Thursday, April 10, 2014

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise. Getting something you least expected from planning.

Now that you've created the plans, policies, or procedures. Time to put them to the test.

Exercises by either a table-top, drill, functional, or full-scale is one form of validating what you've planned for.  You may even get something never expected during your planning.
 

BEMA

 

http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2014/04/exercise-exercise-exercise/

Exercise! Exercise! Exercise!

 
You could say that those of us who work in preparedness are a little obsessed with making sure we’ve got our emergency kits stocked and ready, our emergency plans up to date, and our neighbors are ready too.  So we’ve got a few households in Georgia ready for a public health emergency (and a few others around the country – don’t forget about friends and family!), but how do we get the country ready?  How do we get the government and other response organizations prepared?
The answer, just like learning how to ride a bike, is practice. Practice, practice, and more practice.  And this past week, CDC participated in a government-wide exercise that tested our preparedness and response capabilities.  The National Exercise Program Capstone Exercise (NEPCE) 2014External Web Site Icon is a congressionally mandated preparedness exercise to test, assess, and improve the nation’s preparedness and resiliency.  CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHPR) and the National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR) worked together to participate in this event.  
NEPCE 2014 was designed to educate and prepare the whole community – from schools to businesses and hospitals to families – to prevent, mitigate against, protect from, respond to, and recover from acts of terroristic and catastrophic incidents. This was the first Capstone Exercise, formerly known as National Level Exercise, incorporated into the newly revised National Exercise Plan (NEP)External Web Site Icon, concluding and building on two years of smaller scale exercises.  The NEP includes exercises of all types, designed to engage all levels of government, non-government organizations and private sector organizations. 
This exercise culminated over nine months of interagency planning efforts among DHS, HHS and CDC along with our state and local partners.  CDC planning officials attended planning meetings in Washington, D.C. to integrate CDC operations into the exercise. Additionally, CDC deployed four public health personnel with the HHS Incident Response Coordination Team to Sacramento, California, during the exercise to simulate coordination activities that CDC would normally provide to the impacted population.
History Repeats Itself for Exercise Purposes
The exercise scenario centered on a 9.2 magnitude earthquake in Alaska that caused catastrophic damage across multiple communities, requiring federal response and recovery assistance.  A similar event happened in Alaska at the same time in 1964.
As it did 50 years ago, the earthquake resulted in several tsunamis with substantial threat and damage to critical infrastructure like buildings, bridges, and roads, along with injuries, deaths, and population displacement across Alaska and Canada. While national officials confronted earthquake and tsunami impacts, disruption in and around Juneau, the capital, resulted in a requirement for government entities to relocate to alternate sites.
RADM Scott Deitchman, M.D. M.P.H., USPHS, Assistant Surgeon General who is the Associate Director for Environmental Health Emergencies in NCEH/ATSDR served as the Incident Manager and lead for the exercise. He remarked, “I appreciated the opportunity the exercise gave us, like the rest of government, to exercise how we would respond to a catastrophic disaster of this magnitude. A real earthquake, like a nuclear detonation, suddenly puts you in a situation where the things we take for granted – communications systems to give messages to the public, transportation systems to send responders to the area, data systems for collecting surveillance data – all are gone. How do we launch a public health response in that setting? In exercises like this, the goal is to “test to fail” – to see where things break down, in a setting where we can learn without failing people in actual need. That gives us the opportunity to strengthen our response systems in anticipation of a real disaster.”
One of CDC’s primary missions is to ensure that we are prepared to assist the nation to respond to, recover from, and alleviate the impacts of public health disasters.  Participation in last week’s exercise enhanced our overall ability to support our nation during emergency situations. 
During this and other exercises, all aspects of CDC’s response capabilities are tested.  Managed out of CDC’sEmergency Operations Center (EOC), this exercise brought together experts in public health preparedness, as well as those with expertise in earthquakes.  During a real emergency, CDC would activate the EOC in order to help coordinate the Agency’s response.  Although no exercise will truly mimic a real life emergency, we do everything possible to imagine what could happen – from dealing with power outages to delays in supplies reaching affected areas to incorrect media reports and wild rumors – in order to test who we would respond.  After the exercise is over, we work with the other organizations involved and analyze what went well and what could be improved upon next time.
David Maples, Exercise Lead for OPHPR’s Division of Exercise Operations, commented, “The Alaska Shield earthquake exercise provided CDC the primary venue to validate our All-Hazards Plan and its Natural Disaster Annex and Earthquake Appendix.  We engaged our whole of community partners in this exercise at the federal, state and local levels, our tribal partners as well as several non-governmental organizations and private public health partners.  Maintaining these relationships is essential to our ability to get our public health guidance and messaging into the hands of those impacted by an event like this.  In a catastrophic natural disaster similar to the one we just exercised, CDC’s mission is just the beginning. Similar to our real world response to Superstorm Sandy, the recovery phase of an event like this will challenge our public health capabilities for some time.  But that is the goodness of our Public Health Preparedness and Response exercise program; it gives us the opportunity to prepare for no-notice disasters and emergent outbreaks before they occur.”

Public Health: Assessing Population Vulnerability to Health Impacts of Climate Change

Climate change will demand human adaptation, but are healthcare providers and public health officials ready to assess who will be most vulnerable? In our upcoming webinar, learn how researchers are determining which factors matter when correlating climate change with human health. Please register and mark your calendars (see attached flyer) -- and share this announcement with your colleagues and partners.

Assessing Population Vulnerability to Health Impacts of Climate Change

Date: April 25, 2014
Time: 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. ET
Please register at:http://bit.ly/PEPH_Climate
(Registration required)

Description: Global climate change is one of the most pressing environmental and public health concerns of the 21st century. Key to adapting to the effects of climate change is an understanding of the different risks experienced by various exposed or affected populations so that interventions can be targeted and implemented more efficiently. Certain populations are particularly at risk to the health effects of climate change, including children, pregnant women, the elderly, individuals from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, and those living in urban or coastal areas. This webinar will describe ongoing research focused on assessing factors that may mediate increased risks among select vulnerable populations.

The webinar will include two presentations:

"Extreme Heat Events and Health Risk Patterns in Urban and Rural Communities"
Julia Gohlke, Ph.D., University of Alabama - Birmingham

"Climate Change and Vulnerability in the Elderly"
Antonella Zanobetti, Ph.D., Harvard School of Public Health

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

FREE response starter kit. New York State Training Session

Love it when our tax dollars are truly at work. 

State of New York, “Outstanding”!

Is your state ‘walking the walk’?

CDS

Check the State schedule for next training location near your area.

New York State is offering two hour training sessions for residents to have the tools and resources to prepare for any type of disaster, respond accordingly and recover as quickly as possible to pre-disaster conditions. Each family participating will receive a free Citizen Preparedness Corps Response Starter Kit.


The next training will be: ...
Saturday, April 12, 2014 10:00 AM - Onondaga County - Syracuse
Onondaga Community College - Gordon Center Great Room
4585 W. Seneca Turnpike
Syracuse, NY 13215
Sessions last approximately two hours

 

 

 

Black Emergency Managers Association  

1231  Good Hope Road  S.E.

Washington, D.C.  20020

Office:   202-618-9097 

bEMA 

 

Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders.   Tom Peters

…….The search is on.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

VETERAN ORGANIZATIONS: Do Veterans discharged with other then honorable need our help? YES!

 
 
 
 AIR FORCE TIMES

 
Varying sentences for MTI conduct reflect uniqueness of cases
 
 Staff Sgt. Annamarie Ellis arrives at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland for her trial on maltraining and maltreating basic trainees charges. 
Staff Sgt. Annamarie Ellis arrives at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland for her trial on maltraining and maltreating basic trainees charges. (Jerry Lara / San Antonio Express-News)

A foul-mouthed former military training instructor who threatened to send recruits home in body bags and made them work out naked will spend eight months in jail before she leaves the Air Force with a bad conduct discharge.

Ex-Staff Sgt. Annamarie Ellis, who was also busted to airman basic, pleaded guilty last month to two dozen counts of maltreatment, cruelty, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice while working at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in 2009 and 2010.

Another MTI convicted of arguably more serious charges in a similar case a year ago was sentenced to less jail time and got to stay in the Air Force, at least for the time being.

Then-Tech. Sgt. Bobby Bass physically abused trainees, forced them to crowd naked together in a shower and apply muscle cream to their genitals. He lost one stripe.

The relatively disparate punishments illustrate how no two cases are ever alike, even if they appear to be, military law experts say.

“No two defendants are the same and no two crimes are the same,” said Geoffrey Corn, a South Texas College law professor and retired Army judge advocate general.

Ellis is one of 30 MTIs sent to trial in the last two years as part of a sweeping investigation of instructor misconduct. She is the only former trainee among them not accused of a sexual offense.

Twenty-eight of the 30 cases have resulted in convictions on some or all charges.

The offenses were far-ranging: Rape, sexual assault, consensual sexual relationships with basic trainees and technical trainees, adultery, unprofessional relationships over social media, maltraining, obstruction and false official statements. So were the sentences, from 20 years in prison to no jail time.

Five former MTIs — Staff Sgt. Ryan Deraas, Master Sgt. Jamey Crawford, Staff Sgt. William Romero, Staff Sgt. John Gerbick and Staff Sgt. Emily Allen — convicted last spring of unprofessional relationships with multiple trainees got jail sentences that ranged from 45 days to seven months.

On the low end was Gerbick, convicted of unprofessional relationships with two technical trainees, adultery and giving a false statement.

Crawford, who had sexual relationships with two women, including one who had graduated from basic just one day before, got seven months and a bad conduct discharge. Crawford was also convicted of adultery and false official statements.

Two ex-staff sergeants convicted of rape saw a 16-year difference in their prison sentences. Luis Walker was sentenced to 20 years; Eddy Soto to four years. Soto, who was married at the time of the crimes, admitted to having sex with two women, including a technical trainee, but denied the rape. Walker, who was also married, had sexual relationships with several of the nine other women he victimized.

Corn said those sentences aren’t as disparate as they might appear. MTIs who engaged in improper relationships received similar sentences. Felony cases saw a wider range, which is how it should be, Corn said.

“If the sentences were all the same, I would be really worried. That would tell me judges are applying implied sentencing guidelines, which they aren’t supposed to do,” Corn said. “Each case is supposed to be decided on its own merit. The punishment should fit the crime, the criminal, the victim and all the circumstances around it.”

'No right answer'


There are no sentencing guidelines under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, said Lt. Col. Erik Coyne, a judge advocate general, who was speaking about the process and not the MTI cases. “There is no right answer. The right answer is individualized to the particular accused.”

A contrite defendant who admits to his or her crime may escape jail time for an offense an unrepentant perpetrator gets a few months or more for, Coyne said. “All those factors play in to why a sentence may go one way or another.”

Some sentences serve as retribution, said Coyne, “what we think of as punishment.” Prosecutors may also argue for a sentence in an effort to deter a would-be perpetrator, to rehabilitate the accused, to protect society or, in the military, to establish good order and discipline — or some combination of these five so-called principals of sentencing, he said.

Defense attorneys may use the same principals to make a counter-argument, Coyne said.

Every case is unique, not just in the circumstances and accused, but the jury selected, retired JAG Lt. Col. Sally Stenton said.

“Each member of the panel is an individual. The victims are all individuals. They all have their own backgrounds,” Stenton said. “Not every victim is a Girl Scout or a Boy Scout. You can have someone who is a victim of a serious crime who is not sympathetic. There’s an ugliness to that. People don’t like to talk about that. It is a factor.”

While a service member’s military record can no longer be considered when deciding whether to bring charges, it is still relevant at sentencing, Corn said. “When you have a sentencing hearing, no two airmen are the same in terms of their background, prior professional achievements, number of former colleagues willing to testify to their rehabilitative potential. So no two sentences will ever be the same.”

Only a handful of crimes, including premeditated murder and aiding the enemy, carry mandatory sentences, Corn said.

The National Defense Authorization Act passed in December added to that, requiring dishonorable discharges or the officer equivalent of dismissals for any service member convicted of rape, sexual assault and forcible sodomy.

Except for those offenses, Corn said, “every crime under the code is subject to a full and comprehensive sentencing hearing. Then the sentencing authority, whether a judge or panel, is instructed they have to consider from no punishment to the maximum authorized by the statute,” he said.

Ellis faced more than 43 years on the two dozen specifications she pleaded guilty to. She got eight months. Bass also faced decades in prison but was sentenced to six months.

“It’s very rare in a court-martial you’ll get a maximum penalty,” Corn said. Judges and jurors “are supposed to err on the side of leniency. They shouldn’t be lenient, but when selecting a sentence, you select one that serves the purpose that is the lowest in consideration.”

When considering a sentence, a panel, or jury, is instructed to begin at the low end and work up, Corn said. “As soon as they reach a consensus, they stop voting. They never even consider most sentences.”

“I think the most important point is the Air Force has been pretty diligent in bringing these cases to trial. Justice is defined through the process. The process woks, and it produces an outcome,” Corne said. “We have to be confident the outcome was right for that case. That’s the system we live in.”
 

Saturday, April 5, 2014

Hangout with America’s PrepareAthon! on April 7 at 1 pm


 

april 4, 2014
 
 

Click to edit this placeholder text.

Hangout with America’s PrepareAthon! on April 7 at 1 pm

The White House is getting ready for the first America's PrepareAthon!, a national day of action that will take place April 30, 2014.
Join us this Monday, April 7 at 1:00 p.m. ET to discuss America’s PrepareAthon!, a community-based campaign to build a more secure and resilient nation by getting people to understand what disasters could happen in their communities and to take action to increase their preparedness. Actions include signing up for mobile alerts and warnings, holding a preparedness discussion to emphasize the steps people should take to be ready should a disaster occur, and conducting a drill so people are familiar with what to do beforehand.  
Join us for a Google+ Hangout to hear from the head of FEMA, an award-winning meteorologist, and leaders from across the nation who share a passion for getting prepared. Paulette Aniskoff, White House’s Office of Public Engagement will moderate the live discussion.
Participants include:
      Craig Fugate, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
      Mike Bettes, The Weather Channel’s award-winning meteorologist
    Cameron Clayton, President of the Digital Division for The Weather Channel
      Nancy LeaMond, Executive Vice President for AARP’s State and National Group
    Jesse Salinas, Director of Alabama’s AARP
      Divya Saini, Block Preparedness Coordinator and founder of “Movers and Shakers”
      Chief Roy Acree, City of Smyrna, GA Fire Chief
    Boyce Wilson, Emergency Preparedness Planner for Heart of Texas Council of Governments
Join the conversation now by asking questions on Twitter using #PrepareAthon. And you can watch the Hangout live on Monday, April 7 at 1:00 p.m. by visiting the White House Google+ and YouTube pages.
The PrepareAthon! campaign is directed as part of President Obama’s Presidential Policy Directive 8: National Preparedness. On April 30, and throughout the spring, America’s PrepareAthon! activities will focus on preparing individuals, families, workplaces, K-12 schools, institutions of higher education, houses of worship, and community-based organizations for tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and wildfires.
·        Be Smart: Know your hazards in your community. Download guides to learn how to prepare.
·        Take Part: Plan activities and host an event locally on April 30.
·        Prepare: Practice a drill or have a discussion about preparedness. Participation can include being a part of community emergency planning, hazard-specific drills, group discussions, and exercises. 

Get involved by registering as a participant in America’s PrepareAthon! at www.ready.gov/prepare, and stay tuned into the discussion on Twitter by following @PrepareAthon.

 
 
Disclaimer: The reader recognizes that the federal government provides links and informational data on various disaster preparedness resources and events and does not endorse any non-federal events, entities, organizations, services or products. Please let us know about other events and services for individual and community preparedness that could be included in future newsletters by contacting citizencorps@dhs.gov.
 
 


 

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