When making your plan for your family do include planning for all the kiddos.
Keep comforting items like favorite stuffed animals that will help children cope with adverse events in an emergency.
For more preparedness tips this month, follow along throughout the month.
Stay safe and plan ahead!
Packed State of Ohio EMA Joint Information Center / Joint Information System course today!
Started everyone into group work as well as ongoing discussion on the role of SMEs at a press conference.
Just in case, we also tasked participants to start thinking about a policy/protocol for their agency on sneak attack aka ambush interviews.
We found as we leverages our strengths and capitalize on our skills, we as JIC Managers can better meet the needs of any situation – we just gotta find the right PIOs for the job.
As our groups collaborated, we found that despite crossing state lines, we still have the same problems as other areas – thus proving our point that we need to consistently train together and exercise our plans together.
Many of our participants enjoyed working in the JIC setting and were excited to work in a JIC during the next activation. Most excellent as we build a strong cadre of PIOs across this great state.
My Ohio Peeps!
Reporting live from Medina County’s Emergency Operations Center….
Day-2 of Ohio EMA’s Basic Public Information Officer’s course here in Medina County EMA welcoming participants from two different FEMA Regions to our class!
We have representation from almost every ESF – outstanding to see that kind of participation in our state class.
It’s going to be a packed two days of training including classroom discussion…
…complex in-class activities…
…on-camera interviews…
…engaging (and crazy reporter) type questions…
…and of course we had several contentious mock press conferences.
Train like you fight right? We also discussed how our varied experiences lends a ton of expertise to our ongoing operations in any community across this great nation.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s JIC/JIS course!
Kicking off another great Ohio Emergency Management Agency (OEMA) G-290 Basic Public Information Officer’s Course in Medina County’s Emergency Operations Center.
Photo credit: Erika Moran
Glad to see so many new PIOs from Ohio and West Virginia in class.
Now, the important point to remember is….
I better check my email now…
I stopped by the State of Maryland’s Emergency Management Agency and EOC.
I had a chance to sit down with Executive Director Russell Strickland and talk about various Training & Exercise plans including a few ways to enhance their plans. Also caught up with the famous Doc Lumpkins!
Yep, that’s our classic pose. It’s the same pose as the EMI conference, White House Disaster Day, NEMA Conference, etc….
Obv we all had to have a quick meeting with City of St. Louis EMA Sarah Gambling-Luig.
#FlatSarah had to go to another meeting concerning #CityHallSelfie so the rest of us stayed to plan for upcoming classes.
Great discussion on various aspects of social media focusing on gathering information for tactical operation for SA/COP. Emily and Ed provided some great insight to upcoming plans for Maryland. Additionally, we also had a chance to chat about ready deployable PIOs to field tactical operations, Joint Information Centers (JICs), Incident Management Teams (IMTs), and increasing SA/COP for State of Maryland.
Looking forward to more PIO involvement with my Maryland peeps!
Great to see the leadership at WKYC (NBC affiliate) for hosting our quarterly NorthEast Ohio’s (NEO) Public Information Officer (PIO) training!
Photo credit: K. Hyson, Cincinnati Health Department
Lots of discussion based around media relations focusing on timely and accurate reporting. Additionally, lots of conversation with good stories vs bad stories – which challenges the typical paradigm of news media’s “If it bleeds, it leads!” mantra.
“Off the record” conversation as well as immediate notification of incident dominated the early part of our conversation.
We moved into how strategy sometimes gets in the way of real emergencies and of course how our PIO narratives sometimes conflicts with how the story is produced.
To me, I was also surprised at how many reporters wanted txt msgs as compared to phone calls. In fact, desk assignment editors wanted a mention as well as a follow-up txt or notification of ongoing emerging issue.
I am very greatful to be able to have candid conversation with our partners in the media. And yes, sharing success stories as well as challenges will allow us to do a better job with our local media to communicate our safety messages. Very glad to hear that getting the story right is still the main drive of our local news agencies.
Many thanks to the pros at WKYC (NBC affiliate) Cleveland for the hospitality and generosity.
Reporting live from WKYC…
Looking forward to seeing my fellow PIOs this afternoon for the quarterly NorthEast Ohio Public Information Officer (NEO-PIO) training at WKYC (NBC Affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio).
Glad to be able to put a face to a voice…and to be able to talk under non-stressful times is so nice.
For all PIOs/PAOs – Building relationships and networking are critical components of a successful communicator. Yeppers, networking is soooo….
Indeed it is Gretchen
Slight change of PIO plans today as I was initially assigned to ESF-13 (Law Enforcement) – I have been reallocated to support infrastructure.
So today, I spent some time with the NorthEast Ohio Regional Sewer District, their PIO/Outreach team, and WallyWaterDrop.
WallyWaterDrop and Jessica from NEORSD sharing important safety tips and stickers with everyone..
Great outreach event with Parent Magazine and with so many from our local area.
Also had a chance to pop a quick Periscope live video too.
Nice work Jen Elting!
Here’s a behind the scenes action shot (aka “making the magic happen”).
PIOs in action! (L to R: K. Sur, WallyWaterDrop, and J. Elting) PC: Chief J. Brewington
Great day to support our partners in public safety esp our PIO pros at NEORSD are an invaluable resource.
Fortunately, there was a Starbucks close by…so you know. #hydration
PIO + Coffee = Happy! PC: Chief J. Brewington
Reporting live with some Starbucks…
Today is DHS/FEMA’s G-291: JIC/JIS planning for Tribal, State, and Local PIOs!
Lots to talk about esp coordination with various all-hazards agencies.
Also glad to share a few PIO/JIC stories on 3-girls that were missing for 10+ years as well as the 2016 NBA Championships, Republican National Convention, 2016 World Series, and 2017 NBA Championships.
On top of that, our class wanted to know more about social media so I can indulge a bit. Not only on #s, geolocation, platforms, etc….but also lots on newer wearable technology too.
As always in any class we instruct, we try to make fun and exciting. And yes, thumbs up for PIOs!
Special thanks to WTFD Capt Mike Pruitt for the coordination and hospitality.. Glad to see so many new PIOs in the audience.
Happy Aloha Friday peeps!
Where is @rusnivek? 