1. International Spinal Cord SocietyDisaster Committee

2. ISCOS 50 year history International membership Scientific meeting, journal Spinal Cord SCI training workshops for low-resourced settings - Thailand, India, South Africa International Data Sets and ICF

3. Disaster Committee Struck to examine issues specific to SCI following Haiti earthquake Members are all SCI experts (surgical, rehab, organizational), with direct experience in disasters and/or low-resourced settings Members have worked with International organizations including HI and MSF Disaster experience covers Haiti, China, Pakistan, SE Asia Tsunami, Japan

4. Disaster Committee Members experience and expertise bridges continuum to longer term capacity building within SCI care in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Haiti, Botswana, Uganda, Nepal, Cambodia, SE Asia…

5. Committee Objective Identify and evaluate potential gaps and/or needs in the continuum of SCI care from prevention to community reintegration following disasters Determine role ISCOS may have in optimizing outcomes for persons affected by SCI in disasters

6. Caveats SCI is catastrophic, and requires specialized interventions of trained providers SCI can result in lifelong specialized needs, that typically benefit from interventions long after disaster response has ended Needs from international community and local providers will be very specific to each disaster situation

7. Key Proposed Activities Development of a rapid assessment tool for identification and first-responder care of persons with SCI Investigate partnerships through key emergency responders – ex MSF and HI Prepare/train rapid-response SCI teams who can be mobilized at request Rapid scan of needs Direction for emergency SCI care

8. Proposed Activities Roster regional teams Generation basic educational curriculum and how-to guides Establish key collaborations