The folks behind Emergency Preparedness in Canada (EPIC) Podcast believe that "disasters are everyone's business," an idea that may not have been as evident when the podcast started in 2016 but has become undeniable throughout more than two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing extreme weather induced by climate change.
The founding co-hosts are Dr. Joshua Bezanson, an emergency planner and physician in Edmonton, and Grayson Cockett, a health-care disaster manager based in Calgary. Emergency planner Gillian Wong joined them in 2021. So this podcast is the work of subject-matter experts who have highly informed conversations with other specialists in the field. But the intention is to transfer that knowledge to the rest of us, with a view to "improving preparedness for all Canadians."
It's worth noting that although EPIC is about preparedness, the hosts are not doomsday preppers or survivalists. This podcast is a calm, non-apocalyptic source of valuable information and interesting insights on being ready for whatever may come.
Every year, EPIC celebrates Emergency Preparedness Week with a multi-episode blitz, and this year's ensemble would be a great place to start getting into the podcast, with episodes on the #NoNaturalDisasters campaign, the logistics of connecting community resources, the social determinants of health, assessing buildings after a disaster, and "the very Canadian concept of caremongering."
You can find this and the rest of Taproot's podcast picks in our Listen Notes list.