FEMA Promising Practice: Establishing Disability Community Preparedness

FEMA Promising Practice: Establishing Disability Community Preparedness

10th March, 2016

In this webinar, two presentations will demonstrate practices in the field that assist in the preparedness of people with disabilities. In the first half, presenters will discuss the development of a statewide task force on emergency management, disability, and functional needs support services (FNSS) issues, including an FNSS toolkit. This presentation will present a model for including individuals with disabilities and their organizations in advising and shaping emergency management practices and policy at the state level. Over the last four years the FNSS Task Force has developed guidance documents, training curriculum, and outreach initiatives. Representatives and subcommittee chairs will describe how the group serves people with disabilities and major initiatives it has undertaken. Lessons learned for the formation and continuity of such a state-level task force will be discussed.

The second presentation will engage audiences on how CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) Neighborhood Teams can assist local agencies in working collaboratively with the whole community enhancing emergency preparedness for all at the neighborhood level with and for the entire neighborhood. This presentation will explore how a local CERT Team can take the CERT “Buddy System” to a whole new level by partnering up with individuals in their own neighborhood, using the strengths of the entire neighborhood to build a better team. This session will share CERT Teams working with People with Disabilities and others with Access and Functional Needs, side by side, preparing, planning, training and exercising together, as well as outreach materials for people with disabilities developed and produced by the Contra Costa County CERT C8 group.

Learning Objectives:

  • Learn about a process of developing and designing a state-wide model for including people with disabilities and their organizations in designing and shaping emergency management practices and policy at the state level.
  • Discover how local CERT Teams can improve emergency preparedness for the “Whole Community” by starting at the neighborhood level ensuring equal and universal access to emergency preparedness to effectively and efficiently prepare for the next disaster that will impact their community.
  • Understand the benefits of the “Whole Community” working together, taking personal, neighborhood and community responsibilities to a whole new level with the CERT “Buddy System” .
  • Learn how CERT Teams, who are in a unique position to help at the Neighborhood level, have joined forces with local government agencies to improve and enhance emergency response efforts from crucial initial damage assessment in the neighborhood to long term recovery for the entire community.

Presenters:

Dede Powell, serves as the State Coordinator for Operations at the Texas Division of Emergency Management at the Texas Department of Public Safety. She was instrumental in leading the development of a statewide task force to address the needs of individuals with disabilities and functional and access needs in emergency situations.

Angi English, LPC, LMFT, is the Division Chief of Strategic Programs and Senior Advisor at the Texas State Office of Risk Management. She oversees all operations of the division's four departments, which include Risk Management, Workers'Compensation, Communications & Development, and Document Processing. She is also Former Executive Director, Texas Governor's Committee on People with Disabilities, in which capacity, together with Denita Powell, led the initiative to form a task force on emergency management for the state that addressed disability and functional needs.

Kathryn A. Gerk, CEM (Certified Emergency Manager) serves as the Emergency Services Manager for the City of Richmond Fire Department Office of Emergency Services for the past 27 years. She has received numerous awards including FEMA 2009 Honorable Mention for National Citizens Corps Achievement Award Celebrating Resilient Communities and many State and local awards. Kathryn has served on numerous committees collaboratively working to improve emergency preparedness for the Whole Community, CERT as well as for People with Disabilities and others with Access and Functional needs at the national, state and local levels.

Handouts: