NISSSC - Center for Homeland Security

These online courses are cross-listed for undergraduate and graduate study. Students registering for and completing the four courses 4000-level courses will receive an Undergraduate Certificate from UCCS. This Certificate series is an academic collaboration between the Center for Homeland Security, Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences – UCCS, and the Colorado School of Public Health (CSPH) in Denver/Aurora. Each course must be taken in sequential order.

HSCI 4480: General Principles of Disaster Public Health – 3 Semester Credits
This course is the first course in a four-part Certificate series in Disaster Public Health. This course presents an overview of the public health aspects of disasters. It is intended to provide a foundation for students to understand the basic components of public health during a disaster. After a general overview and introduction, the course will move onto the elements required for response and how these elements have been poorly or successfully implemented in disasters. The course will conclude by addressing the education and training required to build a strong core of professionals.

HSCI 4450: General Principles of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response - 3Semester Credits
The second course in the four-part certificate series, this course presents an overview of the public health aspects of disasters. It provides a foundation for students to understand the basic principles of preparedness and emergency response that are utilized to plan for, respond to, and recover from a disaster.

HSCI 4460: Principles of Medical Preparedness and Response to Specific Types of Disasters– 3 Semester Credits
The third course in the four-part certificate series, this course emphasizes the understanding of the public health impacts of specific types of disasters, as well as how to prepare and respond to the medical consequences of each of these disaster types. This course begins with an overview of the public health consequences of natural and man-made (terrorist-caused) disasters, and then quickly delves in to selected types of disaster events. Disasters to be covered include Pandemic Influenza; Emerging Infectious Diseases; Biological, Chemical and Nuclear/Radiological Terrorism; Explosive Disasters; Mass Shootings; Earthquakes and Volcanic Events; Hurricanes and Tornadoes; Fires, Wildfires and Lightning; Floods and Tsunamis; and extreme Heat and Cold events.

HSCI 4470: Special Topics in Disaster Public Health– 3 Semester Credits
The final course in the four-part certificate series, this course emphasizes the understanding of special public health issues that apply to disasters, topics that are critically important, but do not fit in the context of the first three courses in the series. This course includes segments on terrorism and insurgency; medico-legal disaster response issues; interagency cooperation and dynamics; threat assessment and risk analysis; health risk communication, planning, and exercising for disasters; informatics; and economic disasters and their effects on public health. Four sessions will include special case study segments on 9/11, the anthrax attacks of 2001, SARS, and the 2009 Swine H1N1 Influenza pandemic.