From christian at stalberg.net Tue Nov 1 17:47:55 2011 From: christian at stalberg.net (Christian Stalberg) Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2011 17:47:55 -0400 Subject: [Hazardmit] FW: Assessing / Enhancing Functional Needs Support Service Capabilities - During A Disaster Response Message-ID: <887E5E952BDF43369F9438AFA7142B3F@D3J1MNH1> _____ From: Chris Floyd [mailto:chrisfloyd at drc-group.com] Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2011 5:36 PM To: Susan George Subject: Assessing / Enhancing Functional Needs Support Service Capabilities - During A Disaster Response Description: Description: logo-Access-001Hurricane Access Makes Landfall in North Florida During the last week of September county Emergency Operations Centers in regions one and two were buzzing with the activities associated with Hurricane Access. What was Hurricane Access? Sponsored by Florida's Division of Emergency Management, Hurricane Access was a unique exercise which served as an opportunity for stakeholder agencies and organizations charged with providing (Functional Needs Support Services) assistance to disabled, transportation disadvantaged, senior citizens and limited or non-English speaking residents to work with local county emergency management officials to gain a thorough working knowledge of actions that will need to be taken prior to, during and following a category two hurricane striking their county. Description: Description: Walton County EOCDuring the Hurricane Access exercise county emergency management worked in coordination with their local Functional Needs Support Services (FNSS) stakeholder agencies and organizations (Community Partners) to assess each other's working knowledge of plans, procedures and process associated with information gathering and resource sharing. In addition, the exercise drilled down to the level of emergency management coordinating with Community Partners to deliver specific services to individuals and families with FNSS needs. According to Greg Strader, Executive Director for Escambia County's Be Ready Alliance Coordinating for Emergencies (BRACE), "The exercise compelled participating organizations to identify creative solutions to address the needs of the simulated disaster survivors in collaborative and coordinated ways that I haven't seen previously in my nearly 40 years of work with emergency management." Franklin County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Rundel's thoughts on the exercise were "The exercise was our county's opportunity to bring together Community Partners with a focus on identifying the FNSS capabilities of each partner agency and organization. This exercise will assist us as we continue to enhance plans and procedures to meet the needs of county residents following a disaster." Description: Description: Franklin County EOCThe exercise was facilitated via an internet based exercise application which allowed all counties to participate in the exercise simultaneously. In utilizing the internet teams located at each EOC were able to identify new Community Partners via several resource identifier web sites that were incorporated into the exercise. Volunteer Florida 's Merrilee White, who served as an exercise evaluate during both the exercises, stated "The Hurricane Access exercises were a great opportunity for emergency management to set face to face with community organizations that can help make FNSS a reality in Florida." "Hurricane Access was an extremely effective means to bring about serious planning and partner development for FNSS in disaster response. It is the first positive step to learning what needs to be done as well as clearly identifying what resources can be truly counted upon to meet FNSS needs during a local disaster response." As stated by Bill Dion, American Red Cross - North Florida Region Planner, at the conclusion of the region one exercise. Carol Stachurski, an Advocate with Disability Rights Florida, participating in the region two exercise at the Leon County EOC was overheard saying "the exercise provided me with a wealth of information regarding emergency management procedures as well as giving Community Partners an opportunity to work together to meet the needs of individuals and families with disabilities following a hurricane." Additional information regarding the Hurricane Access Exercise can be obtained by accessing: www.HurricaneAccess.org. Description: Description: DRCG-Logo-Hurricane-E-Mail-02 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.png Type: image/png Size: 16222 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image003.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 86667 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image005.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 34628 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image007.png Type: image/png Size: 17995 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 5214 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image004.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 7232 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image006.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 6867 bytes Desc: not available URL: