As we prep for the upcoming extreme cold weather, I am so proud of our staff at DuPage County OHSEM.
So proud to see our EOC readiness levels all blued out as we continue to serve our communities through incredibly cold winter weather.
Yep, we’re all in.
Keeping our partners informed and working the Emergency Management coordination is the magic behind the scenes we hope not to have to use.
While we are prepared to handle anything, I hope we have to handle nothing.
Day-2 of the ICS-300 course here at Elmhurst Hospital where we get to talk about a bunch of things like the Planning P, SMART Objectives, resource management, and of course demobilization!
Hearing groups report out on their findings and how they would interact with other agencies are critical to us in Emergency Management as we now know where there could be possible hiccups in coordination of responders.
Overall, a great packed class with tons of participation from everyone.
Soooooo out of curiousity, how many of you are coming back in February to attend the ICS-400 class with me?
Awwwwwwww yeah baby!
See you at the next big one.
Day-1 of our ICS-300 class at Elmhurst Hospital!
However, I am not sure about us teaching the childbirth part of the class.
I guess if you wanted to account for all resources, we would need a new T-card and check in process for the new kiddos. HA!
Great welcome message from the Elmhurst Fire Deputy Fire Chief and the Elmhurst EM Coordinator.
Great discussion from all agencies here including Fire, EMS, Police, Public Works, Hospital, EMS, Health Department, National Guard, and countless other agencies here.
Great partnerships from everyone as we discuss ongoing response and recovery efforts from various activities and incidents. Working together will increase our preparedness level and help our coordination esp when we spin up the county EOC.
Glad to see everyone here for class. And yes, don’t forget that #OnWednesdaysWeWearPink
Yeah yeah, suit up baby!
Reporting live from Elmhurst Hospital talking about NIMS and ICS~!
Second day of ICS-300 at the DuPage County OHSEM as we continue to share tools and tips to enhance response and coordination. Here’s Dave talking about some of the weather tools we use to trigger activation/response.
And yes, don’t worry, we talk a metric TON about Incident Action Plans (IAPs) as well as some event action plans.
I often share IAPs from real world disasters and events. This way, it showcases the actual use of the ICS forms as well as ways to improve them for future occurrences. Wat? Hold the phone. Don’t lie now, your IAP isn’t always perfect. You are human. Stuff happens.
I do shred some IAPs that need work, and then I show the IAPs that look pretty dang good. No shame in my game because if we don’t share what we learn, we will never prepare our future disaster peeps for success.
But more importantly, that’s right, I said it – we should share our failures with others so that we can better our profession. Rising tide raises all ships right?
Don’t be that amateur and hold all your mistakes close. Be a pro and share your errors so that others may learn. Inspire a new generation with stronger leaders.
In the end, despite the test, you can still have an ICS course where your participants are smiling.
Just gotta find the right ICS course…and instructors willing to inspire.
See you on the next big one peeps!
Another great start to our ICS-300 course! Welcome to my house – DuPage County OHSEM!
Packed class with sooooo many public safety partners here.
This class has a bunch of activities so our participants can apply what they are learning immediately to the fictitious town of Central City.
Note: Central city is a fictitious town that we use in almost all of our classes. It’s not a real place. However, if it was, I would definitely not want to live there. Or eat the Coho salmon from there. Just sayin…
Great engagement from everyone here.
Proud to be hosting this course at our house.
Looking forward to class tomorrow!
Good afternoon from the floor of the ABC7 studio here in Chicago!
A much more compact location, ABC7 does an excellent job in maximizing space in their main studio area.
Also got a chance to chat w/ a few reporters in the bullpen as we took the time to see how the TV magic (aka sausage) is made.
It was satisfying to see all the TVs and monitors in one of the control rooms. Soooooo many buttons to push….
I doubt they would let me touch anything in here.
It honestly intrigues me…isn’t the news room kinda similar to the EOC? Desk assignment is kinda like the Operations Section Chief (OSC) right?
As an example, the OSC assigns tasks to the single resources (reporters aka MMJs) and then they do stuff. The desk assignment editors listen and find out what’s going on around the area (aka situational awareness) right?
Then they send the appropriate amount of resources needed to cover their story. DUH! It IS a good example of ICS. And you know I was closely looking at what they were watching and listen into right?
Obvs!
Special thanks to the entire team at ABC7 for the tour of their crib! Great to see so many different pros at work and major kudos to those who take the time to create a great story and maintain the integrity of a journalist.
Looking forward to working together!
In reviewing my comments from yesterday’s class, I am reminded how much our impact and influence we have as instructors.
This is the reason why we as instructors, educators, and leaders share our experiences.
Without a doubt, there are clear differences between people who read the slides vs instructors who are passionate about improving our field.
It is imperative that we continue to push the envelope as we train and exercise our nation’s public safety professionals. During an emergency or disaster, there is no second chance. The community’s safety is of the utmost importance.
Our dedication to our public safety constituents is neverending and we must strive to be ready for any situation.
This is what we train for…this is what we do.
How in the world is it December already!
First week will be several NIMS/ICS courses for our County ESF-3 partners, few other Emergency Management courses for IL Region-9, and a Emergency Management/Health Department functional exercise w/ our CERT Teams for medication POD distribution.
Second week our office is hosting another FEMA G0289: PIO Awareness course and then a fun PIO Workshop at ABC7-Chicago on Friday.
Third week will be the FEMA G0290/G0291: Basic PIO Course and JIC/JIS course. Without a doubt a full class w/ wait list. Glad to finally nail this one for all of our partners in public safety, Cheers for Murray and Corey for championing this for everyone too.
Fourth week appears to be Christmas so likely yearly closeouts and wrap ups.
Yeowza. Honestly, I can’t believe 2019 is right around the corner.
Starting out this week talking about Debris Management and the importance of Public Works and Logistics!
Yeah, doesn’t seem like a fun topic right? But if you look at the real deal, this is how Emergency Managers earn their keep. Cause it’s not in the response phase.
Emergency Managers work the magic in the recovery phase.
Collaboration in class means that we hash out a few issues prior to the actual disaster.
Working closely with all factions in government will ensure a smooth response from everyone involved.
The faster you get your community back on track, the better your community will be. Building resilient communities is critical!
You should address 10 major factors as part of your debris plan.
Is this difficult? Most definitely. Here’s a picture from the USVI in 2017.
Here’s a picture from the USVI in November 2018.
Can you think of any planning challenges? Any logistical issues? Any major environmental issues?
If you said a million yeseseses to the above three questions, you need to address your debris management plan with your Emergency Management official.
Special mahalos to my Co-instructor Ben.
Sharing a few stories about counter intelligence, we realize it’s a really small world.
@rusnviek
Happy AlohaFriday and a great start to the FEMA OEMA G0291: Joint Information Center / Joint Information System course here at the Cleveland EOC!
So naturally, we talked a bunch of JIC stuff including our third guest VIP – day shift Cleveland JIC Manager of the 2016 RNC and the led JIC Manager of the Christmas plane crash in 2016, Beth Zietlow DeJesus!!!
Not only sharing stories about coordination amongst local, county, and Federal agencies on the recovery process, Beth was able to share a few stories about the media on controlling the message and handling mis-information.
Great experiences to share with out new PIOs!
Outstanding class this week. Proud of the work and collaboration in class shared by everyone. Great to see these new PIOs as they increase their organization’s visibility.
Now go forth, and use your new PIO skillz for good!
Also, yeah.
Where is @rusnivek? 