GlobalOptions Groups' Emergency Preparedness Expert Participates In Panel to Provide Guidance for Cities in Extreme Health Event
GlobalOptions Groups' Emergency Preparedness Expert Participates In Panel to Provide Guidance for Cities in Extreme Health Event
New York, April 5, 2007 – GlobalOptions Group, Inc. (OTCBB: GOPG), a leading provider of domestic and international risk management services, today announced that Barry Scanlon, Senior Vice President & Partner of James Lee Witt Associates, participated in a working group to develop a guideline for Community Engagement in Health Emergency Planning.
Scanlon and a field of other nationally-recognized experts in public health, emergency management, disaster mitigation, policymaking, federal legislation and scholars took part in the group to discuss a national strategy to advance "community engagement" approaches to public health preparedness at federal and local levels of government.
The Working Group on Community Engagement in Health Emergency Planning was
organized by the Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Their report, "Community Engagement: Leadership Tool for Catastrophic Health Events," seeks to instruct governors, mayors, health and safety officers, and national decision makers on why and how to involve community groups for an extreme health event.
"The cities around the country best able to face tornados, earthquakes, hurricanes, and now, pandemic flu see disasters as a grassroots issue, and not something simply left to those in charge," said Scanlon. "Mayors, governors and policymakers everywhere need to read this report. Community officials need to engage grassroots organizations to be part of this process."
The group concluded that community engagement – defined here as structured dialogue, joint problem solving and collaborative action among formal authorities, citizens at-large, and local opinion leaders around a pressing public matter – can augment officials' abilities to govern in a crisis, improve the application of communally held resources in a disaster or epidemic, mitigate against communitywide losses, and help accelerate recovery.
"Preparedness means more than personal stockpiling," says Monica Schoch-Spana, PhD, a social scientist with the Center for Biosecurity who chaired the Working Group. "Encouraging self-sufficiency can be counterproductive when the entire community's well-being is at stake. Officials need to work with citizens and civic groups before disaster strikes to promote all the ways the public can contribute, including taking part in policy decisions, building volunteer networks, getting support for tax or bond measures that limit vulnerability and improve health
and safety agencies, and yes, having family emergency plans, too."
The report can be found in the Spring 2007 issue of Biosecurity & Bioterrorism and online at the Center for Biosecurity's Web site www.upmc-biosecurity.org. The report is also available here.
Mr. Scanlon is the Senior Vice President and a founding partner of James Lee Witt
Associates. Witt Associates a public safety and crisis management consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. is part of GlobalOptions Group. Scanlon oversees all marketing and business development activities, directs the strategic advisory services practice and provides strategic counsel to leaders of business, government, educational and non-profit institutions in affairs ranging from emergency management to crisis communications and public safety.
Prior to joining JLWA, Mr. Scanlon served a number of roles at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including the presidentially appointed Director of Corporate Affairs and Special Assistant to the Director.
The Center for Biosecurity of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) works to prevent the development and use of biological weapons, to catalyze advances in science and governance that diminish the power of biological weapons as agents of mass destruction, and to lessen the human suffering that would result if prevention fails.
About GlobalOptions Group, Inc.
GlobalOptions Group, with headquarters in New York City and offices in 16 cities, is a provider of high-end risk assessment and mitigation services to Fortune 1000 corporations, governmental organizations and high-profile individuals throughout the world. GlobalOptions Group's services currently include risk management and security, investigations and litigation support, and crisis management. These engagements take GlobalOptions Group staff around the world and are typically highly-sensitive engagements where GlobalOptions Group is interacting with senior leaders in corporations and governments. Its overall mission is to identify, evaluate, assess, prevent and correct issues that may threaten people,
organizations or strategic initiatives for corporations or governments. Additional information can be found at www.globaloptionsgroup.com
About James Lee Witt Associates
Founded in 2001, James Lee Witt Associates (JLWA), a part of the GlobalOptions Group, is a public safety and crisis management consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Little Rock, and Sacramento. Led by James Lee Witt, the FEMA Director under President Clinton, JLWA has unrivaled experience and hands-on knowledge of public safety, disaster response, continuity of operations, and emergency management issues. JLWA's management team and staff include some of the nation's most notable and experienced disaster management experts, such as General Wesley Clark, one of the nation's most distinguished retired military officers, who formerly served as NATO Supreme
Allied Commander; and Rodney Slater, who formerly served as U.S. Secretary of
Transportation.
JLWA's clients include the nation's premier universities, hospitals, governments, and a variety of Fortune 500 companies including those in the insurance, transportation, entertainment, finance, utilities, and emergency management industries. JLWA was retained by the State of Louisiana to help Governor Blanco on disaster recovery matters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and by the City of Philadelphia to conduct a top-to-bottom emergency preparedness assessment.
JLWA has advised government leaders, including governors, members of Congress, administration officials, and state and local elected officials, on emergency management policies and programs. www.wittassociates.com
Statements in this press release regarding the company's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. The company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which statements are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1994, and as such, speak only as of the date made. To the extent the content of this press release includes forward-looking statements, they involve various risks and uncertainties including the successful integration of the acquired businesses, projected financial information, and the continued successful implementation of the company's business strategy.
Certain of these risks and uncertainties will be described in greater detail in GlobalOptions Group's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. GlobalOptions Group is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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