Category: Neighborhood groups

Overlooked or Abandoned?

Every week I get one or another Google Alert about some group that is either not taking care of itself in an emergency or that has been overlooked by “the authorities.”

In our community CERT group, we do not have the where-with-all to take care of neighbors with disabilities. We don’t have specialized medical knowledge, or (expensive) specialized equipment or even the physical stamina to lift or move some of them. But . . .

We are aware of our neighbors and do our best to keep their needs in mind . . .

as we work on building our – and their — readiness to respond in the face of a disaster. As you build your own neighborhood group, here are

Some questions to ask:

from Lee Wilson, founder at The Egress Group. More at http://accessibleexitsigns.com/

Shelter-in-Place.  When a heavy storm hits, the best course for most people is to shelter in place, assuming they have stored food, clothing, etc.  The questions to ask your disabled neighbors:

1. Do you have food supplies that you are able to prepare for yourself (canned food, water) or do you depend on regular food deliveries from Meals on Wheels or other food service?
2. Do you use any electric or electronic devices to treat a chronic condition, such as breathing treatments or sleeping machines? What plans do you have for back-up power? (Oxygen tanks, battery back-up)

Needed travel.  Do any of your neighbors need regular trips away from their home to get medical treatments like as kidney dialysis? In a severe weather situation, can your neighbor answer these questions:

1. Do you know what to do if you are unable to reach your doctor for several days? (diet, hydration)
2. Do you know where to go for treatment if your local clinic is closed? (addresses of alternate locations)
3. Who would come to get you for dialysis if your regular caregiver isn’t available?
4. What if the elevator isn’t working?

Evacuation.  In the case of an evacuation, many people who may not appear disabled may need assistance.  For example, people who are hard of hearing might not recognize the signal to evacuate. People with difficulty walking might not be able to negotiate stairs. People who can walk may not be able to handle door handles or locks. Questions to ask:

1. Does our building/community have evacuation signage that incorporates signage for disabled people? (visual? touchable?)
2. Is there a plan to find people ready and able to assist disabled people to evacuate?
3. Is specialized evacuation equipment necessary, and available?

Practice and planning do make a difference.

The National Fire Protection Association’s 2007 Emergency Evacuation Planning Guide for People with Disabilities tells the following story.

During the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, a man with a mobility impairment was working on the 69^th floor. With no plan or devices in place, it took over six hours to evacuate him. In the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, the same man had prepared himself to leave the building using assistance from others and an evacuation chair he had acquired and had under his desk. It only took 1 hour and 30 minutes to get him out of the building this second time. 

Perhaps you can share this story with friends and with your CERT team to stimulate some creative thinking.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Forward this email to someone you know who could use the information.  One out of five Americans has some sort of disability.

Available for immediate delivery from Amazon . . . just click on the link to get full details!

Below left, white drone, at around $1,000: DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ Quadcopter with FPV HD Video Camera and 3-Axis Gimbal.

Right, at around $50: Hubsan X4 H107C 2.4G 4CH RC Quadcopter With Camera RTF – Black/Red

Around $50

Why in the world would you want to spend a thousand dollars (or more) on a drone for your Emergency Response Team?

Around $1,000

Answer: If you have money to burn, or if you have a large geographic area to cover or high value properties to document.

Drones are looming big on the horizon. . .

and the Federal Aviation Agency is scrambling to write the rules of use. They are worried (and rightfully so) about the danger drones represent to civilian and commercial aircraft.

But the rules haven’t been written yet and civilian, non-commercial use is growing by leaps and bounds (no pun intended here).

Surveillance of Disaster Areas

One good use for First Responders is to survey the area following a major disaster. Drones can be directed over specific targets and provide excellent photographic records sent in real time to a laptop computer.

This use could shortcut the first responsibility of the Fire Department after a major event, which is to  do a “windshield check” before responding to any individual fires or disaster scenes. The check establishes the passability of roadways and sets priorities for their next steps.

Using drones according to a pre-established grid matrix can accelerate the First Responders’ task, gather more specific and accurate data and allow them to more quickly respond to individual sites.

Delivery of Emergency Equipment

The Neighborhood CERT can use a drone in a similar way, albeit for a specific neighborhood. It could be especially helpful in covering a rural area or a widespread neighborhood geography.

Drones can also be used to deliver emergency supplies, such as a defibrillator, two-way radios, etc. They can also be used in a security setting for surveillance or serve as a deterrent to incursion by strangers.

Weapons of Mini-Mass Destruction?

So much for positive benefits. There is a negative side to drones as well.

While retailers are experimenting with package delivery by drones, it’s probably just a matter of time before some deranged person (or actual terrorist, for that matter) decides to try delivering harmful chemicals or explosives by way of a drone. (Ballistic Drones?)

While it’s doubtful that drones readily available for public purchase can carry large payloads, they do lend themselves to use by individual actors on local targets. And if this seems unlikely – or even a remote likelihood – consider how much fear and potential public hysteria the even more remote threat the Ebola virus created.

If nothing else, it’s something that should give the survivalists something to think about.

Joe Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

If you’ve been following this blog for the past several weeks you know that we’re big on coordinating Personal Survival Plans with Business Emergency Planning.

The reasoning is simple . . .

Businesses depend on their Employees and Employees depend on their Employers.

But it’s pretty well known that most small businesses don’t have adequate Emergency Response Plans.  (Only around 67% have any plan at all.)

The future of your business?

Worse, statistics show that following a catastrophe, half of the businesses affected NEVER re-open their doors!

Why are businesses at such high risk?

1. Owner attitude.

First is the attitude of some owners that they’d rather just cope with an emergency when it hits rather than make any plans to prevent or mitigate it. (We have to ask, if this is you or your boss, are you really a business person?)

2. Emotional impact.

A second factor to business survival is that a major emergency has a dual emotional impact on employees.

Beyond their direct experience at the workplace, with damage and possible injuries, is the safety of their family members who may have been affected, too – but are spread out in the community somewhere.

Since communications are likely to be disrupted, employees will want to leave the workplace immediately to check on their loved ones. Once they disappear, the business has little chance of maintaining critical functions.

Improve the odds: integrate personal emergency planning with business survival planning.

Anything the business principals can do to facilitate employees’ family and neighborhood emergency planning will work to the benefit of all concerned.

One way to begin is by making sure that all employees have adequate Personal Family Survival Plans. This includes:

• Personally-tailored survival kits at home
• Kits at work and/or in their cars
• Communication Plans for family members.

Take advantage of holiday timing.

Now might be a way to kick-start this by seizing on the holiday spirit.

Since we do not advocate buying pre-made, one-size-fits-all, survival kits — which typically include a lot of useless (or low quality) items – we strongly recommend that you consider getting them started with an empty backpack like this one from Amazon. It is big enough, but not too big, and has the advantage of opening from the top to give easy access to everything inside.  And if your company gift policy limits employee gifts to a maximum of $25, you’re in luck!  (Click on the image to get full details, price, etc.  Different colors have different prices.)

As a gift, the survival kit meets important criteria.

1. It’s meaningful.

Every step that an employer can take to help employees prepare their own personal disaster plan will be meaningful for both.

2. It’s personal.

Some people really like clothing with logos, or parties, but others don’t appreciate those gifts at all! Candy? Cheese? Wine? These all depend on people’s personal tastes.

The survival kit is a backpack waiting to be filled with items that the employee chooses!

How to add value to this gift.

The business can use the survival kit to kick-start a more in-depth discussion of preparedness. Setting up an emergency supplies fair at lunch or after work, for example, can improve the odds of employees actually building their kits.

The business can do even more by adding an item to go into the kit – for example, a flashlight or solar-powered or hand-crank radio. Here’s a link to our updated list of the top 10 survival kit items.

And an additional benefit. . .

If your business is one of the 37% of businesses without any business continuation plan at all, this whole campaign could be the impetus to get a company plan started!

If this idea makes sense, you can head directly to Amazon to take a look. Here’s the link: Fuel Top Loader Cargo Backpack (Black)

And if you want to talk over some ideas of how best to present the backpacks to your employees, or how to speak to your employer about providing them to the workforce — just give us a call.  We have a lot of good experience with “employee gifts” that we will be happy to share!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. I mean that about the call!

I admit, the word “preparedness” is pretty dull. Besides, it has too many syllables.

On the other hand, “alive” is exciting! Easy to say, easy to grasp!

How do we convert “dull and boring” into “interesting” if not actually into “fun and exciting?”

The answer: “Questions for Survival!”

If you’ve been reading our Advisories, you know that for the past dozen years Joe and I have worked closely with our community emergency response team.

And for 12 years, we’ve done our best to convert staid old “preparedness,” and its cousins “advance planning” and “disaster prevention” into bits and pieces of information that will help keep people interested – and alive.

I just counted: we’ve published 109 Advisories on these topics!

1. We’ve tried guilt. “How will you feel when your children turn to you and ask why you don’t have any food for them?”
2. We’ve used cynicism. “Oh sure, the authorities will come to rescue us . . .some day!”
3. We’ve appealed to the universal love of gadgetry. “The best single tool you have ever balanced in your hand!”
4. Competition works sometimes. “Don’t let someone else take credit for the work you’ve put in.”
5. Then there’s plain old fear. “Buried under a pile of rubble, will you be able to signal where you are? Will people even be looking for you there?”

All these approaches work to a certain extent. When we see that people have been looking at our equipment reviews, or commenting on our blog posts, or actually buying emergency supplies, we know it’s all worth it!

But, of course, we can’t stop.

Awareness is a perpetual mindset.

If preparedness is important to you, YOU can’t stop reminding other people about its importance, either.

So here’s another tool for you to use to turn a preparedness conversation from something boring into something that could be really interesting!

Questions for Survival – Series One

This is a series of simple “problems” that you are likely to face if, for example, the electrical power goes out.  Some ways to use the list:

• At home.

Bring up one or a group of related problems at the dinner table. Spend 5 minutes, or twice that, coming up with solutions. You’ll be amazed at what family members will come up with (or maybe WON’T come up with) – and having once talked about it, they’ll be ready to respond when the problem really occurs.

• In a group.

Use a few of the questions to stimulate discussion at work, or in a group setting at your church, your child care center, your AA meeting, wherever. You may uncover some things that people have completely overlooked BECAUSE IT WASN’T THEIR JOB! Interesting how disasters don’t discriminate . . .!

• Forward to others.

Our goal is simple: to make people aware of potential risks, give them a sense of confidence that they will know what to do and thus have the best possible chance of surviving whatever emergency arises!

Click here to get your free copy of “Whew. I’m alive! Now what?! — Questions for Survival”

And share it!  Simply forward this email to friends, or via Facebook. We’re busy putting the finishing touches on Series Two, and will have it out soon.

Don’t miss any of them!

Joe and Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Who takes top honors when it comes to emergency preparedness in the schools?

In September, Save the Children’s annual report card awarded Illinois the “most improved” title.

But Illinois only “won” because the state had experienced tornados – and the old plans for tornado safety didn’t work!

What Illinois schools learned from November 2013 tornados:

• The principal of Central Intermediate School in Washington, IL, said: “We had areas we thought were safe, but after the tornado, we looked at the debris and we thought, ‘No, we cannot put our kids in certain spaces.’”
• He also reported that cell phones and even texting worked only sporadically – while there were injured people needing professional help. (Now the school is getting portable radios.)
• At Washington Community High School, the assistant superintendent reported that “Hallways became wind tunnels, so now instead of shifting students into the hallways, we are moving them into interior rooms without windows.”

Where does your state stand?

The same Harris Poll that showed Illinois’ improvements showed that 21 states don’t even require schools and child care providers to have a basic emergency plan!

What about where you live?

You can head to Save The Children’s website and click on the map of the U.S. to find out what your state requires. (Click on your state, then on the report card to the right.)

Here’s the link to the map:  http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.8777049/k.FE2A/Get_Ready_Get_Safe_US_Preparedness_Map.htm

(This is a very long link. If you can’t get there by clicking, go to www.savethechildren.org and simply type into the search box: “US Preparedness Map”)

Required or not, what can you do to improve your children’s chances?

If preparedness has been on your radar for a while, you are certainly aware of the various government websites that offer checklists and suggestions for family and business preparedness.

When it comes to school preparedness, your state department of education might have some resources, too.

As of today, my number one resource choice for teachers is . . .

DISASTER MASTER!

This quiz, available at Ready.gov, is fun to take and will be a great starter for a classroom conversation!

You pick the threat and go through a series of questions that train children how to respond.  (Of course, that’s why it’s my favorite. Knowledge is good; being ready to take action is a whole lot better.)

Hint: Be sure to save the secret password for each level to go on to the next.

Here’s the link: http://go.usa.gov/yqC5

As you can see from the illustration above, the quiz characters are modern and you’ll find the cartoon drawings themselves to be professional and compelling.

Please check this out for yourself, and forward this email to any teachers you know. Share it with your PTA or with your home schooling group.

We can never do too much to protect our children, and being charged with doing too little, when the information is readily available . . . well, that’s unthinkable.

Let me know how it works out!

Virginia

Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. If you missed my earlier Advisory for parents, here is the link again:  https://emergencyplanguide.org/dear-parent/

f course, you hope nothing will ever happen.

And it’s painful to imagine yourself, a loved one or a co-worker buried in darkness under debris, fighting to stay alive long enough to be found.

Almost too painful to contemplate.

But if you’ve watched the news, you know that this has been a reality for dozens, even hundreds of people this year alone!

It’s also a reality that most lives that can be saved will be saved by neighbors or co-workers in the first 15-30 minutes.  In a big disaster, First Responders are simply overwhelmed.

In a big disaster, you and the people around you become the First Responders whether you like it or not!

When asked, about half the American public says they have considered all this and that they are prepared with a plan for disaster.

When questioned a bit more, though . . .

Even prepared families admit to a number of flaws in their planning.

How about you?

Flaw number one – Doing only the minimum.

. . . like storing some water and food at home and letting it go at that.

If this applies to you, perhaps you have the notion that bad things only happen to OTHER people???

The top three emergency supplies most commonly overlooked:

• Medicines for at least 10 days
• Emergency Communications for when phones are out
• Light to see by at night.

Remember, when the electricity goes, phones don’t work, your cell phone can’t be recharged, there’s no internet, no heating, no lighting, no gas for the car, no ATMs, no cash registers at the market . . . the list goes on. Water and food are just the start of what you’ll need.

Flaw number two – Not thinking about where you’ll actually be when the disaster hits.

Where will your children be, where will other family members be?  How and when will you make it home?

There’s a really good chance that when the disaster hits you won’t be at home where your emergency supplies are stored!

Take a moment to think about your day:

At 7 a.m., where are your family members? What about at 8? At 9? Have they arrived at work or at school? Are any of them on the road? When do they start heading home again? How will they manage if they get home and you don’t?

Flaw number three – Ignoring planning at your work.

Statistics show that 3 out of 4 small business owners don’t even have an emergency preparedness plan. Without a plan, after a disaster half those businesses will fail and take the jobs of their employees down with them.

Other stats are even more sobering:

“If the company can’t get back to work within five days, there’s a 90% chance you’ll all be out of work within a year!”

This applies to an at-home or part-time business as much as to a full-fledged enterprise with employees.

Does the place you work have a plan to . . .

• Take care of employee safety and survival?
• Help employees connect with family members?
• Maintain essential functions if the building can’t be used?

These are only three of the possible flaws in a plan. As you can imagine, every person’s plan is somewhat different.

What’s the solution?

Take it a step at a time. When it comes to emergency preparations for the family, start with one of the simple Top 10 Lists like this one. And make sure you have completed a Family Communications Plan. At work, get the conversation started using our simple flyer.

Follow up. Get these resources now and make sure you won’t be blamed for obvious flaws in your plan.

Or worse, hear one of your family members say, “Why didn’t you do something to protect us?”

When the emergency hits it will be too late to make any corrections.

Dear Parent,

Welcome to another exciting school year. Before we allow your child to come to school, we need to know that s/he knows what to do in an emergency.

We don’t have time to fit this information into the regular school curriculum. So if your child is to have a good chance of survival, it’s up to you.

Please sign and return this note so we know your child is properly prepared.

Sincerely,  Your School Administrator

Wow! What if you got this letter from YOUR child’s school? How would you react?

I bet you’d have . . .

Questions for that “School Administrator!”

Here are a few of them:

1. What should my child know about responding to an emergency at school?

2. What emergencies are we talking about?

3. What plans does the school have for protecting my child?

4. Has my child’s teacher received disaster training?

5. What do you expect of me if an emergency happens during the school day?

The sad truth is, many parents do NOT know the answers to these questions. And I wonder, how many school administrators could answer for their school and their teachers?! it’s worth some effort to find out more.

I was inspired to write this post by three things.

• My friend Russell sent me a copy of a booklet passed out at his kids’ school. You’ll see it in the picture. It is packed with valuable information, pulled from a variety of sources. Because it IS so packed, though, no child would ever start reading it. Even a parent would be hard pressed to get through it. The booklet could answer questions 1 and 2 above.

• For the past six weeks, the LinkedIn Group that I participate in has been discussing disaster preparedness in the schools. These are professional trainers and consultants. Their reluctant conclusion? With rare exceptions, schools ignore basic survival skills for students. Some schools would be able to answer questions 3 & 4 above.

• Are schools required to be able to answer our questions? In June 2013 the White House released a guide  for developing emergency operations plans for elementary schools. The guide “incorporates lessons learned from recent incidents, and responds to the needs and concerns voiced by stakeholders following the recent shootings in Newtown and Oak Creek and the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma.”

Here in California, other resources are available through the State Department of Education. As far as requirements, all I could find is that regular fire and earthquake drills are mandatory. Still, a school that takes advantage of the guides and resources mentioned would, in fact, be able to answer all the questions above.

So where does YOUR kid’s school fit? Which of the questions can your school answer? Which CAN’T it answer?

It’s September. Back to School Month PLUS National Preparedness Month. Could there be any better time to find out more?

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

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At about 4:30 p.m. last Saturday, with temperatures hovering around 92 degrees, I was working at my desk when WHAM!, the power went off.

Before I could even get up from the chair a few things happened:

• My computer battery back-up started beeping.
• Our home alarm system started beeping.
• All our emergency wall lights went on.  (See the photo!)

I went into Emergency Response mode.

Step One: Size up the situation

1. My home assessment: nothing damaged, no danger.
2. I checked on the neighborhood: outage in all directions for several blocks; community gates automatically locked in open position; some traffic lights blinking red, others out altogether. Sounds of sirens in the distance.
3. I tested: cell phones were working, but not all home phones. (If people answered the phone, we could talk, but if there was no answer I was unable to leave a message.)

Step Two: Shift to full Community Emergency Response Team mode

1. As Division Leader I got on the radio and maintained walkie-talkie contact with our other local CERT divisions, shifting to Central Command frequency to make reports.
2. I reported the outage to the power company on their automated phone system; later, we got an automated report on that same number.
3. Joe monitored official city emergency response on his HAM radio. (Four of us have HAM radio licenses and radios.)
4. We kept neighborhood CERT members up-dated.
5. We contacted neighbors with news and recommendations, by phone and by face-to-face visit.

As it turned out, a fire in an electrical substation took out power for some 27,000 residents. (The fire engines we heard were responding to the fire itself.) Power was restored in phases; we got ours back about 7:30 p.m., others got theirs as late as midnight.

So here’s what we learned from the outage.

Something as simple as a power outage creates excitement.

At first, people were annoyed because they missed their air conditioning.

Then, they realized that they shouldn’t be opening their refrigerator if power was going to be off for several hours.

Then, some figured the thing to do was to go out for dinner – not realizing that traffic was jammed in nearly every direction.

Finally, as evening fell, people realized they had better come up with a flashlight or lantern because after dark they’d have no way to get around! Some of these people then decided to get into the car and drive somewhere to find batteries . . .

So once again, an “incident” serves as a reminder that emergencies WILL happen. This one didn’t develop into any kind of a disaster, but. . .

If it had continued for 24 hours

. . . imagine what would have taken place!

• People would have spent a night in the dark.
• Food in refrigerators would have started to spoil; after 24 hours some food would have spoiled completely.
• Frozen food would likely have thawed and had to be thrown out.
• Most cell phones would have run out of battery.
• Most computers would have run out of battery. Internet would have been unavailable anyway, since home networks were all down.
• Motorized wheelchairs might have run out of battery power.
• Back-up plans would have to be implemented for people using breathing apparatus, sleeping machines or dialysis equipment.
• The water supply may have become compromised. (See last week’s blog post on Boil Water Alert.)

Our U.S. grid is aging (like everything else) and while attempts go on to get the right balance between public and private ownership, the grid is increasingly outdated and increasingly vulnerable. Ever-growing demand and climate change add even more stress to the system.

So power outages are not rare, and their frequency is growing. They can last for a few minutes or for days, depending on the cause. A serious solar flare episode could cause whole sections of the grid to fail and be down for 60 to 90 days!

Quick poll:

1. Have YOU experienced a power outage in the past 12 months?
2. How long did it last?
3. What was the cause?
4. What did you take away from the experience?

Let us know. We’re all in this together, so the more we know, the better off we’ll all be!

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

“I read you loud and clear.”

Every month, on the second Wednesday at 6 p.m., our neighborhood CERT group clicks on their two-way radios and gets ready to participate in the radio drill.

The first check-in takes place at the Division level, when the Division Leader checks with 10 or so Block Captains. It’s a quick call: “Division 5 Leader calling Block Captain 5 Alpha. Do you read?” and a quick answer, “Five Alpha reads loud and clear.” Takes less than 7 minutes.

After the Block Captains check in, the Division Leaders and Special Teams (Search and Rescue, First Aid, etc.) switch to the Community Channel and participate in their own roll-call. Another 7 minutes.

What we accomplish with these radio drills is three-fold:

1. Radios are checked to be sure they are functioning. (If someone forgets to turn the radio off, then when the next month rolls around that radio’s batteries are dead!)
2. Everyone gets practice using the radios, the channel assignments, and the lingo. (It seems easy to say “Five Leader” or “Five Delta” but non-native English speakers, in particular, need to practice.)
3. We get reassurance that our community is intact and participating!

Last year Southern California experienced a 5.3 quake at about 8 p.m. On that evening, CERT group participants grabbed their radios and ran outside to check how neighbors had fared. I stood there in the dark, and soon came the voice of one of my team members, “This is Cheryl, Five Charlie. Is anyone there?” (Protocol slips a bit when there’s a real emergency.)

Cheryl and I were able to discuss our block and ascertain that all was well. I then switched to the Community Channel to check in, and sure enough, other Division Leaders were doing the same thing.

The point is, this simple communications plan worked, worked well, and worked fast. No dialing, no waiting, no ringing, no busy signals, no leaving of messages. Just push to talk.

“I read you loud and clear.”

Take a look at our updated review of Walkie-Talkies.  I think you’ll find it interesting and valuable. And let me know if YOU have Walkie-Talkie stories to share. Til then, “Over and Out.”

Virginia 
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Need some ideas for planning neighborhood meetings?

Below is a list of 15 emergency training topics.

And they’re not just mine.

Get expert training for your team.

As you know, I’ve had a Google Alert set up for a while. Actually, two of them, one for “Emergency Preparedness” and one for “Disaster Recovery.” I get about 10 alerts a day about what’s happening around the country.

Most of the alerts are press releases mentioning a person who’s been hired for a new position.

But others announce trainings. Take a look at the following list that I collected in just the last two weeks!

• Dump catches fire
• Airport Emergency Plan
• Snow Emergency Plan
• Snow Emergency Route Plan
• Test of Emergency Sirens
• Training on Emergency Apps
• Hospital Ground Zero for Shooter Drill
• Committee moves toward oil disaster preparedness
• National Hurricane Conference Announces Amateur Radio Sessions for 2014:
• Indiana University says glitch found during test of emergency alert system has been fixed
• Catawba Nuclear Power Plant tests terrorism
• Local, state officials advise: Prepare for flooding
• State, feds to create tsunami strategy guides for Calif. harbors
• Attleboro, state emergency agencies plan to offer booklets in Braille
• Chemical safety becomes focus of neighborhood watch

Which of these might be helpful for your community?

Track down a “guest expert” for your neighborhood group.

Prepare with a few “talking points.”

1. Jot down a few bullet points about what you’re looking for: topic, length of presentation, where, dates available.
2. Be ready to describe your audience: how many of them, ages and circumstances.
3. Then get on the phone:

• Call the Police Department or Fire Department to find out whom they would recommend.
• Call the local Red Cross office, same question.
• Is there a college or university in town? A strategic all to their administrative offices might lead you to your speaker.

This isn’t a complete list, by any means. But if others are getting this specialized training, why shouldn’t you?! All it takes is persistence.

Last month our group had a guest speaker on earthquakes.

Timely, too. In just the past 24 hours we’ve had three of them here in Southern California!

Preparedness is awareness. Let a good guest speaker raise the level of awareness in YOUR neighborhood.

What would be first on YOUR list if you could get an expert?  Let us know your thoughts!

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

And if you are having any difficulty finding that speaker, contact me and we can brainstorm together. I’ve been “programs chair” for lots of different organizations!