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Western Massachusetts Community Organizations Active In Disasters Summit

The Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council will host the second Community Organizations Active Disasters Summit on Thursday, April 30 at the UMass Center in Springfield. Click here to register. The event is free.

The Western Massachusetts Community Organizations Active in Disasters (COAD) Summit provides an excellent opportunity for emergency personnel to learn about the wealth of non-governmental, ready-to-serve organizations that exist in their communities, and to take stock of the vital resources these agencies supply.

Participants will become familiar with the function and mechanics of the emergency response system and learn about the ways in which their particular organization or personal skill fits into the many-faceted network of volunteers.

Keynote speaker Susamma Seeley is a certified emergency manager and the statewide director of response for Catholic Charities agencies in Missouri. She also serves as the Chairperson of the Missouri Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD). When deployed on their behalf, Ms. Seeley’s primary role is to assist local Catholic Charities agencies with integration of their response and recovery activities into the broader disaster response community. Her most recent deployments include the 2011 Joplin, Missouri tornado response and the 2012 Hurricane Sandy response in New Jersey. With a background in both emergency management and VOAD, Ms. Seeley’s keynote speech will offer insight into and discuss strategies for relationship-building between these distinct disaster response camps.

The two-session agenda will include continental breakfast, lunch, opportunities to network, and a low-stress, low-stakes functional exercise in which participants will practice coordinating their response through a disaster scenario. Morning registration will test an existing plan for operating a volunteer reception center.

Individuals and groups interested in volunteering or actively involved in preparing for emergencies and assisting victims before, during, and after disasters are encouraged to attend. This year’s summit promises to be an exciting day of informative workshops, problem solving, and networking with other participants who share an enthusiasm for helping others through disaster.

UMass Hampshire MRC Exercise in the news

The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports on the upcoming large scale UMass / Hampshire MRC shelter exercise. More than 275 people are expected to participate. WRHSAC is providing funds to support the exercise. To read the article click here.

COAD Summit 2015

The Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council has set the date for its Community Organizations Active in Disasters Summit 2015. The summit will be held on Thursday, April 30, 2015 at the UMass Center at Tower Sqaure in Springfield, MA.

Workshops for both community organizations and emergency management are being arranged and will likely include: a look at online tools useful for recovery; a training on the emergency rest center guide prepared by WRHSAC; food safety in a shelter or emergency rest center environment; working with children in disasters; and looking at the role libraries can play before, during and following a disaster.

The summit will be free and lunch will be provided. Please save the date to join us! Watch your email and this website for registration information.

Individual Module Training for WRHSAC's Regional Shelter Plan

WRHSAC has developed and helped western Massachusetts entities implement a Regional Shelter Plan. This comprehensive plan provides Job Action Sheets, Standard Operating Guides, Forms and more.

WRHSAC has developed an on-line training with individual modules for each job associated with operating a shelter. The training is free and accessible for anyone to take. Once a module is completed, participants are able to print out a certificate indicating they have taken the training. These certificates can be used by shelter managers to track staff training. The modules can also be used as just-in-time training during shelter activation.

A goal of this project is to familiarize people with the WRHSAC Regional Shelter Plan documents, how to use them, and encourage municipalities to adopt them to assist in creating common operating pictures in shelter operation throughout the region. The number of people that need to understand this content is also quite large: everyone from local Selectboards, to local Boards of Health, to Emergency Managers, to Medical Reserve Corps Volunteers, to local church organization active in disasters and even people who might show up the day after an event who just want to help out in any way they can. It became clear that online training or E-training was a positive solution and a contract was signed with a training development firm with a focus on emergency management.

The E-training was designed to provide learners with knowledge about how to carry out their assigned responsibilities in a shelter. The underlying instructional design is simple: apply problem solving versus memorization based on scenarios they would likely encounter in a shelter environment. The training builds on the regional and other national guidance documents and it contains all of the forms necessary to carry out shelter operations under the National Incident Management System.
The training has the following features:

● Scenario-based content
● An emphasis on ADA compliance
● Applied Learning
● Mobile ready
● Embedded and printable certificates

 

Emergency Rest Center Guide

The Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council has shared the recently completed Emergency Rest Center Guide and other related templates. These documents are a result of the latest work of WRHSAC’s  Faith Community Partnering for Emergency Preparedness project. The Emergency Rest Center guide can be adapted by any Faith Based or other organizations that are able to provide Rest Center services in response to disasters or weather events.

Handheld GPS Unit Caches Established

WRHSAC rolls out handheld GPS Unit Caches.GPS Units.

Caches will be available beginning May 12, 2014.

For more information, click here.

South Deerfield Fire Station

8am - 4pm

MEMA sponsored CERT Train the Trainer Course. November 13 through 15, 8am to 4pm.

Click here to register.

Gateway Regional High School, Huntington, MA

6:00pm - 9:00pm

Communication 101 – an Introduction to Communications and Interoperability in Western Massachusetts

Topics to include:

• History of communications

• Communications theory

• Use of regional and statewide systems, including WMLEC

• Available communications assets

• and more

There will be hands on training with radios, communications asset demos, and case studies. There will be special guest speakers, informative presentations and question & answer periods.

Participants are requested to bring their portable radio to class.

This training is geared towards anyone that uses a radio, from entry level first responders to chief officers, in all disciplines and jurisdictions in Western Massachusetts.

Register here.

Ware Fire Department, Ware MA

9:00am - 12:00pm

Communication 101 – an Introduction to Communications and Interoperability in Western Massachusetts

Topics to include:

• History of communications

• Communications theory

• Use of regional and statewide systems, including WMLEC

• Available communications assets

• and more

There will be hands on training with radios, communications asset demos, and case studies. There will be special guest speakers, informative presentations and question & answer periods.

Participants are requested to bring their portable radio to class.

This training is geared towards anyone that uses a radio, from entry level first responders to chief officers, in all disciplines and jurisdictions in Western Massachusetts.

Registerhere.

New Blog Post Faith Community Partnership

Faith Community Partnership new blog post provides and overview of the current efforts to build emergency rest center network in western Massachusetts.

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