Emergency Management

Meet HAP's emergency management team HAP member weekly briefings

Emergency Management in Pennsylvania

When a disaster impacts a state, region, or community, the health care system plays a crucial first responder role. From large hospitals to smaller community health centers, these entities work with emergency professionals, law enforcement, and state and federal agencies to address immediate needs and to deal with longer term recovery. Disasters may include, but are not limited to:

Natural disasters such as floods, blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes
Mass casualty incidents include multiple vehicle accidents, train accidents, active shooter incidents
Environmental accidents such as chemical fires and spills
Acts of domestic and foreign terrorism
Public health threats such as COVID-19, the Ebola outbreak, and flu pandemics

Hospitals and health system staff, health care and emergency personnel, as well as volunteers, respond to life-threatening situations to keep their communities safe.

Hospitals: A Critical Resource During a Public Health Emergency

Pennsylvania hospitals are essential in public health and medical emergency response.

Hospitals routinely practice to improve their response capabilities by reviewing and testing their plans, holding disaster drills, and working with first responders. They drill and train to make immediate situational assessments and practice critical decision-making to protect the public. They have plans in place to deal with everyday emergencies and unexpected disasters.

HAP's Emergency Management team

HAP's Emergency Management Staff Can Help

HAP’s emergency management program is available to support member organizations in all phases of emergency management, including impacts within organizations that may require incident management, external coordination, training and exercise delivery and recovery support. The team is located geographically across Pennsylvania to quickly support facility-based emergency management programs. HAP's emergency management staff have the experience and knowledge necessary to help providers prepare for and respond to the next disaster.

Outside of Pennsylvania? Not a member of HAP?

Contact HAPevolve to discuss emergency preparedness support specifically tailored to meet your organization's needs.

New HAP EM Report

Report: Hospital Emergency Management in Pennsylvania: An Objective Review

Hospital emergency management programs are essential because they ensure health care facilities can effectively respond to disasters, mass casualty events, and public health crises. These programs help hospitals maintain continuity of care, allocate resources efficiently, and protect patients, staff, and infrastructure during emergencies. This planning enables hospitals to continue to serve their communities through natural disasters, pandemics, terrorist attacks, or other emergencies.

Download the report.

Need an Emergency Preparedness Speaker?

HAP's emergency management staff is available to speak to your organization's team about all phases of emergency management and preparedness, including:

Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic
Situational awareness
Incident management
Training and exercise delivery, recovery support, and evaluations
Hazard vulnerability analyses
Cybersecurity
And more

Subscribe to Healthcare Preparedness Digest

HAPevolve's Healthcare Preparedness Digest is a compilation of current news articles and related information pertaining to public health threats, both in the United States and worldwide. It is published twice a month by HAPevolve, a subsidiary of The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania. Sign up below for your free subscription.

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HAP Contact

Contact Chris Chamberlain, HAP's vice president, emergency management, with questions or inquiries about how HAP's Emergency Management team can help your organization better prepare for emergencies. Media inquiries should be directed to Kim Yakowski, manager, media relations.

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July 15, 2025