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The National Center for Biomedical Research and Training at Louisiana State University offers DHS-certified courses covered under the NCBRT’s Homeland Security National Training Program Cooperative Agreement. As a DHS primary training provider, the NCBRT can offer this vital training at no direct cost to your agency. Please contact us at info@ncbrt.lsu.edu or 1-877-829-8550 to schedule a course through your state administrative agency, or visit www.ncbrt.lsu.edu to learn more about the NCBRT’s training opportunities. Remember, the time to prepare is now!

Biological Events

Awareness and Response to Biological Events

This is an awareness-level course designed to address fundamentals associated with emergency response to biological incidents. The course provides a brief overview of the biological threat that now faces the United States; biological agents that are naturally occurring or could be used deliberately; and methods of protection from biological agents (with an emphasis on protection using methods and equipment readily available to emergency responders). Tactics for identifying the presence of a potential biological threat, responding to an incident, and supporting operations at the incident scene are also addressed.

The course also supports the necessity for teamwork (through a review of the Incident Command System, the National Incident Management System, and the National Response Framework) among all responding agencies and actions that all personnel can take to support and facilitate the operations of other responding agencies. In summary, the course will prepare representatives of federal, state, local, and tribal emergency response agencies to perform safely and effectively during an incident involving biological agents.

Course Objectives
At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

List the three main types of biological incidents.
Outline the history of bioweapons.
Contrast the common misconceptions about bioterrorism with the realities.
Identify reasons why a terrorist might use a biological agent as a weapon.
List the routes of exposure.
Discuss the difference between infectious and contagious.
Describe the characteristics of bacterial diseases, viral diseases, and toxins.
Explain how biological agents may be used to attack crops or animals to harm a nation’s economy (agroterrorism).
Use the Biological Agents Matrix in the NCBRT WMD Response Guidebook to determine a biological agent from signs and symptoms given by the instructor in a practical exercise.
Review the concepts and principles of the ICS, NIMS, and the NRF.
Describe how biological incidents may impact incident management.
Describe levels of personal and respiratory protection.
Describe isolation zones and scene setup for a biological event response.
Explain the importance of decontamination.
Distinguish between exposure and contamination.
Differentiate the six types of decontamination.
Identify the lessons learned from each case study.
Identify the resources required for response in each case study.
Determine the correct responses by local jurisdictions based upon information provided in each case study.

Target Audience/Discipline
Emergency Medical Services, Fire Service, Hazardous Materials Personnel, Healthcare, Law Enforcement, Public Health

The primary audience for the direct delivery version of this course includes any emergency responders who are assigned to respond to biological incidents (i.e., police, fire, and emergency management and emergency medical services personnel and planners and any other governmental agencies involved).

The primary audience for the train-the-trainer version of this course includes administrators, directors, mid-level supervisors, special operations teams, and emergency responders who are assigned to respond to biological incidents (i.e., police, fire, and emergency management and emergency medical services personnel and planners). In addition, the course addresses information of value to supervisory and management personnel responsible for developing policies and procedures governing emergency responder actions during natural or intentional biological incidents.

Scheduling
Contact a NCBRT training coordinator today to schedule this course.

FEMA Regional Training Contacts
FEMA Region IV, VIII, and X
Kristi Grace 1-225-578-7550

FEMA Region I, II, and V
Ryan Graham 1-225-578-3367

FEMA Region III, VI, VII, and IX
Joseph Gueno 1-225-578-5528

Min/Max Enrollment Min 30; Max 50+

Hours 6.5 (Direct/Indirect Delivery); 7.5 (Train-the-Trainer)

Format Instructor-Led Training (Direct Delivery; Train-the-Trainer; Indirect Delivery)

DHS Course # AWR-118, AWR-118-1,
AWR-118-2

Prerequisites
Successful completion of a WMD awareness-level training course

Facility Requirements
Please view this document for facility requirements

Download Course Description

Richard H. Arons,
Disaster Mental Health Specialist
RHA Industries
Chicago, IL

I found the following to be the most useful aspects of this course: situational awareness, appropriate initial action, recognition of my operational limits, accurate reporting and documentation. I have applied this information by distributing the lessons learned (training information) to appropriate LE and partner agencies. I was impressed by the instructor staff and the depth of their academic and “in country’ knowledge. Their ability to communicate that knowledge to “newbies and old hands” appeared to maintain our attention and contribute to the retention of the subject matter.