FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Grady Forrer
September 22, 2011 202-835-3474
Rx Response Helps Commemorate
September 11th Anniversary with 9/11 Opinion Survey
Washington, D.C. ….In conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attack on America, Rx Response joined with several other emergency management and public health organizations to co-sponsor the 9/11 Opinion Survey. Developed by Rx Response’s communications consultant, Cote & D’Ambrosio, the 9/11 Opinion Survey sought to measure the attitudes of emergency managers and public health professionals on topics of terrorism, disaster preparedness and the challenges facing emergency managers and public health professionals. A parallel survey was also developed for consumers that included several common questions to enable researchers to assess whether consumers have significantly different views than professional emergency managers on key issues.
Some key findings of the survey of particular interest to the Rx Response community:
- When assessing the increase in preparedness post 9/11 across federal, state and local governments, only about a fifth of professionals believe government has become “much better prepared” for terrorist attacks or natural disasters in the past 5 years. The ratings for “much better prepared” were Federal Government (22%), State Government (22%) and Local Government (20%). There is broad agreement that all levels of government and the private sector are making progress in being “somewhat better prepared” over the past five years as evidenced by these ratings: Federal Government (67%), State Government (63%), Local Government (55%) and Private Sector (51%).
- Professionals want more private sector involvement to help with recovery from a disaster. 81% “strongly agree” that the private sector has capabilities that should be levered in partnership with government resources to help recover from disasters. 68% of professionals believe the private sector has an equally important obligation to be prepared to meet the public’s needs following a disaster and 61% believe states and major cities should have dedicated programs that engage the private sector in helping communities recover from a disaster.
- Moreover, 57% of consumers “strongly agree” that private businesses should have plans in place to reopen quickly after a disaster and 46% strongly agree that it’s a business’ obligation to have a recovery plan in place to ensure continued employment following a disaster.
- 92% of consumers “agreed” that it is the duty of every American to have enough food, water, medicine and supplies to take care of themselves or their families for a minimum of three days after a major disaster. However, few Professionals “strongly agreed” (5%) that Americans are better prepared today to take care of their families for a minimum of three days after a major disaster than they were five years ago. 34% “Somewhat agreed”.
These findings reinforce the importance of Rx Response –a resource to help ensure the flow of medicine to patients in an emergency. Rx Response also provides business continuity benchmarking for companies in the bio-pharmaceutical supply chain and serves as an information resource for government response officials seeking insight into the status of the bio-pharmaceutical supply chain during emergencies.
Rx Response Director Erin Mullen said she was pleased to see the private sector’s enhanced preparedness reflected in the survey results. “I think the reason emergency managers and public health professionals see the private sector as better prepared is in part due to programs like Rx Response,” said Mullen. “I also think the private sector is getting credit because of recent successes such as our response to the pandemic influenza in 2009 and 2010 and more recent successes in quickly re-establishing pharmacy services after the devastating Joplin, Missouri tornadoes.”
To view the 9/11 Opinion Survey Summary or full survey results, visit www.disastersafetystrategies.com/research.htm