The fields of emergency management and national security have transitioned from little more than after-thoughts a decade ago into full-time industries, officials with hospitals and local and federal agencies said this week.
“Hospitals didn’t have emergency planners several years ago,” Jim Stoddard, director of safety and emergency preparedness for Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park, said during a panel discussion at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville. “Now, it’s a full-time job.”
The number of emergency management jobs nationally grew by 34 percent from 2003 to 2009 to some 13,000, according to federal labor bureau figures. In Maryland, which had 170 such specialists in 2009, the mean annual salary of about $69,000 that year was some 40 percent higher than the average salary for all occupations of $49,500.
Jobs in emergency management and homeland security, which include managers, technicians, computer specialists and field workers, are expected to see even larger increases in the near future, said Michael Greenberger, director of the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security and a professor at the university’s School of Law in Baltimore. The center has a staff of more than 70, with many recent graduates of the law school.
“This is a growth area,” Greenberger said. “The terror threat goes on. The need to respond is essential.”
In the last few years, there has been an emphasis on resilience to disasters, said Matt Fuchs, senior policy adviser for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and former policy adviser for Maryland’s Office of Homeland Security.
“After Hurricane Katrina, the emphasis has been on how to get back to mitigating future disasters,” he said.
Montgomery County, which changed its Department of Homeland Security into the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security in 2008, has had a problem filling mid-level positions in the past year or so, said Director Christopher Voss.
“There is not much money for entry-level positions,” he said. Individuals with three or four years experience in the field are difficult to find, Voss said.
Before the Sept. 11 airliner attacks, there were perhaps seven U.S. colleges or universities than offered degrees in emergency management, said Stephen Carter, academic director for emergency management, fire science and homeland security at the University of Maryland University College. Now, more than 240 have degreed programs, he said.
The private sector is adding many jobs in these fields, said Vernon Herron, a senior policy analyst with the Center for Health and Homeland Security and former director of homeland security for Prince George’s County.
“Don’t just restrict yourself to the public sector,” he said to the group of about 100, many of whom were students.
kshay@gazette.net
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