Inspired by her clinical experience in emergency and critical care transport nursing, Tara N. Heagele became interested in the role that nurses have in mobilizing the community to prepare for and recover from extreme weather events and disasters. As a member of her local Medical Reserve Corps, Dr. Heagele volunteers her nursing expertise to her community during extreme weather events, public health emergencies, and disasters. She holds several certifications in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. In a study exploring household emergency preparedness (HEP) of elderly and medically frail community members, she found that low levels of HEP were due in large part to lack of education on how best to prepare. She is now developing and pilot testing nurse-led HEP interventions in diverse in-patient and community settings. Dr. Heagele, as part of a team of disaster nurse researchers, developed a global, interdisciplinary, evidence-based, valid, reliable, all-hazards HEP instrument. She is pilot testing the instrument in various populations to gather additional validity data, while evaluating the effectiveness of various levels of HEP interventions. Additionally, her climate change research is measuring the effects of extreme heat and air pollution on the cardiovascular and pulmonary health of susceptible individuals in New York City.