Where is @rusnivek?

Emergency Management, Emergency Services, & Disaster Spox

2015 FEMA Individual and Community Preparedness Award Winners

Posted on September 4, 2015 by rusnivek

2015 FEMA Individual and Community Preparedness Award Winners

FEMA has announced the winners of the 2015 Individual and Community Preparedness Awards, recognizing the outstanding efforts of individuals, programs, and organizations throughout the country working to prepare their communities for emergencies. These awards highlight innovative practices and campaigns that have made outstanding contributions toward making communities safer, better prepared, and more resilient. This year, FEMA asked applicants to highlight accomplishments that took place between January 1, 2014 and April 10, 2015.

“Effective emergency management requires commitment, teamwork and engagement by the entire community before disasters occur,” said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. “I congratulate the individuals and organizations that embody these ideals. Through their hard work and dedication, they are making our nation stronger and safer.”

The 11 FEMA Individual and Community Preparedness Award recipients will be recognized on September 8, 2015 in Washington, D.C. During the recognition ceremony, recipients will share their experiences, success stories, and lessons learned with fellow emergency management leaders.

A complete list of the recipients and the honorable mentions for each category is available at: http://www.ready.gov/citizen-corps/citizen-corps-awards. Award recipients by category are as follows:

Outstanding Citizen Corps Council Award: Ready New York, NYC Citizen Corps, NYC Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
Community Preparedness Heroes Award: Craig Wolfe and Northern Berkshire Regional Emergency Planning Committee Members
Awareness to Action Award: City of Henderson (Nevada) Get READY! Stay READY! Campaign
Technological Innovation Award: Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium, Geographic Information System/Information Technology Working Group
Outstanding Achievement in Youth Preparedness Award: Alabama Be Ready Camp
Fifth Annual Recipients of the John D. Solomon Whole Community Preparedness Award: Ready Montana Program and Spartanburg County Office of Emergency Management (South Carolina)
Outstanding Community Emergency Response Team Initiatives Award: Orange County, California Community Emergency Response Team Mutual Aid Program
Outstanding Citizen Corps Partner Program Award: New Orleans Medical Reserve Corps
Excellence in Volunteer Sustainability Award: City of Irvine Community Emergency Response Team (California)

Congratulations to all the award recipients and honorable mentions! You continue to make your communities and the Nation proud!

Have you seen @TSA Mr August #SafetySur

Posted on August 19, 2015 by rusnivek

Have you seen Mr. August?

Here’s my Uncle Pete doing some #SafetySur stuff for the official Transportation Security Administration (TSA) 2015 pocket calendar. Celebrity status for sure! So if you’ve been through the Honolulu International Airport, you’ve probably seen my Uncle (who has since been promoted to supervisory/management at TSA HNL).

If you were wondering, my Father and Uncle are proud Veterans who served their country. Yep, safety runs in my family’s blood…Safety runs in my blood. #SafetySur

Our family has always served this great country and I am extremely proud of all my family’s accomplishments and their continued vigilance on safety.

@rusnivek

Final FEMA review of the new social media courses #NDPTC

Posted on August 14, 2015 by rusnivek

I popped back-to-back-to-back social media classes last week in Sacramento, California.

Participants from all over the west coast attended. Specifically for Thursday and Friday, FEMA reviewed our new curriculum courses. Yep, straight up evaluation. Not going to lie, I was pretty nervous.

Ongoing for course design, I will make a few more additions/changes before courses are sent to the National Training and Exercise Division (NTED) for certification. Hoping for final approval in November 2015. Hope to hear the magical words “Federally published” as my course is listed in the DHS / FEMA Training catalog. Whoa Nellie!

For the classes? We had great interaction from all participants.

Solid discussions during the breakout sessions included professionals from all Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) as well as experts from the National Weather Service (NWS), Critical Infrastructure, and Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters (VOADs), etc… Diverse groups make for the best discussions for sure!

As part of our continued efforts in Emergency Management, it is imperative that we address issues from the All-Hazards approach and incorporate the support of our stakeholders in solutions.

With heavy discussion, class participants had a great time engaging with others and using tools/techniques that are specific to the Preparedness, Response, Recovery, and Mitigation Directorates. Obviously, I showcased the importance of a good Public Information Officer (PIO) / Public Affairs Officer (PAO) and how their interaction in the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) or the Joint Information Center/System (JIC/JIS) is imperative to a successful emergency or disaster.

Also, starting to build an online learning library that can be easily accessed from anywhere using the #NDPTC is always good reference. Free. My favorite F-word.

Special mahalos to fellow Instructors Cheryl and MaryJo in the delivery of these courses.

Also the solid smiles from fellow #SMEM Jennifer and Scott was crucial support on this delivery.

Glad to be working with partners like the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Domestic Preparedness Consortium (NDPC), and the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center (NDPTC). Truly great to see everyone working collaboratively. Thanks to the Sacramento County Emergency Management for hosting these courses.

Looking forward to the next class at the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) conference in Clark County, Nevada. See you there!

@rusnivek

Most nervous for my August 2015

Posted on August 1, 2015 by rusnivek

Since July was almost all planning, August will be almost all operations.

First week: I’ll be headed to FEMA Region-9 Sacramento to deliver and (hope to) certify the brand new FEMA/NDPTC Social Media presentations at the State of California’s Emergency Operations Center. This is a huge project that I have been working on in conjunction with NDPTC development and FEMA course designers. During these classes, a panel of Federal types will be evaluating…aka totes judging it. Yikes. Why am I so nervous? It’s my presentation. I created it. I designed it. It’s all me. I better not eff this up. As you know, I’m pretty passionate about my work so for sure I’m excited, but still WAY NERVOUS (rubbing my ears, whispering “FEMA-NTED-CATALOG-AUTHORED”).

Second week: I might be curled in the fetal position…most likely finalizing the California updates from the FEMA evaluation.

Third week: I’ll be doing some advanced tactical rifle “stuff” with the lads from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As the pros say, PEW-PEW-PEW!

Fourth week: I’ll be doing my civic duty as I serve my county for jury duty. Yikes.

And the Fifth week: I’ll be headed back to OEMA in Columbus for an Advanced Event Planning Course. Hmmm, do you know of any big events upcoming in 2016?

Overall, this will likely be the most challenging month ever because of the FEMA review/certification. Gah! I hope all goes well.

I gotta go throw up now. #nervous

@rusnivek

Before and after #SOTU – Make sure to Instagram it

Posted on June 22, 2015 by rusnivek

Back in January 2015, the President made a speech – #SOTU (State of the Union).

POUTS’ quote was “Good luck Captain. Make sure to Instagram it.”

And on January 20, 2015, Commander Kelly’s Instagram account looked like this.

@STATIONCDRKELLY’s Instagram game = *cricket* *cricket* *cricket*.

Aaaaand getting called out by the boss on national TV is…er….rough. Woof!

So as a quick follow up to the NASA program, it appears that Astronaut Scott Kelly has stepped up his Gram game and is regularly posting some really neat content.

Postings include selfies too. Not bad because in space, there are not a bunch of people standing around to take pictures.