Springfield-Greene County Missouri OEM

Ok…so I’m off to a great start, already a day late, but here is the latest installment.

Whole Community. It’s become the buzzword of emergency management, especially for preparedness programs recently. But what does it actually mean?

                FEMA breaks it down into three basic principles, which are further divided into six strategic themes. The whole community principles are: Understand and meet the needs of the whole community, engage and empower all parts of the community, and strengthen what works in communities on a daily basis. Keep those in mind, as we explore the strategic themes and how they apply.

Strategic Theme 1: Understand community complexity.

                  This is more than just understanding that there are different cultures that need to be recognized, but it involves looking to the root causes of problems. According to a national survey conducted by Citizens Corps in 2009, lower income families (those earning less than $25,000 a year) were 20% less likely to be prepared than those who earned a higher income. Can we build more disaster resistant communities by improving business districts where the buildings might not be as structurally sound? This theme really focuses on looking for those hidden problems that might be able to alleviate more than just one issue once it’s fixed.

Strategic Theme 2: Recognize Community Capabilities and Needs

                Again, this requires going out into the community, and understanding where the gaps are. Do we have organizations around the area that focus on things like special needs, faith based organizations, or response organizations that have unique experiences with their particular area of expertise? For example, activities like sheltering are significantly more complicated than just opening a school and letting people sleep there. It requires a lot of foresight. Are their people with allergies? Special dietary restrictions? Access and/or functional needs? What are the medical needs of the residents? Do we have the ability to help provide them with the prescription medications that they may have lost? We have organizations around town that deal with those types of issues on a regular basis. During a disaster, it is extremely important that we are able to tap into their expertise. However, that is best done when there is already an understanding between emergency managers and those organizations, when they have trained with us, helped us develop our plans, and been involved from the start.

Strategic Theme 3: Foster Relationships with Community Leaders

                One of the most effective ways to reach the members of our community is through our community leaders. We utilize people like City Council, County Commissioners, and people in leadership positions to help make decisions already, but government officials are not enough. It’s also important to look at business leaders, neighborhood organizations, civic groups, that can give us a unique understanding of their segment of the community, its needs and capabilities. It works as a two way street too. They are able to provide us with information regarding areas of concern for them, or opportunities that they can see, while at the same time helping us to disseminate information back to their groups.

Strategic Theme 4: Build and Maintain Partnerships

                The greater number of partnerships we can build before the event, the better. Our ability to know the resources in the field is imperative. Our ability to trust that the partners that we have will come when an event occurs helps us to understand where we are at. During a large scale event, when we have to activate our Emergency Operations Center, there are 63 seats on our operations floor, we also have the ability to bring in people at policy making levels into our policy room, public information officers from across the city and county to assist in the Joint Information Center, people to work in our Region D Multiagency Coordination Center room, volunteers to work phone banks, and many others. Disasters are events that do not just affect emergency managers, but every facet of our community. They affect how whether our kids can go to school the next day, if businesses will be able to reopen, and where the next place to turn is. Our partners help us determine priorities, and help to provide for the resource needs that may come up. Partners in emergency management make this process work.

Strategic Theme 5: Empower Local Action

                Empowering local action is all about the community taking ownership of their projects. As emergency managers, it is our job to promote and help coordinate some efforts, but ultimately the direction that we go is up to the citizens. We are here to help give you a jumping off point, but the rebuilding of a community is really in the hands of the people in that community. Regardless of who you are, you can be a leader in the community. It is no longer enough just to sit back and follow. Take action. If you see a problem, help find a way to fix it. Springfield and Greene County are made up of thousands of creative people who can make a difference. It’s time to take charge of your own destiny.

Strategic Theme 6: Leverage and strengthen social infrastructure, networks and assets

                Communities are resourceful, whether that is to help in food banks, or neighborhood watch groups, or any number of other activities that we engage in on a regular basis. We don’t sit on the sidelines and watch other people do it for us. The networks, the social infrastructure, the ability to communicate with one another, it’s all already there for us. It’s a matter of capitalizing on those resources. What emerges from this communication and networking is a shared sense of responsibility, and an ability to make decisions that are not just in the benefit of one group, but that really takes into consideration everyone involved. The better our partnerships, be it local government to its citizenry, businesses to their clients, or just neighbors to neighbors, the greater resiliency we will have when the next one strikes.

Keep your head about you!

TH

     This year the Public Information and Public Education staff of the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management are teaming up to make sure that our community is as prepared as possible. We are going to be going through the do1thing initiative to make getting ready a painless experience. (Note: I did get a paper cut working on this earlier, so no promises…) No matter where you are in your steps towards preparedness, there is always something that you can do a little better. As such, I am going to be creating my family disaster plans and revamping our go-kits right along with you. As we continue to do research on each week’s topics, we will discuss best practices, the latest research, and how that can be applied to what you do at home or work.

     This week’s topic is our version of the Resolve to be Ready campaign. With the new year starting, this is a perfect time to start thinking about some simple steps that you can take to be better prepared. Anyone who dives head first into emergency response and preparedness is likely to get overwhelmed. There is such a plethora of things out there to read, research, and try to grasp. Join us to help break it down bit by bit into easily digestible pieces. For those of you who are just starting out on this journey with us, please feel free to ask questions. We are here to help. For those who have been at this a while, help us to share your best practices. What have you found that works effectively, and what are some of the things that just didn’t quite turn out like you expected?

     We are a community, and communities work best when people can bounce ideas off of each other, and have open and honest discussions about some of the important topics of the day. I have a general idea of the topics that I think are interesting and helpful, but if you have a topic that you have questions on, or would like to share some experience on, please feel free to shoot me an email or message. We are here to serve you as best we can.

     Rudyard Kipling opened his famous poem of advice to a son with, “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…” The idea of this blog, and pretty much everything we do around the office is to change a mindset. The gee-wiz information is all well and good. We will provide that to you as much as possible, but we really want you to be able to use logic, to know your own capabilities, and to make disaster preparedness not just something you do once a year, but a lifestyle change. That sounds big and daunting, I know, but it’s really not as bad as it sounds. All it takes is doing the things you would do on a regular basis, but thinking about it in a different light. Maybe its grabbing an extra pallet of water when you go to the grocery store the next time, or the next time you call your parents in Florida, asking them if they would be ok with being your out of state contact. Simple steps like that can make all the difference when it comes to emergency planning and preparedness. It’s not hard, or even that time consuming; its about keeping your head when all about you are losing theirs.

     Don’t forget to sign up for the CERT classes starting in February if you are interested, and be sure to follow us on Facebook (Springfield-Greene County OEM and Greene County CERT) and Twitter (@gcoem).

     Next Week: do1Thing Step 1: Make a Plan - Emergency Binders, Flash Drives, and Important Documentation.

     Keep your head about you.

     TH

Links of Interest:

do1thing.com

ready.gov

The more I look at emergency management, the more I see where technology can aid us in a lot of ways. There are so many different avenues that we can utilize, from our WebEOC program to using social media to promote preparedness tips, response and recovery information, etc. There are also several apps out there that are pretty fun, and might be helpful. Here are just a few that I have found recently:

WISER - It stands for the Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders. It was developed by the National Institute of HealthThis app is a lot like an Emergency Response Guidebook when it comes to hazardous materials. You can look up various hazardous materials either by their UN shipping number, their name, or you can search based on descriptions. Once you find the substance you want, it provides key information, what personal protective equipment is necessary, emergency procedures, treatments, and protective distances that you can plot on a map based on wind speed and direction. Pretty neat stuff, especially for those long road trips…who knows what you are driving next to!

PFAMobile - This is great app for those looking at psychological first aid after a disaster. You can learn the basics of Psychological first aid, it has information on core actions. It also goes through survivor stress reactions as defined by various age groups and appropriate coping mechanisms to help. It gives a pretty good check list of questions that might help to gauge what kind of help people need, as well as a section on provider self care. Overall one of the best apps I have found for disaster psychology. Put out by the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

The last one I really like is Know your Plan. It was developed by the Insurance Information Institute. It is a really helpful guide for those just starting out on disaster preparedness, or those who may need to do some refresher work. It has several premade checklists based either on specific hazards or things like developing your kit and pet evacuations. Find the check list that interests you, and you can set up a goal date to get it completed by. It will keep track of how many of the tasks you have completed, and just generally keeps you on track.

Anyway, those are just a few pretty cool apps that can potentially be helpful during a disasater.

I am thankful to work with people like Shea Lane, a colleague here in the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management. While most of us in the office were on deployment last week, he decided to cook up a full Thanksgiving dinner for all our friends who worked today up in the 911 call center. He even did the dishes. 

This final post caps 12 days that have left a deep impression on me and I am sure our entire Southwest MO Region D Incident Support Team, pictured above. More about that picture later….

When we started our deployment there were members of our team who had never been on a disaster management deployment operation, others on the team — total strangers. The core of the team was made up of seasoned emergency management professionals who have “been there, done that.”  If the assignment wasn’t hard enough, we all were heading to a place very different culturally and a place where the devastation went on for miles and where they are still suffering and trying to pull together even the most basic services. I have captured hundreds of images from Nassau County. I will post those that really tell the story.

Of course the property loss will be in the billions, but I will tell you that they will bring it back to life.  The Long Island coast and barrier islands are spectacular.  Right now the beaches are places where debris cleanup piles are numerous as hundreds of homes have had to remove all belongings and a lifetime of memories curbside to be sent to the beach debris staging area.  FEMA is trying to put together an unprecedented housing plan to help hundreds and hundreds who either lost everything or their homes are barely standing.  It is a mind-boggling task.  

We were also reminded that the disaster affected people we were working with in the Emergency Operations Center. Even with their personal lives turned upside down they were there — because that is what we do.  As we left yesterday, we gave them a large copy of the picture at the top of this post signed by all the members of the team.  This is a picture of a simple tree called the Survivor Tree because it survived the collapse of the WTC on 9/11.  Our tour guide told us that tree is the most photographed part of the 911 Memorial because of what it symbolizes. In the total destruction of the twin towers, this tree made it. 

The gentleman on the extreme right in the picture is a fireman who volunteered to drive a bus so that we could visit the memorial.  He lost his son, also a fireman, on 9/11. In the picture you can see the new WTC going up in the distance. Survive is what they do in NYC and Nassau County.

This was an experience that I will certainly never forget.  It is good to be back home. 

Today has been a truly remarkable day for our team.  After long hours of hard but incredibly satisfying work here in Nassau County, our hosts took us into the heart of New York City for the afternoon and evening.  We began our day with a visit to the 911 Memorial.  I will simply say - sacred ground - and leave it at that. In the days ahead I will post pictures of our day there and let the images tell the story.  

We got to experience all the sights and sounds of Manhattan, bought a street vendor hotdog, took in Macy’s where the famous Christmas window scenes are already being enjoyed by kids, strolled thru Times Square, and 30 Rock. The evening was capped off with a fabulous dinner courtesy of County Executive, Ed Mangano. It was a first class dinner at a water-front restaurant on the Queens side with the Manhattan night skyline just across the river.  I have seen some views, but nothing like this.  Wow.

WIth each post I have tried to give you a sense of just how wonderful our new friends are here in Nassau County, New York.  Tomorrow we will have a final meeting with the EOC staff, finish our demobilization process, and head back to Missouri. We need to especially thank a couple of guys who call Nassau County home and have been at the center of working tirelessly to get their community back on its feet after Hurricane Sandy……

Here’s to John and Paul and all the hard working emergency management professionals in Nassau County, New York. On behalf of the Southwest Missouri Region D Incident Support Team, It has been a high honor to serve with you.

Demobilization.  That is what it is called when resources are taken out of service. That is a good sign in the disaster management world.  Today saw several positions in the Nassau County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) vacant.  When we first arrived the place was buzzing with different representatives from the towns and villages affected by Hurricane Sandy. Police, fire, social services, utilities, county, state, and federal officials all busy managing the aftermath.

In fact the response and need for emergency management personnel was so large it was being managed not only out of the regular EOC, but also in a very large adjacent room.  That is where our team started during the first few days and later transitioned to the central EOC once we relieved the NY Incident Management Team.  

I don’t know the exact number of people working at the height of the initial response but it was likely 120, maybe more. I just remember walking in the room when we arrived and was struck by how fast things were moving. It was impressive and well orchestrated. The difference between that first day and today is stark.

Vacant desks don’t mean the response has ended or people are going away. Far from it. It just means the disaster is to the point where it can be mostly managed by local officials.  As we look around the room now there is a sense of satisfaction and a realization that as bad as it can get, things do turn the corner.  So, here’s to demobilization. It’s a very good sign.  

A delegation from the Ukraine was in New York and asked to visit the Nassau County Emergency Operations Center (EOC).  As the Incident Management Team in place we were asked to meet with them and provide a briefing as to how disaster response works. Ryan Nicholls and the Section Chiefs from the Southwest Missouri Region D Incident Management Team briefed the delegation led by Lt. Gen. Viktor Kuchera (in black/white shirt) who is Colonel of the Civil Protection Service, Head of Division for Emergencies, and Counter-Terrorist Activity in the Ukraine. Following the briefing, Nicholls and the team led the delegation on a tour of the EOC.