What We Do
Develop Disaster
Safety Initiatives
Over the past twenty-five years, Eric Cote has developed a number of disaster safety initiatives that have helped save lives and made America safer. These initiatives reflected Cote’s out-of-the-box thinking, his fluency in public policy advocacy and his knack for building the right coalition of stakeholders to achieve success.
He turned the Oklahoma City bombing into a catalyzing event for a life-saving American industry, creating a safety movement that helped protect people from the deadly effects of flying glass. After 9/11, Cote briefed members of Congress on the technologies available to better protect the U.S. Capitol and Congressional office buildings from terrorist bombings.
Following a record-breaking hurricane season, Cote led a team that included structural engineers to document the efficacy of protective glazing technologies in safeguarding people and property from flying glass. The project culminated with the publication of Finding the Breaking Point, peer-reviewed report Cote authored that was heralded by emergency management leaders.
Following Hurricane Katrina, Cote helped advance building code reform in Mississippi and later helped the U.S. pharmaceutical industry develop and launch and emergency response initiative to help ensure the continued flow of medicine to patients during times of disaster.
Public Policy Advocacy
As a press secretary and senior advisor to a United States Congressman, the Governor of Rhode Island and the mayor of a large Northeastern city, Eric Cote gained a deep understanding of public policy and the role of strategic communications in achieving public policy objectives. This public sector experience – issuing statements in front of the cameras, volleying with reporters, and working behind the scenes, became the foundation for the public policy counsel he’s provided to clients in the disaster safety arena for more than twenty-five years.
Cote has helped clients develop public policy initiatives to improve safety in federal buildings, bolster federal disaster support for hospitals and nursing homes and push for strengthened building codes in hurricane prone states. He advised a member of Congress on legislative language that became part of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act of 2018 and he has helped prepare clients for testimony before Congress and in state houses across the country.
“If legislation or a regulatory change is needed to improve disaster safety for people, property and communities, I know how to navigate the public policy process to help you achieve success.”
Emergency Power
Resilience Planning
Eric Cote is one of the nation’s leading experts in helping jurisdictions safeguard emergency power at hospitals, water treatment plants, 911 call centers, and other critical facilities the public depends on during power outages.
His expertise has been called on by federal, state and local agencies including 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). Engineering firms and emergency management consulting firms have also tapped Cote’s expertise to help clients bolster emergency power resilience.
Cote has developed the nation’s most far-reaching emergency power threat reporting requirements for hospitals during power outages and he has shared his expertise as a speaker and panelist at many national conferences. Cote has authored white papers, playbooks, and toolkits on a range of preparedness topics and has been invited to author articles on best practices in safeguarding emergency power by prestigious, peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Critical Infrastructure Policy and the Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning.
“Would you like to improve your ability to address the emergency power failures that will invariably arise during an extended power outage? If so, I can help.”
Power Outage Planning
for Vulnerable Populations
Eric Cote has developed groundbreaking new approaches to boost power outage support for in-home life support users, winning funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2021 to launch Power Outage Partners with the Louisiana Department of Health.
This pioneering initiative helps connect life support patients living at home with funding so they can purchase additional battery capacity to extend device runtime, affording more time to safely evacuate. In short duration outages, the need for evacuation may be averted.
Cote has also developed Patient P.I.O.N.E.E.R., a powerful new resource that helps jurisdictions obtain, secure and aggregate Patient Information Needed to Expedite Emergency Response. Patient P.I.O.N.E.E.R. helps target emergency support to the most vulnerable life support users during power outages.
Cote continues to work with jurisdictions across the U.S. to help them identify their most vulnerable in-home life support users and boost power outage support for these vulnerable citizens.
“If you’d like to boost power outage support for your most vulnerable life support users living at home, I can help.”