FEMA Promising Practice: Whole Community Inclusion Emergency Preparedness Planning at the State Level

FEMA Promising Practice: Whole Community Inclusion Emergency Preparedness Planning at the State Level

8th January, 2015

The webinar will cover two state efforts.

Utah - The webinar will summarize the new model of planning, and the improvements made as a result of a taskforce formed which included trusted leaders of CBO's that advocate for People with Disabilities, local leaders of refugee communities, and representatives from public health and Emergency Management. The taskforce considered the problems of how to locate and communicate with the whole community during a disaster.

Georgia - Our presentation will provide an overview of The Georgia Emergency Preparedness Coalition of Individuals with Disabilities and Older Adults, our network and the development of preparedness resources not only for individuals with disabilities and older adults but for the emergency preparedness and response planning agencies throughout the state. We will provide information on how the coalition strives to integrate key concepts of inclusion, integration, equal access, self-determination, physical access, effective communication and reasonable modifications in all of our preparedness planning.

Speakers will provide information on how the coalition strives to integrate key concepts of inclusion, integration, equal access, self-determination, physical access, effective communication and reasonable modifications in all preparedness planning.

Presenters

  • Rich Foster,retired from teaching and joined VISTA where he was assigned to work on the preparedness program for Salt Lake City. He was later employed by the Utah Department of Health as Preparedness Coordinator for People with Disabilities and other Access and Functional Needs. He has been in public health and emergency management for 6 years.
  • Betsy Kagey, as the Academic and Special Projects Liaison in the Emergency Preparedness and Response Section of the Office of Health Protection in GDPH, Dr. Kagey's work entails emergency planning for vulnerable and special needs populations, public health emergency preparedness collaboration with academic institutions in Georgia and environmental health issues associated with disaster response and recovery. Dr. Kagey is a member of the Georgia Coalition for Emergency Preparedness for Individuals with Disabilities and Older Adults.
  • Jennifer Hogan, as the Disaster Preparedness Coordinator for the Georgia Division of Aging Services, Jennifer Hogan works with older adults, the 12 Area Agencies on Aging, State and local partners to coordinate disaster preparedness planning for older adults and people with disabilities. Jennifer has over ten years of experience preventing fraud, abuse, neglect and exploitation of older adults and people with disabilities. She is a member of the Emergency Preparedness Coalition for Individuals with Disabilities & Older Adults. She is also a certified Mental Health First Aid Trainer.

Learning Objectives: Georgia

  • Learn about the development and sustainability of the Georgia Emergency Preparedness Coalition for Individuals with Disabilities and Older Adults.
  • Learn about the process of working together to develop our Functional and Access Needs Support Services Toolkit for Georgia.
  • Gain an understanding of how the focus and priorities of the coalition have changed over time to address the emergency preparedness needs of persons with disabilities based upon lessons learned from several major disasters over the past few years.

Learning Objectives: Georgia

  • Understand how to plan "with" and not "for" members of the Whole Community.
  • Learn how to use community resources to locate and communicate in 32 languages with People with Disabilities in Real Time during a disaster.
  • Find a practical way to help members of the Whole Community to prepare for disaster.

Handouts:

Contact the Pacific ADA Center if you need access to this recording.