Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Health Hazard. Flood Damage from Mold and Fungus

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Phantom Fungus

Mary Murphy was alarmed by her grandson Zachary’s deteriorating health 4 months after Hurricane Floyd blew through their Hubert, NC, manufactured home in September 1999. Born with asthma, Zachary, age 5, had always suffered from common effects of the disease, so Mary and her husband, Garland, had always been careful as they raised him and his three siblings. But, in January 2000, following a series of doctors’ visits and stays in the local hospital, they found themselves rushing Zachary, now in serious condition with a collapsed lung, to Duke Hospital in Durham, NC. As the Murphys stood by Zachary’s hospital bed, they began mentally walking through their home searching for an explanation of his ongoing health issues. Mary and her husband returned home and began to look for the source of the problem.

Hurricane Floyd had ushered in a tornado that entered via their chimney and burst through the roof of their home, seemingly leaving behind little more than roof and carpet damage. Private insurance took care of the expense of restoring their home, but it was now apparent there was additional (undetected) damage. Upon deeper inspection, the Murphys discovered that water had pooled underneath the unelevated manufactured home, apparently the consequence of runoff from a widened roadway that added to an already flooded neighboring creek. The water had been permeating the walls, causing mold to grow and infect Zachary with air contaminants, particularly dangerous to his sensitive lungs.

Mary contacted the local Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) and, within 3 days, a FEMA Individual Assistance (IA) agent came to their property with an environmental expert who, following an inspection, condemned the property. FEMA further determined the family qualified for temporary housing in a FEMA trailer while their manufactured home was demolished and a new one installed.

In July 2001, with a manufactured home model selected, the family moved from the FEMA trailer to combine housekeeping locally with their adult daughter in order to allow contractors to begin setting up the new home. Eight truckloads of sand were spread and an elevated foundation built before placing the new manufactured home into place. On August 3, 2001, the family was able to finally return to their new home, now elevated and safe from environmental hazards.

“They saved my grandson’s life,” said Mary, speaking of FEMA, “because, if they had not stepped in, I don’t know what I would have done.” Mary went on to say, “It (the mold) probably would have ended up killing all of us.” It was found that the family’s church had mold growing as well, requiring the congregation to move to a new building as many were sickened from breathing airborne contaminants. “I can’t believe how that mold does hurt people so bad.”

Not only is Zachary, now age 16, fully recovered, but the Murphys’ home has not flooded since being re-established on an elevated foundation. “I really appreciate FEMA,” Mary said. “They were really nice, the people that came out. They were great.”

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Prevention of Violence and Trauma of Women and Girls. Grant Opportunity

Prevention of Violence and Trauma of Women and Girls  


DHHS logo
DHHS logo

Objectives
The purpose of this funding is to seek projects which increase awareness of violence and trauma affecting women and girls, offer prevention strategies and messages, and promote trauma-informed care to decrease violence against women and girls and to promote recovery and resiliency.

Deadlines
Applications are due December 7, 2011, Mountain Time, by 5:00 pm.  Applications are to be submitted to owhapplication@jsi.com or via mail to:
JSI
Attn: Megan Hiltner
1725 Blake Street
Suite 400
Denver, CO 80202
 

Description
OWH was established in 1991 in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, within the Office of the Secretary. Its mission is to improve the health of American women by advancing and coordinating a comprehensive women’s health agenda throughout DHHS. OWH is the government’s champion and primary agent for women’s health issues, working to address inequities in research, health care services and education that have historically placed the health of women at risk. OWH is DHHS’s focal point for ensuring that women’s health policy, practice, and research are mutually informed and effectively integrated within DHHS. OWH accomplishes this by collaborating with other federal and non‐federal partners on behalf of women and girls. OWH provides leadership to promote equity for women and girls through sex and gender specific approaches.

As part of its strategic plan, OWH continues to fund evidence‐based interventions to address gaps in women’s health that are not addressed at the national level by any other public or private entity. These interventions focus on health disparities in women’s health, in which minority status, disabilities, geography, family history, sexual orientation, low socioeconomic status, chronic conditions, and infectious diseases are contributing risk factors.

Violence against women and girls is perpetrated in all types of personal, professional and family relationships and crosses economic, educational, cultural, racial, age, and religious lines. The United States Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) estimated that nearly one‐third of women murdered each year in the United States are killed by their current or former intimate partners. BJS also reported that approximately one million women are stalked each year, and three percent of college women are victims of an attempted or completed rape in each academic year.

Research findings recognize trauma as a crosscutting, gender‐specific issue that has significant adverse effects on the health and wellbeing of women and girls. Violence against women and girls is a major form of trauma which encompasses intimate partner violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual abuse, stalking, emotional and verbal abuse; as well as bullying, human‐trafficking, and other forms of trauma or abuse. Violence affecting women and girls can take place in many settings including at home, at school, and in the workplace.

This funding opportunity addresses the physical, mental, and emotional impact of violence against women across the life span (i.e. girls, adolescent girls, women of reproductive age, pregnant women, mature women, and older women). Funding is available for specific events or activities intended to prevent, raise awareness of, and/or respond to the epidemic of violence against women and girls in the United States.

Proposals for funding may include activities such as: the development and implementation of organizational policies regarding screening for violence in health care settings; the development of organizational practices to provide trauma‐informed care to promote recovery and resiliency from violence and trauma; and outreach to workplaces and religious institutions on how they can adopt policies that address violence and ensure the safety of women and girls. Other activities may include VAW prevention workshops for women and girls; local public health awareness projects; VAW specific health fairs; and projects that engage men and boys in violence prevention programs


Eligibility
OWH funding is available to eligible entities located in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the six U.S.‐Affiliated Pacific Island Jurisdictions, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Eligible entities may include public and private non‐profit organizations, community and faith‐based organizations, health professional organizations, colleges and universities, community health centers, hospitals, health departments, and tribal and urban Indian organizations.

Grant Information Source:
Office On Womens Health (OWH)
200 Independence Ave Sw
Washington, District Of Columbia 20201
UNITED STATES
Website: https://www.rkb.us/leaving_site.cfm?location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ewomenshealth%2Egov%2Fabout%2Dus%2F


Thursday, November 10, 2011

NETC Training. Free just travel costs

National Emergency Training Center
 
October 19, 2011

The application period is now open for the National Fire Academy.

The open dates are October 15 through December 15, 2011 for the classes scheduled for April through September, 2012.

If you have not been to the National Emergency Training Center (NETC) in Emmitsburg, Maryland you are missing a national gem of emergency response and emergency management training.

Three entities occupy the grounds of the National Emergency Training Center- the National Fire Academy, the Emergency Management Institute and the United States Fire Administration. Located in northern Maryland, just 10 miles from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, it is the ideal location for great training and to meet other responders from all over the country.

Take a box of business cards and be prepared to enlarge your professional network many-fold.

The variety of classes range from technical to executive and are provided in a college atmosphere and professional environment. You say your budget can’t afford travel to Maryland…? The classes are free, your lodging on campus is free and the airfare is reimbursed. Your only direct cost is your meal ticket at the campus meal hall. Funded by Congress through the Department of Homeland Security via FEMA’s budget, this is a “don’t miss” destination as early as possible in your career.

Here’s the website to get you started.    www.usfa.fema.gov

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

FREE CEUs. Keeping FEMA Training Free

http://www.training.fema.gov/EMI/

Obtain FREE college level CEU (continuing education units) for associate, and undergraduate degrees in emergency managment.

Keep FEMA's Emergency Management Instititute training 'free'. 

If you are a U.S. citizen with a social security number register for any of the online distance learning courses.

The 'whole community' is everyone.  High school students, college, senior citizens, homeless, business owners, faith-based organizations, nonprofits, community organizations, sorieties, fraternities, the disabled, and incarcerated, re-entry program personnel and staff, half-way house personnel & staff, everyone.

OCCUPY......OCCUPY this....

Keep free training free.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Support 'New Proposed' Federal Snow Policy


 

 
Sunday, November 6 Washington Post
 

By , Published: November 5

We’ve all enjoyed snickering at those pathetic federal bureaucrats for suggesting that Washington area workers ought to just stay in their offices in a snowstorm or other emergency. Now can we please be adults and acknowledge that the bureaucrats’ approach is entirely correct?

Let’s go further and think seriously about how we, the public, can help make the plan succeed.
The alternative is to resign ourselves to the current reality that an unexpected workday snowstorm — or, do note, a terrorist attack — triggers instant gridlock on roads and rail that makes everything worse for everybody.

Raise your hand if that’s a problem you want to perpetuate. No one? As I expected. So let’s put on our big-kid pants, Washingtonians, and work with the authorities on this one.

Here’s the background. In an admirable effort to reduce congestion in an emergency, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management has drafted new guidelines for when to shut federal offices.

The initial reaction has mostly been mocking. But it’s also focused on just one part of the plan, called “shelter in place.” Once snow hits, workers are asked to stay in the office until roads and Metro are capable of handling the load.

It’s easy to make fun. Will there be cots and free coffee while we wait out the storm? Who’s going to heed the OPM, anyway, when we’re in a hurry to get home?

Here’s the rest of the story. The other parts of the plan are designed as much as possible to prevent sheltering in place by ensuring that workers are already home when the snow falls.

For example, OPM will encourage more workers at more agencies to telework when it’s likely to snow. It will make decisions earlier than in the past on whether to close federal offices or authorize unscheduled leave and unscheduled telework. Ideally, it’ll decide the afternoon or evening before the day of the event.
“How do you get everybody out of the city? Don’t bring them in in the first place,” Dean Hunter, OPM’s emergency management chief, said in an interview.

Also, and this is crucial, when an unexpected storm threatens to materialize during a workday, OPM will strongly urge people to leave by a certain hour so as to arrive home before trouble starts. Only people who remained past the deadline would then be encouraged to stay until snow crews have had time to salt and plow. The wait would typically be a few hours.

Here’s where it’s vital for the public to buy into the plan. The OPM’s orders to leave early or stay at work would not be mandatory. So anybody who really needed to keep working or leave to pick up kids would be free to do so.

If too many people ignore the plan, then it’s sure to fail. But if just half the workers could be persuaded to respect the recommendations, then it could translate into huge relief for the commute.

“Part of this is really the need for public education,” Hunter said. “We’ll have limited success if we can’t educate people and have them internalize it. It takes some individual responsibility, really, for their own safety and security.”

The OPM guidelines, first reported Wednesday, are likely to be issued formally within weeks after final talks with other agencies. They are part of a larger Washington area snow plan, which I criticized just 10 days ago for being too modest in size.

I remain concerned that the region is investing too little and remains too fragmented to cope with the problem.
But now that I see how much the federal government is involved, I’m more optimistic. The feds employ 300,000 people in our region, and many local governments and private employers follow OPM’s lead in making dismissal decisions.

“This is a big deal that the largest employer in the region is realizing that they have a key role and the default, which has been everybody go home, is absolutely wrong,” said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), a representative on the region’s emergency preparedness committee.
Mendelson’s support is noteworthy, because he has been one of the most outspoken critics of the region’s emergency planning.

He and others credited OPM Director John Berry for taking the initiative. Berry, who grew up in Montgomery County, has a lifetime of experience with the region’s snow paralysis.

“I give Director Berry credit for getting out front and saying, ‘We need to do better than what we’ve done,’” said Charlie Bernhardt, a labor relations specialist at the American Federation of Government Employees.
For once, the authorities seem to be trying something that could make a difference to make our lives easier in a snowfall and safer in a terrorist attack. We ought to set aside our cynicism and do what we can to make it work.

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