Increased interest among leaders and practitioners in the field of emergency preparedness in the concept of whole community resilience can create new ways reaching the community. This paper explores one approach to community-engaged preparedness education. By drawing on the fields of emergency management and simulation–based instructional design, we describe an approach to preparedness events with broad community participation. We describe the education methodology used to plan the event and the core concepts related to simulation-based education. We offer key principles for event planners to engage a diverse group of participants ranging from youth, pre-professional healthcare students, practicing healthcare professionals, and staff from local community organizations. Our experience through seven years of events offers a proof of concept available to local communities; community organizational leaders concerned with the resilience for their own organizations; and academic organizations preparing our citizens to deal with the challenges of living and serving in a world of increasing risk of disaster.

No abstract

Summary Statement To inspire young learners toward a career in healthcare and provide them opportunities to learn lifesaving skills, a hospital-based simulation center collaborated with a local middle school to develop a 88-minute simulation-based educational activity. The activity consisted of eight 10-minute stations on lifesaving and basic medical skills. One hundred fifty students participated. Evaluation surveys showed students favored stations with extensive hands-on activities and valued the opportunity to interact with health professionals. Students also reported more interest in science careers after the visit. This collaborative effort is time-efficient and low-budget simulation-based learning experience that had an immediate impact on middle school students.