National Preparedness Month 2024: Sands Partners With Americares to Ready Response Mechanisms in Greater New York
In September, the United States observes National Preparedness Month 2024 to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for natural disasters and other emergencies. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the observance, which was established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide individuals, communities and organizations with actions and tools to prepare for crises such as earthquakes, winter storms, hurricanes, extreme heat and fires.
A key component of Sands’ commitment to ensuring the strength and vitality of its regions is helping them prepare for these crisis situations in partnership with disaster relief organizations. For the past four years, global health-focused relief and development organization Americares has been a key Sands Cares partner in that effort.
Sands initially worked with Americares to strengthen its emergency response capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region and expanded support for the relief organization to include the United States in 2023. In year one of the current two-year engagement, Americares was able to initiate new work in the Greater New York/Tri-State area, where Sands hopes to build its next world-class integrated resort.
Sands Cares’ support enabled Americares to recruit 25 new Global Roster members, including nurses, physicians, safety and security officers, mental health and psychosocial support specialists and pharmacists, from the Tri-State area and host its first-ever, in-person Global Roster onboarding training this past May on Long Island, New York. Fifteen new Global Roster members received training on the organization’s emergency response interventions, deployment processes, equipment, training and engagement, and the new Americares Global Roster Portal.
Many of the new Global Roster members attended an additional in-person EMT Training in Stamford, Connecticut, in June. The three-day event allowed these Global Roster members to set up and break down a WHO-EMT base camp and clinic; receive training on safety and security processes, referral pathways and reporting; and benefit from hands-on networking with nearly 70 attendees from Americares and across the Global Roster.
The current Sands Cares grant also continued support for Americares Asia Regional Response Hub in the Philippines, enabling deployment of 62 emergency response team members for 337 days across a number of incidents, including Typhoon Doksuri, which affected China, Palau, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam in June 2023, and the Surigao del Sur earthquake, which impacted the Philippines and Indonesia in December 2023.
These deployments included specialized training and implementations in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH); mobile medical units; psychological first aid and health facility strengthening.
The Sands Cares funding also facilitated recruiting and retention efforts for Americares emergency response roster (ERT) in the Asia-Pacific region. The organization recruited 87 roster members and conducted specialty training programs in WASH as well as basic emergency response for newly recruited members.
Finally, Sands Cares’ support empowered the organization’s general outreach efforts, which resulted in 354 roster members creating accounts on the new Americares Global Roster Portal this year, and aided infrastructure upgrades, such as integration of two new learning management system modules focusing on partner interaction and international humanitarian standards.
“Thanks to Sands’ generous support, we have greatly strengthened our emergency response capabilities in these regions and accelerated our roster member recruitment, retention and training programs,” said Provash Budden, Americares deputy senior vice president of emergency programs. “Moving forward, we will continue this momentum with plans for a number of training and engagement activities that will help us carry out our mission of saving lives and improving health for people affected by poverty or disaster.”
In the United States, funding from the Sands Cares grant for year two now focuses on the Gulf Coast, with efforts concentrated on building emergency response capabilities in Texas and Louisiana.
Sands’ latest contribution to Americares extended the previous Sands Cares engagement that began in 2020 and supported the organization’s first regional response hub in the Philippines. The grant enabled an increase in the organization’s regional emergency roster from 20 to more than 180 members between 2020-2022. As part of that initial Sands Cares engagement, Americares conducted its first large-scale emergency simulation exercise at the Philippines regional hub.
Sands’ partnership with Americares is one of several Sands Cares engagements with emergency response and relief organizations in its local communities to support on-the-ground disaster response, as well as infrastructure and planning investments that aid community resilience when crises occur.
To learn more about Sands’ disaster preparedness and response work, read the company’s latest ESG report: https://www.sands.com/resources/reports/.
