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Welcome

Welcome to the Homeland Emergency Learning and Preparedness Center at Wright State University. We invite you to learn about us and view our key focus areas as we work in the arena of civil medical readiness. The HELP Center’s approach to this important component to homeland security is unique as it is based in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Boonshoft School of Medicine.

Participants at the Advanced Disaster Life Support (ADLS) course held in Toledo on May 1 attend to "victims" during the MASS Triage™ rotation. The course was sponsored and funded by the Ohio Department of Health through the assistant secretary of preparedness and response.

The consequences to humans, the victims of disasters and our patients both in and out of the hospital, are central to our mission. Our direct relationship with an academic department within a medical school impacts every programmatic theme within the center. Physicians provide key input to each of our four programmatic themes.

These four defining areas of civil medical readiness are human population risk assessment, human access care and evacuation, dynamic medical systems and healthcare systems recovery. These systems are unique in that they are defined for the first time in the modern, all hazards disaster era.

Our programs are also designed to incorporate the concept of civil-military interface. Our university sits in close geographic proximity to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the future home of the United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. Collaborative relationships with the military, the private sector, and government at the local, state, and federal level guide our programs into the future.

More information about our programs is available on this web site. Should you have further questions about us, we invite you to contact us.

Mark E. Gebhart, M.D.
Director

About the HELP Center™

The HELP Center™ is a community-wide effort to better prepare our community for large scale emergencies, such as a weather disaster, terrorist attack or hazmat situation. The Center was established by the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine and has been certified as a National Disaster Life Support Foundation (NDLSF) Regional Training Center.

The HELP Center is developing the Calamityville™ Tactical Laboratory Project, a state-of-the-art, innovative, integrated, collaborative training and research facility to provide a one-of-a-kind training opportunity for the world's medical, public health, public safety, and civilian and military disaster response decision makers. Click here to see a virtual tour of Calamityville™ as envisioned at one of the prospective sites in Fairborn, Ohio.

HELP Center™ Mission & Vision

The HELP Center seeks to "help the victims of natural and man made disasters and dangerous situations by providing the highest quality educational and operational programs for first responders and first receivers and to provide practical application of research to the medical readiness community by forming a national medical readiness consortium." Read our vision and mission statements on this web site.

HELP Center™ News

• Dayton in Leadership Role for Emergency Preparedness
• Emergency Preparedness in the Neighborhood
• Levin Family Foundation and Kettering Medical Center Donate Van to Establish HOPE Unit
• Department Takes Leadership Role in Community Preparedness

For NDLS and AHA Course information, contact:
Dan Kirkpatrick, R.N., M.S.N.
Assistant Director, Workforce Development
(937) 775-1320
Fax: (937) 775-1329
daniel.kirkpatrick@wright.edu

For more information about the HELP Center™, contact:
Bill Harchick, EMT-B, CPM
Assistant Director, Operations
The HELP Center™
3139 Research Blvd., Suite 205
Kettering, OH 45420
(937) 775-1320
Fax: (937) 775-1329
william.harchick@wright.edu