September Is National Preparedness Month: Preparedness Starts At Home

Each September, National Preparedness Month serves as a time to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that could happen at any time.

The 2025 theme, Preparedness Starts at Home, focuses on getting back to the essentials of preparedness. Whether it’s updating a go-bag, reviewing evacuation routes or ensuring access to medications and medical records, preparedness begins with simple, proactive steps taken at home.

During disasters and emergencies, hospitals play a central role in coordinating and delivering health care services that are essential to Missouri’s emergency preparedness and response efforts.

“As members of the communities in which they serve, hospital staff need their own individual plans so they can contribute their knowledge, skills and abilities when a crisis strikes,” said Robert Loseman, vice president of safety and preparedness with the Missouri Hospital Association. “We’re only as good as our teams.”

This month, Missouri hospitals are encouraged to share National Preparedness Month resources and other ready.gov and Ready in 3 materials with their staff to build individual resilience.

In addition, hospitals should consider the following.

• Host trainings and workshops: Offer sessions on emergency response protocols, family preparedness planning or mental health resilience during disasters. 
• Share resources: Distribute preparedness checklists, educational materials and toolkits to staff, patients and the broader community.
• Engage on social media: Use your platforms to share tips, highlight local preparedness events and amplify the message that readiness starts at home.

Throughout September, hospitals should celebrate the month internally with their staff and externally with patients, partners and the public. Now also is an ideal time to recognize your hospital’s emergency preparedness staff.

Strengthening hospital preparedness

Missouri’s hospitals and health systems are encouraged to use this important month to review, refine and reinforce their emergency readiness. Additionally, National Preparedness Month provides a prime opportunity to reassess facility plans, resources and training, ensuring they align with current best practices and meet regulatory requirements.

“Preparedness is more than a once-a-year task,” Loseman said. “Let this month be the starting point for sustained improvements and year-round follow-up.”

Hospital teams can use National Preparedness Month to do the following.

• Review and update emergency operations plans to reflect lessons learned from recent incidents and regulatory changes.
• Verify staff training and competencies in critical areas such as incident command, evacuation, shelter-in-place and continuity of operations.
• Test communication systems to ensure rapid coordination with internal teams and external partners.
• Assess supply chain resilience for essential medications, personal protective equipment and supplies. Make sure to report shortages in the MHA Supply Chain Shortage Reporting Tool.
• Engage in scenario-based drills to identify gaps before they become real-world problems.
• Engage with your health care coalition to increase regional emergency readiness across the health care continuum.

Even small steps, like confirming contact lists, reviewing infection control protocols or conducting a tabletop exercise, can have a significant impact when seconds count, said Kara Amann, MHA’s director of hospital preparedness programs.

Whole-community preparedness is key to coordinating emergency planning, according to Amann. Everyone from hospital leaders and front-line staff to emergency management teams to supply chain partners and public health agencies should be engaged.

“In health care, this means aligning priorities, strengthening partnerships and ensuring everyone knows their role before the moment when it matters most,” she said.

MHA resources available

MHA offers many resources to help establish hospital readiness, including guidance on hazard preparedness for infectious disease response, violent incident response and supply chain resilience.

A Health Care Preparedness Professional Orientation Timeline is available for onboarding and training. MHA also facilitates the Missouri Health Care Coalition to enhance coordination and collaboration among health care organizations within a similar geographic region.

In addition, the Missouri Hospital Mutual Aid Agreement enables inter-hospital support during disasters.

Learning from the past

“National Preparedness Month is a great time to reflect on past accomplishments and recognize ongoing efforts to create prepared and resilient organizations,” Loseman said.

Learning from past experiences and implementing continued improvement is essential for a successful preparedness program, Loseman and Amann noted. Reflecting on the recent 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina or the 2011 Joplin tornado offers insight to much of the foundations of today’s health care preparedness strategies.

“Other incidents that impacted your hospital or health care facility can offer additional perspectives and practices to implement as part of your preparedness program,” Amann said.

Learn more

For additional guidance on emergency preparedness, check out the list of Missouri Partner Resources and information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on MHA’s website.

“Make preparedness part of your September safety agenda to ensure your facility is ready and staff are alert to appropriately respond to the unexpected,” Loseman said.