Emergency Management Utilities Earthquake Awareness Month: Preparing for the “Big One” February 9, 2021 by Addison Shaw Despite how prone an agency, municipality, or community is to earthquakes, it's possible to prepare. Many states and areas across the US dedicate February to earthquake awareness, hoping to prepare their residents and stakeholders for these events. Read more »
Emergency Management Pandemic Back to School during COVID-19 with Keller Independent School District December 10, 2020 by Camryn Gaudett Maintaining a sense of normalcy for students throughout this pandemic has continued to be a priority. School districts have been doing all that they can to ensure their students can continue with their education, while maintaining their safety. Chris McLaughlin, Emergency Management Coordinator for Keller Independent School District (ISD) and his team have made sure to adjust day-to-day operations to guarantee that not only can students get back to school, but stay safe in school. Read more »
Emergency Management How Higher Education Can Practice Point of Distribution (POD) Exercises October 29, 2020 by Addison Shaw That COVID-19 vaccine will need to be distributed, and local organizations may be tapped to help out. Colleges and universities may be part of that cohort. Participating schools will need to run points of distribution (PODs) to accomplish this. And if a school's staff is unfamiliar with this type of operation, a practice run is worth their time. Read more »
Emergency Management Revisiting the CARES Act: What It Means for Local Governments October 9, 2020 by Addison Shaw Lately, things are moving weirdly fast. We're less than 3 months away from that December deadline. So if your organization does have leftover funds from the CARES Act to spend, how can your team best use those funds? Read more »
Emergency Management Taking Another Look at ICS in 2020 September 24, 2020 by Addison Shaw The incident command system (ICS), however, was developed in the 1970s, and while it's been used and occasionally updated through the decades, it's a good time to ask if we should update it again or if we can identify and address any of its shortcomings. Read more »
Emergency Management Managing Multiple Emergencies August 25, 2020 by Addison Shaw While emergency managers can effectively and efficiently respond to incidents and disasters, they can't prevent events from happening. While it's rare, emergencies can overlap and stress the response infrastructure emergency management teams have implemented at their organizations. What strategies can emergency managers use to respond to these unusual scenarios? Read more »
Emergency Management Integrating CAD, Emergencies, and Planning August 6, 2020 by Addison Shaw One of the most used pieces of tech in this industry are CADs (computer-aided dispatch systems). However, CADs are often closed systems that capture all the data emergency services need. But there is an opportunity for these systems (depending on how they're built) to integrate with other tools employed by emergency services. Read more »
Emergency Management Being Prepared for Joint Commission and Disasters May 5, 2020 by Addison Shaw The Joint Commission helps ensure hospitals meet certain preparedness standards through an accreditation program. The commission's surveyor will score the hospital, determining if they receive the stamp fo approval. Inspections are random, however, compounding the need for hospitals to always be prepared for disasters (and a Joint Commission surveyor by extension). Read more »
Emergency Management Mardi Gras Emergency Management: Maintaining Safety Amidst Celebration February 25, 2020 by Veoci Staff Team Contribution Roughly 1.4 million people gather in the streets of New Orleans every year to partake in the Mardi Gras festivities. And while it's a culturally rich event, the nature of the celebration makes it easy to see how things could go wrong. The emergency management department and first responders in New Orleans have to be well prepared for Carnival season. Read more »
Emergency Management A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management February 6, 2020 by Veoci Staff Team Contribution Think of all the departments and organizations you have operating within your jurisdiction. Currently, each organization is likely functioning independently, with brief communication crossovers with other departments when necessary. But what if you could bring all of these entities under a single umbrella? Read more »
