Emergency Services Leadership Meeting
Leaders meet to discuss Emergency Services preparedness, response, and communications
On Tuesday, December 5, 2006 Disaster Action Team (DAT) and specialty team captains and coordinators met with Emergency Services staff to discuss current initiatives.
Tom Foley, SEPA Chapter CEO, provided an update and thanked the leadership for their excellence carrying out the American Red Cross mission. He highlighted various activities occurring within the chapter including the Ready Region campaign, a preparedness initiative of which the Red Cross is a leading partner. Tom discussed the Red Cross relationship with local newspapers; he disseminated copies of headlines from local newspapers publicizing the good work of the American Red Cross.
Each Disaster Action Team (DAT) captain or coordinator then reported some of the responses and activities occurring within their team. One highlight was Ginny Kremer, EastMont DAT Co-Captain, who discussed her initiatives with the County Animal Response Team (CART). CART is developing an emergency preparedness plan for animals. As the public witnessed during Hurricane Katrina, a plan for animals is essential if preparedness and response is to be effective within a community. Stay tuned for more chapter updates regarding emergency preparedness for animals.
After all team leaders spoke, ES staff reported on some Chapter updates. Two of the discussions in the meeting are separate articles within this newsletter. Craig Crosby, Manager of Disaster Services, writes one article about disaster response supplies and the second article is from Kevin Wilkins, Emergency Communications Supervisor, about Client Assistance Card audit. One key detail mentioned by Yohan Weerasingha, Client Services Supervisor at the Red Cross House, is the essential need for a DAT responder to fill out the 901 in its entirety. Caseworkers at the Red Cross House need all of the information to be completed in order to best serve our clients. For more details about chapter updates, please contact your DAT captain or coordinator.
