Meet Eric Cote
Prior to launching Disaster Safety Strategies, Eric Cote served as press secretary and senior advisor for a U.S. Congressman and the Governor of Rhode Island, public sector experience that became the foundation for his heralded work advancing disaster safety.
Cote helped turn the Oklahoma City bombing into a catalyzing event for a life-saving American industry. He is considered one of the nation’s leading experts in emergency power resilience, helping critical facilities better safeguard emergency power and advising jurisdictions on how to improve response capabilities when emergency power is threatened during power outages.
His expertise has been called on by FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Agency and the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency (RIEMA).
When Hurricane Irma triggered the deaths of 11 elderly residents at the Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Center, Cote advised Congress on ways to boost federal support for power outage planning by hospitals and nursing homes.
Cote helped develop the nation’s most far-reaching emergency power threat reporting requirements for hospitals and he introduced the nation’s first confidential risk rating by a government agency of hospital emergency power systems.
In 2021, Cote won CDC funding to advance his groundbreaking approach to help in-home life support users extend device runtime during power outages. He has shared his expertise as a speaker and panelist at many national conferences and has authored white papers, playbooks, and toolkits on a range of preparedness topics.
Among Hurricane Katrina’s most tragic outcomes was the deadly impact power outages and flooding had on individuals with disabilities, especially those who depended on life support equipment in their home. Eric Cote should be saluted for his innovative thinking in creating Power Outage Partners, a groundbreaking initiative that seeks to help in-home life support users extend the runtime of their medical devices during outages. This will provide more time for safe evacuation and may eliminate the need for evacuation in short duration outages.