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Emergency Management, Emergency Services, & Disaster Spox

The new 2019 ICS-400 this week!

Posted on August 6, 2019 by rusnivek

Good morning peeps – welcome to the new 2019 ICS-400: Advanced ICS!

Proud to be one of the first instructors to roll this course out to our public safety partners that popped in late July. This week’s class? We have a bunch of pros from all backgrounds including Fire, EMS, Police, Healthcare, Public Works, Communications, Health Department, National Guard, Civil Support Teams, State, VA, Intelligence, and Tribal nations. I’m proud to serve all these pros.

Lots of discussion on preparedness efforts esp with some of the projected large disasters from across the country. In fact, discussion on preparedness for Cascadia Rising, New Madrid Fault, and national infrastructure failures were consistently discussed through the day. Related note: Proud to hear of sooo many prepared pros in class this week.

Classically, lots to share as Emergency Management pros continues to coordinate response through training and exercises. Train like you fight right?

Aside from powerpoints, the new ICS-400 has a bunch of in class activities that talk about complex incidents, Unified Command, and area command. Productively discussing issues in class BEFORE a disaster can only help to understand challenges that many agencies face…which could be exacerbated during crisis/emergency.

Glad to have engaged professionals in class this week.

Get your ICS on!

@rusnivek

DuPage County partners w/ OHSEM to lead the way with Outdoor Weather Event & Planning TableTop Exercise

Posted on June 5, 2019 by rusnivek

As our office continues to work the magic for all of our partners in public safety, today we continue to rollout the new Event Ready Weather Decision toolkit that helps any agency with critical command decisions.

Our office has worked closely with the National Weather Service Chicago in developing this process.

And of course to pair with the class, we have a Outdoor Event Planning TableTop to help concrete the points to all participating agencies.

Not only developing, but making sure that the information is compliant….

…like HSEEP compliant TableTop exercise compliant.

That’s right – welcome to the #EmergencyManagement pros!

Success? Does it work? Hellz yeah it works! Just ask Lombard’s PIO Avis Meade who used this planning guide for their 2019 Lilac Parade.

Their actions based on NWS Chicago data and critical command decisions likely saved lives as severe weather rolled into the area with an exposed and completely vulnerable population.

Let me say that again, the planning and preparedness efforts from everyone in Lombard saved lives.

Let me translate that for you (think FEMA Core Capability): Sharing good info (Intelligence and Information Sharing), working closely with local, county, and state partnerships (Operational Coordination), and known trusted information (Public Information and Warning)

Decisions made in advance with partnerships with the local National Weather Service can save lives?!?!? YES IT CAN!

In Emergency Management, our decisions are collaborative and based on a combination of historical data and past industry practice. This is what Emergency Management is all about. Repeat after me: Planning and Coordination. Planning and Coordination.Planning and Coordination.Planning and Coordination.

I am proud to be a small part of many agencies doing the right thing for communities across this county and this great country.

Me? You know, I’m always willing to serve.

@rusnivek

Internal Comms training for my #EmergencyManagement staff

Posted on May 29, 2019 by rusnivek

As we continue our training, we want to be cognizant of all kinds of skills needed to be successful in Emergency Management.

Many of you have been apart of a training or exercise…and have indubitably identified that communications is an action that needs more work. But how can you make that fun? Well, enter one of my Thunderbolt-esque exercises.

Giving the nod to former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, these types of no-notice trainings engage our staff and forces them to think outside the box.

How outside? In this exercise, we cover

Communications
Type/Kind resources
Staging
Incident Command
Terminology
Nomenclature
Scene size-ups
Operations
Sequential
Prioritization
Ordering
Tactics

And to boot, it’s non-traditional training cause there are no powerpoints. Zero. Zilch. No joy. Gonzo. Nada Ghostrider.

As adult educators, we often forget that people learn things differently. Additionally, we as instructors need to explore outside our comfort zone and teach things in a classic lecture AND non-traditional style.

I am incredibly fortunate to have a staff that loves to train and enhance their skills. Train like you fight!

Want to know more? Want to train better? Come and be a part of my Emergency Management Team. You’ll see.

@rusnivek

ICS 300 for the Illinois Air National Guard 182nd Airlift Wing

Posted on May 2, 2019 by rusnivek

Solid start to our FEMA IEMA DuPage County OHSEM’s ICS-300 class this morning with the Illinois Air National Guard with a welcome from Fire Chief Otto.

Making sure our DoD assets have the same training provides us an opportunity to have consistent interagency coordination in any disaster.

Group work provides a great chance to integrate various agencies and work into scenarios. Great dialog from all participants.

Since the 182nd is part of the Air Mobility Command, we also included several table tops to help incorporate the air branch for response logistics.

Incident command can be used anywhere…esp with prioritizing resources and supporting those who need critical needs from across the state and nation.

Great collaboration amongst all participants in preparation of disaster response challenges for all agencies involved. The time to discuss these issues is now in a bright lights classroom.

If you wait till the disaster, your poor decisions in crisis could be a disaster itself. So foundational multiagency training before a disaster is soooooo critical.

Proud to be here serving those who serve our country.

Many thanks to the hospitality from everyone here at the base.

Reporting live from the 182nd Airlift Wing…

@rusnivek

Setting up for class tomorrow

Posted on May 1, 2019 by rusnivek

Tomorrow’s going to be sooooo fun.

Looking forward to class tomorrow with the Illinois Air National Guard.

@rusnivek

Severe cold weather is here with wind chills at…

Posted on January 31, 2019 by rusnivek

Holey moley it’s frickin freezing Mr. Bigglesworth!

Am I the only one out here? Hello? Hello? Anyone? Anyone?

Well, I dressed appropriately. If you were wondering, my OOTD was this.

Yaaaaaaaaaaasssssssss!!!! PPE! PPE! PPE!

So how cold is it?

Yikes. Is that right?

The wind chill is -50ish, however some of my electronic devices aren’t working quite right.

What does it feel like?

Reporting live from the planet Hoth

Day-1 of ICS-300 at Elmhurst Hospital

Posted on January 16, 2019 by rusnivek

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~!

@rusnivek

Yassssss ~ proud of you!

Posted on December 9, 2018 by rusnivek

I love getting messages like this.

Proud of your work and dedication to your community.

Welcome to the FEMA team!

Love to hear success stories from those who I’ve worked and trained.

These kinds of random notes highlight the importance of the work that I do in the preparedness and response directorate for local to Federal agencies.

Yep, without a doubt, I’m proud of every single one of you. All of you.

@rusnivek

Fun stuff on the final day of ICS-300!

Posted on July 11, 2018 by rusnivek

Day-3 final day of ICS-300 starting out with another in class exercise!

It is imperative that we push all agencies to think outside of their normal comfort zone and look to alternate resources and like-minded professionals.

Not only other pros, but also standardizing the response so that everyone is on the same page, using the same terminology, same forms, and same plans and objectives.

Your agency’s mission is very important.

Your organizational goals are super important too.

But those SMART Objectives are SOOOO critical to everyone onscene as well as future operational periods.

And yes, the same truths still apply: coffee and collaboration are totes critical when a disaster first strikes.

But it also takes a consummate professional to continue the work after the response phase…but into recovery and mitigation. Thus ensuring your community some protection as we are always in a state of preparedness.

Our class also had lots of discussion on this slide as we view credentialing as a preparedness activity as we look to standardization and qualifications.

Great week and proud of the work from all participants in this class.

Looking forward to seeing all of you on the next big one.

@rusnivek

Day-2 of ICS-300 w/ our DoD assets and public safety professionals

Posted on July 10, 2018 by rusnivek

Day-2 of ICS-300 started off with some class discussion on other classes that newer Emergency Management Professionals could attend to help broaden the expertise.

As we roll into module-4, we have lots of in class exercises to help participants understand the importance of coordination in response.

Proud to see so many here from various disciplines as well as a few familiar faces in the crowd too.

And again, if you look closely, you can see participants smiling…IN MY ICS-300 CLASS!!!!!

Lotsa smiles!!!!

Again, great to see solid collaboration here in class. Sooooooo many great ideas exchanged in the room. Even more proud to see it done BEFORE an emergency or disaster.

Also, one day, someone will recognize my hand puppet skills.

Kidding.

Day-2 dunzo. Great participation from everyone in the class!

@rusnivek