Last day with all my DuPage friends!~
Because I love to talk, they decided to put a presentation together for me….awwww!
If I only knew what was going to be discussed. HA!
Special thanks to the DuPage County crew. Many years of outstanding work with our partners through a tough time.
I am forever grateful for the work and the friendships.
Reporting live from DuPage County OHSEM…
I think Jeff or John have too much free time…
Hahhahahahahahaha.
I only wish this was my door decoration.
My crew is hilarious.
Since this is only the second day of 2020 National Preparedness month, we needed to focus in on your plans before, during, and after an emergency.
On the regular, I get TONS of calls/inquiries from people trying to figure out what’s going on. Many of our friends/families can glean this same info I get from the mass notification systems already in place.
The City of Chicago (IL) Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) has an easy system called NotifyChicago.
By inputting your information and particular way to be contacted, you can get the most up-to-date information about any part of the city. This includes warnings, hazards, and of course major street closures due to riots, protests, or other weird things that happen in Chicago. Choosing to be notified via text message ensures that no matter where you are, you can be alerted to dangers in your area 24/7. Subscribe for free here: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/oem/provdrs/alertchicago/svcs/notifychicago.html
At the county level, DuPage County (IL) Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (OHSEM) uses the Smart911 system which is a mass notification system to alert anyone on issues at the county level.
This could include severe weather, road closures, as well as critical information for anyone living/working in the area. You can sign up here: https://www.smart911.com/
From the region:
I rely heavily on our partners from the National Weather Service. While not the primary way, I think their social media work on Twitter is excellent and pull lots of info from them using the alert feature (notifications on) function on Twitter.
Consider following Mike Bardou and the crew from the NWS Chicago or follow your own local NWS office for immediate weather info. There are 122 Weather Forecasting Offices across our great nation.
More details can be found here: https://www.weather.gov/srh/nwsoffices
And finally, with the amount of info and the onslaught of information being pushed to our mobile devices, it’s good to know that IF it’s too much, you can always unsubscribe to any these services.
IF you have family in other parts of the country, consider subscribing to their area notifications. Doesn’t hurt to help a loved one out as they maybe be too busy, sleeping, or incapable of understanding the severity of their situation. More on that tomorrow.
Keep it safe during this first week of National Preparedness Month by making your plan!
Welcome to the 2020 National Preparedness Month!!!
As described by so many, this is the most perfect year to plan for the unexpected.
Join me and my esteemed colleagues as we help share preparedness tips all month and help get you through this rotten year.
Reporting live in my favorite month…..
As we all settle into a regular cycle of command and general staff meetings, we all try to abide by the social distancing that seems to be setting this response differently than others.
Note: The Health Department calls this their “Crisis Management Team (CMT) – prob better known in the All-hazards world as the Command and General Staff meeting. While lax on the formality, I think our health department would benefit from standardizing this meeting and abide by the guidance provided by the ICS templates on how to run the meetings.
Also, as you can tell, it’s a bit awkward for all of us to sit so far away.
And as we continue to prep and lay the ground work for our ongoing efforts for our communities, Incident Commander sits with the director of the Health Department to lay out our operational response.
Glad to hear Murray say to Karen, “Whatever it takes to support” on this Coronavirus incident.
Now that we are in sync, let’s continue to work the magic.
Morning briefing with DCHD.
At first blush, this is looking like a full response vs a silo ESF response.
So I gotta put more thought on the ESF15 strategic path lays out. Likely lots of turf battles as this is a ESF-06 and ESF-08 kinda thang.
Glad to lean on my past experiences from Fire/EMS and hospitals to help me glide through this.
You know I’m going to say it…”External Affairs can support the plan.”
Reporting live from the health department…
Sunday funday right? #PIO
Looks like we got a prime spot for our presser today. Flag is up so let’s do this.
Assigned: Sunday Press Conference with senior leadership from County Health Department and County Chairman.
Me? I definitely burned the midnight oil but talking points all done. All reviewed and approved.
Let’s get this started because it looks like all my media friends are here. Welcome media partners!
Getting that angle just right….
But don’t forget, pic or it didn’t happen right?
And it’s Sunday so I didn’t a tie was necessary.
So let’s not delay.
Thanks to the friends at NBC5 Chicago for the live streaming of the presser.
Successful press conference with a few issues to review.
Shared learning points:
Moving into the role of External Affairs Officer starting tomorrow. Likely turning on the lights for the Joint Information Center (JIC) too.
Hope your Sunday was good.
Reporting live from the presser….
14Well that escalated quickly.
Quick turn as we shift our focus to COVID-19 response.
Name: Kevin Sur
Assigned: #PIO
Here we gooooooooo…..
About to start the final day of the FEMA Basic Academy…aka L01015.
As always, a fine welcome from our Emergency Management Director Murray Snow.
Glad to have our staff support this event.
Also even more happy to have so many of our most trusted partners in the audience today as we continue to chat about Public Information and Warning.
Here’s Pete starting up the day.
Lots more as we continue on.
Sabit’s got some big plan for graduation.
Not going to lie….I kinda love it.
More deets on the graduation shortly.
A fine start to this crisp morning as the DuPage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management starting the FEMA NDPTC Winter Weather Hazards course!
Welcome intros by Director Murray Snow to our participants from across the state!
Glad to see so many of our most trusted partners here today with almost all Emergency Support Functions represented.
Great to have NDPTC Instructor Rob Dale here again from Michigan where we know the weather there is more worserer than here.
His insight from a small EM agency and weather perspective allows us to see how to increase our ability to address and target specific audiences.
Outstanding to have John Scala. I love his teaching style and ability to share critical points in class is critical because science is…well…hard.
John’s ability to answer questions and explain complex weather issues is so important esp to those of us who are not trained as a MET. Additionally, several of our participants recognize him from his time as a broadcast meteorologist days.
With this class stacked w/ legit meteorologists, I am proud that these classes are a big hit with our peeps!
Just in time because the weather outside is frightful…
Stay warm peeps!
Where is @rusnivek? 