This Citizens Guide provides critical medical and mental health information to enable individual citizens to play a more effective role in local disaster preparedness and response efforts. Specifically, the Guide provides citizens with basic life-saving and support information that can be applied in a radiation emergency during the first hours or days following the event when emergency medical and 911 systems are likely to be overwhelmed and thus unable to attend to all injured or ill people; when there are so many casualties that choices have to be made on treatment options; and during situations in which usual medical care services are not available. The Guide addresses the injuries and conditions most likely to occur in a radiation emergency and teaches the most essential and basic protective actions that can be taken by almost everyone and that are necessary to save lives and prevent further injury and harm; particularly when community emergency resources are severely stressed.
The Guide is part of a suite of tools developed by the American Medical Association Center for Public Health Preparedness and Disaster Response to support physicians and their patients in improving readiness and resilience related to radiological emergencies. Other products are: