Articles
August 1999
The Director - Features
The Future of Disaster Response
Part I: Should individual states rely on the federal government to respond to domestic disasters?
On March 15, 1999, near Bourbonnais, IL, 11 people were killed when 11 cars of an Amtrak train left the tracks, engulfing several sleeper cars in a devastating fire. The incident sparked questions from many individuals inside and outside of funeral service about the manner in which the federal government responds to mass-fatality disasters.
In The Future of Disaster Response—Part I: Should individual states rely on the federal government to respond to domestic disasters? Melissa Johnson-Williams gives her opinion of the federal government's Disaster Mortuary Operations Response Team's leadership and explains why individual states should handle disasters that happen in their area. The August 1999 issue of The Director also features a response to this article from Gary Abe, deputy director, Office of Family Affairs, National Transportation Safety Board.
Johnson-Williams, Johnson-Williams Funeral Service, Chicago, IL, has been a licensed embalmer for more than 20 years. She has taught and written numerous articles on trauma embalming and universal precautions.
