In the Spotlight: John Harahus

A healthcare instructor at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) since 2017, John Harahus has been in the healthcare field more than 20 years.

Harahus began his career with fire and emergency medical services and graduated from Thomas Jefferson University’s nursing program in 2009. He is currently working toward a degree in emergency management from Jacksonville State University.

Harahus is a board-certified national healthcare disaster professional,  certified flight registered nurse, certified emergency nurse, and a certified hospital emergency coordinator. He has also served on the Trauma Center Association of America’s Disaster and Preparedness Committee since 2019.

He currently serves as system emergency preparedness coordinator for Geisinger Health in Pennsylvania, a health system consisting of nine hospitals. In that role, Harahus is a core member of the organization’s Highly Infectious Disease Unit. He continues to fly as a flight nurse for Geisinger Life Flight and is also a nurse specialist with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Disaster Medical Assistance Team.

Harahus provided medical support during several large-scale events, including the 2015 Papal Visit in Philadelphia, the 2016 Democratic National Convention, the federal COVID response in 2020, and Hurricane Laura in 2020. He’s also served in incident command roles during numerous weather and mass casualty events.

“Putting extra effort into planning will prevent many challenges during a real event. Always expect the unexpected and plan for it,” he said.