Emergency Management Director

About the Role

The Director, Emergency Management will coordinate and implement emergency preparedness standards to facilitate a safe environment for patients, staff, and visitors across the ThedaCare Health system. This role involves developing and maintaining the system Emergency Management program, including emergency response plans, coordination with community partners, training, drills, and ensuring compliance with regulations. The position may include 24/7 oversight of incident and event response during disasters and will lead business continuity planning for the north region.

Responsibilities

• Lead the strategic planning of emergency management initiatives for the north region, collaborating across hospitals, clinics, ASCs, and post-acute care environments.
• Interface with senior hospital and clinical leadership to ensure constant readiness for emergency management.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive emergency response plans and procedures for natural disasters, pandemics, and other emergencies.
• Conduct an annual hazard vulnerability assessment (HVA)/risk analysis to determine facility risks for natural, technological, human-caused, and other disasters.
• Develop and maintain emergency plans and procedures for disasters identified in the HVA/risk analysis.
• Collaborate with the management team to create, develop, educate, train, and implement disaster plans aligned with state and regulatory agencies.
• Manage disaster response or crisis management activities, ensuring 24/7 staff availability for disaster or potential disaster situations.
• Lead the organization’s Emergency Preparedness Committee, coordinating and updating disaster plans, including internal and external event response.
• Perform education and training needs assessments and collaborate with staff development representatives to create and implement safety/regulatory programs.
• Develop policies and procedures to ensure compliance with federal regulations (e.g., TJC, OSHA, EPA, CMS, DHS) and hospital accreditation standards.
• Build relationships and collaborate with internal and external partners, such as local hospital disaster coordinators, healthcare coalitions, EMS, public health, fire, and law enforcement agencies.
• Establish a schedule of training and exercises to test emergency plans and participate in community or statewide exercises, documenting results in after-action reports.
• Coordinate with department leaders on corrective action plans and improvement initiatives related to safety and emergency management.
• Represent the organization on preparedness committees, such as regional healthcare coalitions and LEPCs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher (preferably in emergency management or a related field).
• 3-5 years of experience in a healthcare-related field, including emergency preparedness, safety, and/or regulatory compliance.
• Clinical experience as a pre-hospital or hospital clinician preferred but not required.
• Prior experience in program coordination and mentoring.
• Analytical skills to evaluate and recommend solutions for emergency management issues.
• Ability to design plans, coordinate courses, and conduct realistic simulated training/exercises.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, including public speaking.
• Familiarity with healthcare emergency preparedness, including security, safety, HAZMAT, OSHA, NIMS, HICS, HVA, CMS, and hospital accreditation criteria (e.g., TJC, DNV-GL).
• Understanding of Hospital Preparedness Program capabilities and healthcare coalition/regional response activities.
• Certification as a Healthcare Emergency Management Coordinator (CHEC) within 2 years.
• Completion of Incident Command System (ICS) courses 100, 200, 300, 400, 700, and 800 within 1 year of hire.