The Connection newsletter is comprised of articles written by the people from around the Country who are involved in community preparedness on a daily basis.

HOW DO WE REALLY CHANGE CULTURE
Frank Lucier, Editor
Every community in this Country has been, or will be, affected by a natural or human caused disaster at some point in time. Most are woefully unprepared to handle an event of any magnitude. Professional emergency response is staffed for every day emergencies. Budget constraints and common sense will not allow staffing at levels that are needed for a major emergency, which, if we are lucky, may seldom happen. Regional, State and Federal resources can make up the gaps in local resources, but there is always a delay in these resources getting to the location where they are most needed...Go to Article

NEW PARTNERS IN CERT
Sam Isenberger FEMA's Emergency Management Institute
 I am pleased to have three new partners sponsoring CERT training to prepare civilians and employees for the hazards that they face.   These partners are the Department of State, the American Red Cross with FEMA’s Caribbean Area Division in Puerto Rico, and the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance....Go to Article

AMATEUR RADIO AND THE SEMINOLE COUNTY CERT 
Joseph McCluan, Seminole County Emergency Manager & Alan Fisher, Seminole County CERT Association Chair
In October 1997 Seminole County began to teach CERT training to their citizens. Classes were developed to prepare citizens for the time when they would have to eventually be self-sufficient after an incident when emergency services would be overwhelmed and unable to respond to all calls for assistance...Go to Article

NERT TRAINING FOR KIDS!
Patricia Yuen  San Francisco Fire Department  NERT Coordinator
Several times a year, people call the NERT office and ask “Can my kid(s) come to the training with me?” First, I ask, “How old is your child”?  Next I ask, “Can they sit through a 2  hour plus lecture?”  Ninety nine percent of the time, my FINAL answer is, “NERT training is for everyone, ages 8 through 80.”  In some cases, the children are 6 or 7.  What do I say then?  My answer becomes “NERT Training is for everyone.”....Go to Article

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS - A TEACHER'S PERSPECTIVE 
Matthew Reames  Roanoke City, Virginia
As a teacher, I read and watch the media’s accounts of school violence from a different perspective as some other people. I react with horror and disbelief as most of the country does, but I also react with a real sense of fear that a similar incident could occur in my school tomorrow...Go to Article

CERTS WORKING AND THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX
Deputy Chief Joe Daly Edgewater, Florida Fire/Rescue
After the CERTS complete their initial training courses, CPR training, ARC courses and disaster drills, etc. how do you maintain the groups' interest? Edgewater CERTS utilize their training as a group to become involved in community activities...Go to Article

QUINCY CERT
Brian Wilkosky, Deputy Director Youth Services Department, Quincy, Massachusetts
My name is Brian Wilkosky, the Deputy Director Of Youth Services for the City Of Quincy, MA Emergency Management Agency. The Quincy Emergency Management Agency, started the CERT program back in 1999, and we have just started our 3rd Annual class. As of now we have 55 certified graduates of the CERT Training Program, and as of June of this year we will have a total of about 75 graduates...Go to Article

EDUCATION AND YOUNG PEOPLE - FORCES FOR CHANGE? 
John Fitzgerald  School Education Officer, Emergency Management, Australia 
The United Nations 2000 World Disaster Reduction Campaign has as its theme, ‘disaster reduction, education and youth’. Its aim is to continue building a culture of prevention through education channels so that the youth of today can play an active role in reducing the impact of disasters in the future... Go to Article

TEDDY BEAR TRIAGE FOR CERT
Michelle R. Hale 
Fire & Life Safety, Emergency Management Office, Kent, Washington
The City of Kent Fire & Life Safety Department began providing emergency response training workshops to school representatives in 1994.  The four-hour school workshops evolved into the FEMA Community Emergency Response Team Program...Go to Article

SAFE SCHOOLS  
Maryland State Department of Education
According to the 1998 Annual Report on School Safety, written by the United States Departments of Education and Justice, American schools are becoming increasingly safer. However, due to the recent spate of violent incidents, there is a perception that our schools are more dangerous places than ever. The reality is that our schools are safe...Go to Article

C.E.R.T MEMBERS ASSEMBLE TO SUPPORT FIREFIGHTERS
Laura Pacter, North Naples, Florida, Public Education Officer, North Naples Fire Department 
Nine members of the North Naples Community Emergency Response Team of Collier County, Florida quickly assembled to assist in the recent brush fires that spread across 15,500 acres over a period of five days. During two of those days, the team worked in the staging area and waited for firefighters to return to receive any fluids and treatment that was necessary...Go to Article

CERTs “COMING INTO THE COUNTRY” 
Rachel Jacky, Community Emergency Services Manager, Portland (OR) Fire Bureau
In January, four CERT trainers from the Fire Bureau in Portland, Oregon conducted the CERT Train-the-Trainer Course for 28 firefighters, paramedics, and disaster workers from agencies in southern Alaska. The three-day course covered the basic CERT curriculum, techniques for training community response teams, and the realities of setting up a CERT program....Go to Article

MAKING YOUR SURROUNDINGS SAFER 
Simple measures are effective in preventing earthquake-related injuries.
Peggy Peirson, Emergency Services Coordinator, Brenton County, Oregon Emergency Services
Statistically you are more likely to be injured by the contents of your home or office or by falling debris than by collapse of the structure itself in an earthquake in the United States. This does not mean we should ignore structural vulnerabilities, but because non-structural corrective measures are so simple and affordable, it does mean that you can do something now to reduce your risk!...Go to Article

ROBOTS CONVEY SAFETY MESSAGE TO CHILDREN IN MISSISSIPPI 
Sara McQuillin  School Safety Specialist, Division of School Safety, Mississippi Department of Education
School districts in Mississippi are very creative in providing opportunities for students to participate in school safety programs. Typically these programs involve a cross section of the student population who are aware of trends in safety that impact the school environment...Go to Article 

TRAINING, DRILLS & LIABILITY 
D. Chris Springer  Director, AVERT
The Davis County CERT Association has announced a CERT Training Conference for April 21, 2001. The conference will include guest speakers and various classes pertaining to CERT skills. The afternoon session will be a CERT competition (sort of a CERT Rodeo). A fee is being charged to cover costs such as building rental and the like...Go to Article

PARTNERSHIP FOR PREPAREDNESS… Semper Paratus  David A. Donnelly, FPEM 
Assistant Emergency Manager, Alachua County, Florida
In a day of shrinking budgets and small staffs, it is difficult for any public safety agency to maintain a high level of preparedness. Alachua County has recently been certified as the first ‘StormReady’ community in the State of Florida. This is due in large part to technology...Go to Article

SHARING WITH THE UKRAINE 
Peggy Peirson , Emergency Services Coordinator Benton County, Oregon Emergency Services
This past November, I had the great opportunity to travel to Eastern Europe as part of my work with the Oregon State University "Women's Neighborhood Emergency Training" project in Uzhgorod, Ukraine. This was the first of potentially three trips that I'll make over the course of the next year with my colleagues at OSU to assess emergency preparedness and response capabilities and help the Ukrainians develop their own version of our neighborhood emergency preparedness program...Go to Article 

PREPARING CHILDREN FOR DISASTERS 
JoAnn Jordan, Bellevue Washington, Emergency Preparedness Education Coordinator, Bellevue Fire Department 
Preparing children for disasters is not a new concept. Our society has been preparing children for emergencies for decades. The fire department teaches “Stop, drop and roll”. Police have been teaching “Stranger Danger”. We teach children how and when to call 911 for help. When children understand the dangers and the actions to take, they often apply the information better than adults do....Go to Article

DO YOUR PART FOR PREPAREDNESS 
Stacy Gerlich, Los Angeles City Fire Department
This article will focus on the importance of the understanding and being prepared for Violence in U.S. Schools. Some of the specific areas that will be covered include, (a) violence/statistics, (b) Indicators/Warning Signs, (c) Non-Verbal Communication and (d) expectations/plans...Go to Article

MONTANA SCHOOL RESOURCE COMMITTEE 
Wilma Puich  Emergency Manager, Butte Silver Bow, Montana
In Montana the Montana Association of Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinators has established a School Disaster Resource Committee (SDRC).  This Committee, that meets quarterly, provides resources in the form of planning guidance, state and national school safety publications, and presentations to school associations and local School Boards.  If schools need help in disaster planning they need just ask...Go to Article

FLORIDA PREPARES FOR SCHOOL EMERGENCIES 
Julie Collins  Department of Education, Florida
It has been a busy year for Florida's Department of Education as the agency expanded its Safe Schools programs to address emergency preparedness for schools statewide. In January 2000, the Department concluded a series of Safe Schools Regional Meetings, which provided multi-disciplinary guidance for critical incident prevention, planning and preparedness...Go to Article

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT - A DIFFICULT ENTERPRISE 
Carrie Barnecut, BPA  Emergency Services Coordinator, Coastal Region, California State OES
Many advances were made in the aftermath of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California, but the momentum diminished far to quickly to accomplish everything done that could have been done in the area of emergency management...Go to Article

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