Monday morning..in the office.
As an Emergency Management Instructor, I read through all my evaluations. Like ALL evaluations.
It helps better my instructional delivery as a professional as well gain valuable insight to how participants perceive our enabling learning objectives and key points.
The comments below are from a course I taught last week.
“I have taken a couple dozen or so FEMA classes and these two are the best pair of instructors I have had!”
“More Kevin”
Leading off another Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Ohio Emergency Management Agency (OEMA) G-0291: Joint Information System / Joint Information Center Planning for Tribal, State, and Local PIOs.
We have a few new additions to our class – who hail from across Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia.
Glad to have so many pros with us in class…esp for #AlohaFriday – yeah baby!
PC: J. Beckett
Always an Aloha shirt on Fridays.
Lots of group work and discussion as everyone contributes information to better their communities.
It is helpful because our participants have diverse backgrounds.
Almost all Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) were represented.
This allowed us to have an in-depth discussion and think outside the box to solve various in class table top exercises.
Instructors we able to facilitate discussion among groups providing the opportunity to enhance their response with immediate communication strategies and tactics for emergency notification.
Also lots of discussion of the benefits and pitfalls of the JIC vs the JIS.
Additionally, the class wanted to see a few pictures from our Joint Information Center (JIC) during the 2016 RNC (2016 Republican National Convention).
We obliged and showed a few pictures.
Glad to have the chance to present before the PIOs from Athens County and beyond.
Special thanks to Dan in coordinating this training with Ohio Emergency Management Agency (OEMA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Proud to have so many different agencies represented.
Looking forward to working with each of these PIOs in a JIC!
Final Day of Ohio Emergency Management Agency (OEMA) ICS-400 class.
Lots of discussion on Area Command, MAC, Unified Command, EMAC, Declaration process, etc…
Talking about MACs (not Big Macs) made me kinda hungry for lunch.
Also discussion on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region-5 Regional Response Coordination Center (RRCC)…
…and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Headquarters National Response Coordination Center (NRCC) in Washington DC.
Cameo appearance by FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate
I don’t know about your ICS-400 class, but my class was all smiles.
And yes, no worries, I’m wearing an #AlohaShirt today.
Special thanks to Belmont College for hosting this great OEMA class.
Happy #AlohaFriday everyone!
Kicking off Ohio Emergency Management Agency (OEMA) ICS-400: Advanced ICS this morning in Belmont County, Ohio.
Great to see so many familiar faces from the previous ICS-300 class too!
Diverse participants from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia makes for a great class.
Additionally, participants represent local, state, and Federal Officials – this makes it an incredible group.
Dynamic activity discussion on Area command as well as spirited discussion on resource allocation for priorities – all the hallmarks of a great engaged class.
Looking forward to Friday – the final day!
On this #AlohaFriday – I report to the OEMA mother ship!
I had to take care of some TPSReports for ICS classes. Talked about upcoming October/November schedules with both SAAs on a few ICS-300 and ICS-400 about registration issues as well as my packed IMT class for FEMA’s USAR Ohio Task Force-1 (OH-TF-1).
I was fortunate to visit with good friends Jerry and Sima. Hilarious!
Lots of discussion on the RNC as well as National Preparedness Month.
And yes, all done with the Aloha Shirt on.
“All I’m saying is that starting in Ohio and to the rest of the country, we have the ability to better prepare our peeps for disasters or emergencies.” – K. Sur
We all have outstanding communities in each of our 88 counties in Ohio. When they engage with numerous all-hazards public safety professionals, it becomes a whole community effort in preparedness. In essence, these are core programs that everyone can participate.
When the community gets involved, everyone wins.
So c’mon – get involved in your community.
CERT: Community Emergency Response Team
ViPS: Volunteers in Police Service
MRC: Medical Reserve Corp
VOAD: Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster
Neighborhood Watch Program
Veterans Active in Citizen Corps
Meals on Wheels Association of America
“Don’t Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today.”
Part of being prepared is taking classes with your local public safety professionals.
Hamilton County EMA Emily Lakamp welcoming class
OEMA Instructor Kevin Sur breaking down PPD-5 and PPD-8 for the ICS-300 class
Training is key as we continue to push preparedness efforts throughout the county and state. Learning about capabilities is key in any disaster response.
Ohio EMA Southwest Regional Supervisor Phil Clayton addressing participants today
This afternoon, in the world of tabletop exercise disaster training, we will likely ruin Central City, decimate Columbiana County, and then trash the State of Columbia. Oh yeah, and of course flood Emerald City too.
“Don’t Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today.”
Rolling out the State of Ohio Emergency Management Agency‘s new G0291: Joint Information Centers (JIC) / Joint Information System (JIS) Planning for Tribal, state, and Local PIOs. Luckily, we were in the Command and Control room at the Summit County Health Department.
Command Control room…aka DOC
As always, its great teaching with Sister Michael Marie. Outstanding experiences and great stories from her international work in challenging areas of the world.
Even OEMA was checking in on our progress!
#truelove for us Emergency Management Instructors.
Sister Michael showcased the importance of all-hazard PIO involvement in emergency response to a natural hazard.
Everyone was able to share experiences and help each other improve – esp thinking outside the box on various scenarios.
By the end of this in-class activity, our participants realized that there are so many parts to a “simple disaster” that it pays to build partnerships early.
It’s all hands working in an emergency – so build your relationships early before a disaster.
Remember: At 0300, you ugly, you smell, you stink – and clearly that’s not the best time to meet new people and to function in an emergency at 110%.
“As Emergency Management, we must continue to nurture solid working relationships and common response/recovery objectives with our all-hazards partners in public safety.” – @rusnivek
Best part? At the end of the class, they all applauded.
Awwww yeah!
When was the last time a class applauded your Emergency Management NIMS ICS compliant class?
Heh.
As always, it’s great to teach with OEMA Instructor and consummate professional Sister Michael Marie.
There is so much going on in this picture. I can’t even.
I’m just glad to be a part of something big.
It was great to spend some time with Ohio EMA leadership yesterday.
Discussion on community resilience, task force deployments, Presidential Declarations, key initiatives, outreach, training, EMAC deployments, stakeholder engagement, public information officer, Emergency Management visibility, social media, Public Assistance, SBA loans, documentation and reimbursements, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, Public and Private partnerships…heck-we even touched on the buzz words for 2015: Climate change and Cyber.
For sure, lots of notes!
It is so great to hear OEMA Executive Director Sima Merick passionate about all facets of Emergency Management.
Also got a chance to hang with my Ohio EMA Training and Education peeps Lisa and Susan too. Solid discussion about the upcoming Mass Fatalities course (G-386), PIO Courses (G-290), JIC/JIS Courses (G-291), Intermediate Incident Command courses (ICS-300), and the Recovery from Disasters Course (G-270.4).
Lots of good free stuff upcoming from Ohio EMA!
BTW-If you did a double take on that first picture, yes sir Sur, #AlohaFridays are made for an Aloha shirt. Period. Also a historical note, Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959.
Don’t worry peeps, look closely as I had my Ohio pin on.
Have a great weekend!
We talked a little about press credentials last week in our Ohio Emergency Management Agency (OEMA) Basic Public Information Officer (PIO) class. Here’s an example of Chicago’s press creds.
(Some of you may remember Erin Kennedy from WKYC 3 here in Cleveland).
PIO Pro Tip: Build trusted relationships w/ the media prior to an incident.
Where is @rusnivek? 