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Emergency Management, Emergency Services, & Disaster Spox

Brand new FEMA Region V COOP class Day-1

Posted on April 25, 2019 by rusnivek

Kicking off the new FEMA Region 5 Continuity of Operations class here at the DuPage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Proud to have Northwestern Medicine’s Continuity Manager Sam Boyle and DuPage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Operations Supervisor Joe Joseph with us to share some of the changes with FCD-1, FCD-2, CC-1, HSPD5, PPD-8, NSPD-51, HSPD-20, and of course the NIMS update.

Mid-day discussion with Joe on the Continuity planning process with the new FEMA course materials for COOP focused around essential functions.

Look at those smiles!

All made to enhance the skills of our public safety partners.

Shout out to all the leadership and participants who took the time away from their desks to enhance their program’s ability to function beyond catastrophic incidents.

Also, for those that were paying attention on the day? Is it really the perfect date?

Hmmmm…

Boom.

COOP? Operations? Social Media? Public Information? Pop culture? Everything is a calculated because even in a FEMA class, we don’t miss a beat!

Welcome to my program. This is how we do things at our house.

@rusnivek

ICS-400 at OHSEM

Posted on February 11, 2019 by rusnivek

Big start to another ICS-400 course here at DuPage County OHSEM! Kicking things off is Director Snow!

As you can imagine, we have a diverse group with lots to share.

Not only talking about response, but we also discussed recovery as the most challenging part of disasters.

No doubt, It is really our job as Emergency Managers to better prepare our communities to be more resilient after a disaster.

Look closely, you can see people smiling in an ICS class. It’s not folklore, it’s real. Get yourself a good instructor and see what happens.

Bringing everyone together in a collaborative environment can only provide great benefits for all.

Small or big, rich or poor, our class has great participants from all over the state.

Glad to have participants from countless cities from across Illinois attending.

Looking forward to Day-2 tomorrow!

@rusnivek

Second day of ICS-300 at our house OHSEM

Posted on January 15, 2019 by rusnivek

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!

@rusnivek

Starting the January ICS-300 course at our house!

Posted on January 14, 2019 by rusnivek

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!

@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

Day-1 ICS-300 with strong DoD participation

Posted on July 9, 2018 by rusnivek

It’s Monday morning so lets kick off another hard core ICS-300 course…in the Poinsettia Room! 🌺

Also known as the city’s Emergency Operations Center too.

Diverse groups today with a strong showing from our Department of Defense and local public safety professionals.

This kind of joint training provides us the opportunities to build stronger partnerships and even strengthen the preexisting bonds with DoD assets including a few special teams.

Lots of group work as participants figure out priorities and challenges during the first few hours and into the first/second operational period.

But working through the issues in a calm classroom will help reduce the amount of stress during an actual emergency. Finding out strengths and gaps and addressing them so that everyone can respond better to any incident. That’s right enhancing response capabilities.

Sound familiar? That’s what HSPD-5 (Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5) is all about. A coordinated response! <heavy breathing>

That is exactly what Emergency Management is all about – build relationships for a coordinated response. <heavier breathing>

And also proof, if you teach it right, you can get people to smile in my ICS classes.

Awww yeah!

Great work from all participants – lotsa participation from everyone!

Glad to see so much collaboration from local, county, state, Federal, and DoD assets.

And as always, thank you for your service to our great country.

Happy birthday Marty. It’s a great first day.

Looking forward to the next two days!

@rusnivek

Ohio Emergency Management Agency’s November ICS-400 class in Belmont County

Posted on November 3, 2016 by rusnivek

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!

@rusnivek