Posts Tagged ‘Emergency management’

Celebrate National Preparedness Month!

Friday, June 8th, 2012

June is not only the month for summer fun; it is also a month to get prepared! June is National Safety Month. The summer hosts a number of fun activities for warm weather, but it is also important that you are safe about these activities. From the pool to the lake it is important to not only have fun, but also to be safe.

Summer time is also a host to weather emergencies such as hurricanes and high temperatures that can cause injuries. How will you prepare yourself and your family for these various natural emergencies? Below are 10 simple ways that you can prepare your family for any summer related emergency that may come your way!

  1. Make an emergency kit: Build an emergency kit so that you can survive after a disaster. Your kit should include enough food, water, and supplies to last you at least 72 hours.
  2. Learn your surroundings: Make sure that you have a safe place to go in times of emergency.
  3. Locate your lifeguards: If you are not a strong swimmer or you have small children at the pool, make sure you know where the lifeguards are located. Locating lifeguards ensure you will be able to find them when needed.
  4. Time for lawn upkeep: Hurricanes mean strong winds! Make sure that your trees and shrubs are trimmed to prevent house damage.
  5. Stay inside: Summer weather means high temperatures causing such things as smog. When the air quality is poor it is important to stay inside. Ensure your safety by monitoring your local weather report.
  6. Never leave your car unattended: High temperatures mean increased chance of heat related injuries. Never leave your children or pets in the car unattended!
  7. Become CPR certified: Have little kids? No lifeguard at your neighborhood pool? Take a CPR class with your local Red Cross chapter. Your breath could mean life or death for your child.
  8. Keep an eye out: Drowning is one of the top 5 factors of death in your children. Know where your child is at all times. Seconds can mean life or death.
  9. Life vests vs. water wings: Although water wings are typically marketed to protect your child. Most pools outlaw them due to their low safety rating. Purchase a life vest to ensure your young swimmer’s safety in the water.
  10. Stay hydrated: Spending a long day outside? Ensure your overall health and prevent yourself from a heat-related injury by drinking lots of fluids while outside.

Summer time is such a great time of year. By following these tips, you will ensure a care-free season for your entire family!

How are you preparing your family for the summer? We would love to hear about it in the comments section below!

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Posted in Emergency Preparedness, Environment | No Comments »

Celebrate Being Prepared

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

March is a month full of fun and sometimes interesting holidays March is not only a time to celebrate National Noodle Month, but it is also American Red Cross Month.

The American Red Cross has done so much for our country’s well-being since its formation in 1881. Since the Red Cross was formed, countless pints of vital blood supply have been donated and thousands of hours of relief have been volunteered nationally and internationally. It is definitely important to celebrate this tremendous contribution that has been given by Red Cross volunteers and workers.

So how can you get involved in recognizing the selfless dedication of Red Cross volunteers during the month of March and beyond? You can volunteer Red Cross style! Check it our below:

  • Donate blood
  • Be an emergency contact
  • Prepare emergency kits
  • Become an AmeriCorps NCCC or the newly formed FEMA Corps member
  • Become a certified lifeguard or get your CPR certification
  • Get your flu shot
  • Establish an emergency plan in your household, workplace, and school
  • Educate yourself on how to respond to common emergencies in your area
  • Volunteer for disaster relief
  • Educate your children on the importance of emergency preparedness
  • If you cannot swim, take swim lessons. If you can swim, become a swim lessons instructor.
  • Make sure that your house is weather proofed to withstand any natural disasters.
  • Determine a safe area in your house for emergencies
  • Donate to the Red Cross
  • If you are a teacher decorate your classroom in honor of the Red Cross and educate your students on emergency preparedness
  • Check your smoke detector
  • Have your family do a fire drill
  • Establish methods to prepare for a power outage
  • Don’t forget about your pets, make sure to include them in your emergency plans
  • Donate canned foods, blankets, or emergency kits to groups focused on disaster relief.

We hope that these suggestions will help you become more prepared for any emergency that may come your way. Make sure you stay informed on your community’s weather and health conditions so that you may be ready for all types of disasters. It is important to celebrate everything the Red Cross does to help the community by adopting their practices in your own routine. Get out and stay prepared today!

How are you volunteering for emergency preparedness in your community or household? Share with us in the comments section below!

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Posted in Emergency Preparedness, Events | No Comments »

9 Tips for Managing Unaffiliated Disaster Response Volunteers

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

The efficient and proper management of unaffiliated, often spontaneous volunteers in times of emergency is crucial to being able to respond to the disaster. Here are some tips for managing the power and talent of those who want to support disaster recovery efforts.

Understand that volunteers are a community. Volunteering is a valuable part of h healthy community. Volunteers come from all segments of society and often provide essential services. Everyone has the potential to contribute their strength and resources in the aftermath of a disaster.

Volunteers can be involved in more than just immediate recovery efforts. There are valuable and appropriate roles for unaffiliated spontaneous volunteers in mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery – as well as in other aras of community need. The response phase provieds an opportunity to direct volunteers toward longer-term affiliation and community involvement.

Management systems. Volunteers are a valuable resource when they are trained, assigned, and supervised within established emergency management systems. Similar to donations management, an essential element of every emergency management plan is the clear designation of responsibility for the on-site coordination of unaffiliated volunteers.

Shared responsibility. The mobilization, management, and support of volunteers is primarily a responsibility of local government and nonprofit agencies with support from the state level. Specialized planning, information sharing, and a management structure are necessary to coordinate efforts and maximize the benefits of volunteer involvement.

Volunteer expectations. Volunteers are successful participants in emergency management systems when they are flexible, self-sufficient, aware of risks, and willing to be coordinated by local emergency management experts.

The impact on volunteers. The priority of volunteer activity is assistance to others. When this spontaneous activity is well managed, it also positively affects the volunteers themselves and thus contributes to the healing process of both individuals and the larger community.

Build on existing capacity. All communities include individuals and organizations that know how to mobilize and involve volunteers effectively. Emergency management experts and VOAD partners are encouraged to identify and utilize all existing capacity for integrating unaffiliated volunteers.

Managing information. Clear, consistent, and timely communication is essential to successful management of unaffiliated volunteers. A variety of opportunities and messages should be utilized in order to educate the public, minimize confusion, and clarify expectations.

Say thank you. Don’t forget to take the time to thank the volunteers who are showing up to help with disaster recovery. Many of them will likely be the same people who were affected by the disaster. Taking the time to say thank you and show that you care about them can help them to recover from their ordeal.

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Posted in Disaster Relief, Mobilize, Volunteer Management | No Comments »

Creating a Family Disaster Plan

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011

Yesterday we talked about how to put together a disaster preparedness kit.  What do you when a disaster hits that requires evacuation, either before the disaster or after? What happens if you and your family get separated during a disaster? Preparing a plan of action in the event of a disaster is an important part of getting through it. Here are some steps you can take before a disaster to help make it through.

  • Make sure everyone in your family knows how to send a text message on a cellular phone. Text messages can often get around network disruptions when a phone call can’t get through.
  • Pick two places to meet outside of your home. One close to your home like a neighbor’s home, and one outside of your neighborhood in case an emergency forces you to leave your neighborhood.
  • Pick two out of town contacts for family members to call in case they are separated. Designate one a primary contact and the other a secondary contact.
  • Make sure everyone knows the contact numbers and has some way to get in contact with them. If your family members have cell phones, program the contact numbers into them as ‘emergency contact’ instead of their name.
  • Post emergency contact numbers near your phone. If you don’t have a home phone, post them somewhere they’ll be easy to find.
  • Identify the safe places in your home to take shelter during a disaster. The places might be different based on the type of disaster; your basement is a save place in a tornado, but not in a flood.
  • Keep the original version of important documents in a safety deposit box. Keep a copy of them in your disaster kit, and send a copy to be kept with a relative.
  • Practice your plan. Practicing your plan allows you to respond quickly and appropriately during an emergency. Try to practice at least twice a year. Practice not only makes the plan more familiar, but gives you an opportunity to check that everything in your disaster kit is up to date.

Visit these pages for more tips for keeping your family safe during a disaster:

FEMA’s Family Communication Plan

Sign up for emergency alert services

NOAA’s Family Disaster Plan

 

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Posted in Disaster Relief | 4 Comments »

Change Notes: The Power of Many

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Dear Friends:

With many southern states and the Gulf Coast hit hard in recent days by massive flooding and the still-unfolding oil spill, HandsOn Action Centers are taking aggressive steps to assist with the immediate response while also planning for long-term recovery efforts.

In Tennesee, where the Cumberland River crested at  11 feet above flood stage, Hands On Nashville now has an amazing 15,000 volunteers registered and ready to go.  This action center is serving as a major gathering point for unaffiliated volunteers during the disaster and is working closely with the local Nashville Emergency Management Agency.  Hands On Nashville is staffing five volunteer reception centers as well as information centers to provide support to flood victims and is funneling ongoing updates through Facebook and Twitter. (Its Web site traffic at www.hon.org climbed from 198 on May 1 to 18,934 on May 3!)

Around the Gulf Coast, HandsOn South Alabama will be opening and staffing two volunteer reception centers, and is working out oil-cleanup training with BP for volunteers.  Hands On Mississippi is working with that state’s emergency management agency to coordinate unskilled volunteers in watershed areas should oil reach land there.   HandsOn New Orleans is working with the statewide volunteer center, Volunteer Louisiana, to coordinate and deploy volunteers.

The readiness and capability of our wide HandsOn Network, combined with the passion and urge to serve of individuals, is never more apparent than when immediate response to a calamity is required. The ability to deploy rapidly to meet community needs is a hallmark of our network of action centers, because they have developed scale, skills, and connections over time.

Service in the wake of disasters poignantly demonstrates how critical volunteer engagement can be to solving problems. A terrific new book by policy expert Shirley Sagawa, The American Way to Change: How Volunteer and National Service Can Transform America,  points out how critical volunteers are to emergency preparedness, disaster response, and rebuilding homes and lives.  The author cites HandsOn New Orleans as an example. AmeriCorps alum Kellie Bentz came for six weeks to help and ended up staying three and a half years and creating HandsOn New Orleans.  After Hurricane Katrina, Kellie and her team found not just ruined buildings, but also a decimated volunteer infrastructure. They established a base camp crammed with bunk beds for volunteers who spent hot days in full body suits and face masks gutting the interiors of houses and removing mold.

Besides hard manual labor, specific volunteer skills were of great use to displaced residents. The book notes that after Katrina, volunteer legal fellows and lawyers came to manage and staff hotlines to help Gulf Coast residents secure permanent housing, file claims, file for bankruptcy.  Disaster response is just one of myriad ways that volunteer service transforms communities, meets challenges that government cannot meet, and provides help that money cannot buy.  The book’s compelling stories from many areas of service show the profound impact of individual volunteers and volunteer organizations on the nation.

As we all think about how to respond to the recent man-made and natural disasters, the Hands On volunteers from Nashville to New Orleans are showing us the way.

Yours in Service,

Michelle Nunn

CEO, Points of Light Institute

Co-Founder, HandsOn Network

Tags: Cumberland River, , Gulf Coast of the United States, , , Oil Spill
Posted in Change Notes, Disaster Relief, Equip, Get HandsOn, Impact, Michelle Nunn, Mobilize, News & Links, Service, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Project Development, Volunteering, Volunteerism | 2 Comments »