more than preparing for natural disasters and that’s what this training does,” said Paul Korth, Cookeville Regional CEO. “Lisa brings a lot of value to this facility to help everyone be prepared.”