| 
Announcing a new
      webinar - "FEMA Promising Practice: FEMA Promising Practice:
      Inclusive Emergency Management Practices in Vermont"
November
      12th, 2015
Webinars
      begin at 2.30pm ET/1.30pm CT/12.30 pm MT/11.30am PT/9.30am Hawaii. 
On
      August 28, 2011, the State of Vermont was devastated by Tropical Storm
      Irene, resulting in several deaths, hundreds of homes destroyed, over a
      thousand Vermonters displaced, damage to hundreds of businesses and
      farms, and thousands of roads and bridges being washed out. In the
      aftermath of this historic natural disaster and with funding made
      possible by the Vermont Department of Public Safety, Disability Rights
      Vermont and the Vermont & New Hampshire Valley Region of the American
      Red Cross worked collaboratively to survey emergency shelters for
      accessibility and develop emergency planning processes inclusive of
      people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs in
      disaster planning, preparedness, response, relief, and recovery efforts.
      Disability Rights Vermont also provided 8 two-hour trainings to 45 Red
      Cross volunteers and approximately 25 Community Emergency Response Team
      (CERT) volunteers on the ADA, disability etiquette, and assisting
      individuals with disabilities during times of disaster. 
Learning
      Objectives: 
Describe
           processes for surveying and adapting emergency shelters to ensure
           accessibility and sheltering of people with disabilities in an
           integrated environment.Name
           best practices for training emergency management staff and
           volunteers in working effectively with people with disabilities.Identify
           strategies for building effective partnerships between state
           governments, emergency preparedness/disaster recovery agencies, and
           the disability community. 
Presenters: 
A.J. Ruben has been
      Supervising Attorney at Disability Rights Vermont (DRVT) since 2002. He
      and his family live in a rural town in Vermont that was cut off from the
      rest of the state for eight days during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 and
      has worked with DRVT on emergency planning and preparedness issues for
      people with disabilities ever since. 
Tina Wood has been a
      Senior Investigator/Paralegal with Disability Rights Vermont (DRVT) since
      2000 and works mostly within the prisons in Vermont, investigating abuse
      and neglect allegations, and advocating on behalf of prisoners with
      disabilities. She has 15 years of experience volunteering in varying
      local emergency management roles, and currently is a Red Cross Disaster
      Liaison to the State Emergency Operations Center. 
Michelle Bishop is a
      Disability Advocacy Specialist at the National Disability Rights Network
      (NRDN). In her role at NDRN, Michelle provides training and technical
      assistance to the national Protection & Advocacy Network (including
      DRVT) on inclusive emergency preparedness. She also works collaboratively
      with NDRN's MOU/MOA partners, FEMA and the Red Cross. 
These
      90 minute webinars are delivered using the Blackboard Collaborate webinar
      platform. Collaborate downloads files to your machine in order to run. We
      recommend that you prepare your technology prior to the start of the
      session. You may need the assistance of your IT Staff if firewalls
      prevent you from downloading files. 
The
      information presented in this webinar is intended solely as informal
      guidance, and is neither a determination of legal rights or
      responsibilities by NIDILRR or FEMA. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment