A new collaborative effort may make our area more effective at hurricane warning and response. Recently, the Tampa Bay region, due to its unique environment, was chosen as one of just six areas to take part in a National Weather Service pilot project. The goal of the project is to “”take weather operations for forecasting and collaboration to the next level.” Read more at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Volunteering creates a national character in which the community and the nation take on a spirit of compassion, comradeship and confidence.

–Brian O’Connell, Civil Society Advocate

Previous posts in the MRC Training Course series focused on sites that offer many different training courses. However, a few sites offer stand-alone courses created or recommended for MRC volunteers.

The first stand-alone course is Psychological First Aid Online.  The 6-hour interactive course provides an overview of psychological first aid (PFA). The course teaches through scenario training – students role play as an aid worker in different virtual situations. The course also has a community component, inviting participants to share their experiences using PFA in the field. Sign up for the free course here.

The Introduction to Strategic National Stockpile & Mass Dispensing Course was designed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for Florida Department of Health staff and volunteers. By the end of the course, students will understand the scope and purpose of Florida’s Strategic National Stockpile Program. Students will also learn how mass dispensing incidents are managed and the roles they may be called on to play during a mass dispensing incident. Click here to learn more and take the course.

The last stand-alone course is Building Collaborative Disaster Planning Processes Between Hospitals & Emergency Management. Created by FEMA and the American College of Emergency Physicians, this course offers first-of-its-kind integrated training focused on collaboration and cooperation. The training course is four hours long and registration includes access to a virtual community with a Q&A and forum section. Take the course here.

The Online Training series explores each of the training websites available to prepare MRC volunteers for a disaster or public health emergency. Previous posts in this series have given an overview of MRC-Train, FDEM, FEMA, Public Health Preparedness & Response and Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice. Find a complete listing of training websites on our training page.

FEMA & NOAA have partnered to make this week the first National Severe Weather Preparedness Week. MRC News & Notes shares the below article, from FEMA & NOAA, to help you prepare. 

 As the nation marks the first anniversary of one of the largest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are teaming up this week to save lives from severe weather.

The two agencies encourage the public to “know your risk, take action, and be a force of nature” by taking proactive preparedness measures and inspiring others to do the same.

Last April, tornadoes raked the central and southern United States, spawning more than 300 tornadoes and claiming hundreds of lives. That devastating, historic outbreak was only one of many weather-related tragedies in 2011, which now holds the record for the greatest number of multi-billion dollar weather disasters in the nation’s history.

The country has already experienced early and destructive tornado outbreaks in the Midwest and South this year over the last two months, including a significant number of tornadoes last weekend. May is the peak season for tornadoes, so it is important to take action now.

“The damaging tornadoes that struck this year, causing widespread devastation as well as loss of life, also spurred many amazing and heroic survival stories,” said NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D. “In every one of these stories, people heard the warning, understood a weather hazard was imminent and took immediate action. We can build a Weather-Ready Nation by empowering people with the information they need to take preparedness actions across the country.”

“One of the lessons we can take away from the recent tornado outbreaks is that severe weather can happen anytime, anywhere,” said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. “While we can’t control where or when it might hit, we can take steps in advance to prepare and that’s why we are asking people to pledge to prepare, and share with others so they will do the same.”

To “be a force of nature,” FEMA and NOAA encourage citizens to prepare for extreme weather by following these guidelines:

• Know your risk: The first step to becoming weather-ready is to understand the type of hazardous weather that can affect where you live and work, and how the weather could impact you and your family. Check the weather forecast regularly and sign up for alerts from your local emergency management officials. Severe weather comes in many forms and your shelter plan should include all types of local hazards.
• Take action: Pledge to develop an emergency plan based on your local weather hazards and practice how and where to take shelter. Create or refresh an emergency kit for needed food, supplies and medication. Post your plan where visitors can see it. Learn what you can do to strengthen your home or business against severe weather. Obtain a NOAA Weather Radio. Download FEMA’s mobile app so you can access important safety tips on what to do before and during severe weather. Understand the weather warning system and become a certified storm spotter through the National Weather Service.
• Be a force of nature: Once you have taken action, tell your family, friends, school staff and co-workers about how they can prepare. Share the resources and alert systems you discovered with your social media network. Studies show individuals need to receive messages a number of ways before acting – and you can be one of those sources. When you go to shelter during a warning, send a text, tweet or post a status update so your friends and family know. You might just save their lives, too. For more information on how you can participate, visit www.ready.gov/severeweather

 About FEMA: FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards. Take the pledge and learn more information at www.ready.gov/severeweather– and encourage the rest of your community to join.

 About NOAA: NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels

As National Volunteer Week begins, we would like to thank our volunteers for choosing to serve MRC Sarasota.

 “There is only one thing worse than training your volunteers and having them leave – and that’s not training them, and having them stay.”

-          Unknown

USF Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice

The USF Center for Leadership in Public Health Practice is offering online courses this year for the first time. These courses are focused on providing help and training for public health workers. Many of the courses cover traditional aspects of preparedness, such as basic epidemiology and public health infrastructure.

However, the site also offers courses that train and prepare public health workers for the difficult situations they may face during a disaster or hazard response. For example, “Understanding Compassion Fatigue” helps public health workers combat the psychological effects of being responsible for bioterrorism preparedness, response and recovery. Another health-worker focused class is “SMART,” a 2 hour course designed to provide attendees with awareness of the stress that comes with disaster response work and provide strategies to manage stress.

Find the entire 2012 online training list here.  To register for and start taking courses online, visit the website and click ‘Register for Online Courses’ in the right sidebar now!

The Online Training series explores each of the training websites available to prepare MRC volunteers for a disaster or public health emergency. Previous posts in this series have given an overview of MRC-Train, FDEM, FEMA, and Public Health Preparedness & Response. Find a complete listing of training websites on our training page.

“If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.”

- Kofi Annan, Ghanian diplomat, 2001 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Public Health Preparedness & Response

In 15 minutes, you could complete an entire course on Rapid Needs Assessments through the UNC Public Health Preparedness & Response online course. The site specializes in short, free courses for public health volunteers.

There are a variety of topics that will be useful to the MRC volunteer: Disaster Planning, Response & Recovery, Emerging & Re-emerging Infectious Disease, Bioterrorism, and Chemical & Radiation Emergencies are just a few. If you’d rather look for courses by keyword or take an entire series of courses, those are available online as well.

Since the majority of the courses are under an hour long, it’s easy to complete a course as your schedule allows. In addition, the course descriptions are very detailed – each description describes the target audience, educational objectives and skills that will be taught. You can also review the list of references used to develop the course. To take a course, you must register with the site, but you can start browsing courses now on the training website.

The Online Training series explores each of the training websites available to prepare MRC volunteers for a disaster or public health emergency. Previous posts in this series have given an overview of MRC-Train, FDEM and FEMA Find a complete listing of training websites on our training page.

“A “Whole Community” approach is a valuable efficiency and cost-saving tool; yet more importantly, it is critical to our collective effectiveness to succeed in preparing for, protecting against, responding to, recovering from, and mitigating all hazards.”

-          Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency

FEMA Independent Study Program

The FEMA Emergency Management Institute (EMI) offers self-paced courses for people who serve or wish to serve in emergency management. With over 100 courses, the program has been an overwhelming success – in 2011, students completed 2.2 million courses and the website processes 44,000 final exams each week!

 The EMI offers a specific course track relating to the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and a professional development series for emergency management professionals. Other courses focus on nine areas of emergency management: incident management, operational planning, disaster logistics, emergency communications, service to disaster victims, continuity programs, public disaster communications and integrated preparedness.

Current active courses are searchable and free of charge. Many of the courses offer CEUs and some may offer college credits. The process of taking the courses is done entirely online and at you own pace. Once you have chosen a course, simply download course materials to enroll. To complete the course, take an online final exam at your convenience. The FEMA Emergency Management Institute will score the exam and email you a certificate of completion if you have passed.  Visit the site now to begin taking FEMA Independent Study courses.

The Online Training series explores each of the training websites available to prepare MRC volunteers for a disaster or public health emergency. Previous posts in this series have given an overview of MRC-Train and FDEM. Find a complete listing of training websites on our training page.

“Preparation through education is less costly than learning through tragedy”

-          Max Mayfield, Director of the National Hurricane Center, 2000 – 2007

By building a pre-trained, pre-credentialed volunteer force, MRC plans for a prepared, orderly disaster response that is ready to deal with any disaster that may come.

This post is the second in the MRC Online Training series. Read the first post here.

FDEM State Training

The Florida Division of Emergency Management has put together an interactive calendar of events and training opportunities throughout the state. This searchable, regularly updated site provides quick online registration for in-person events. Because the courses are provided locally, first priority is given to applicants from the host area. However, others are welcome to apply and will first be placed on standby. If the course is not filled with local residents those on standby will be accepted and notified.

There is a wealth of emergency management training on the website – out of the 36 courses scheduled statewide in March, 8 of them are in our local area. Local courses cover topics ranging from Intermediate Incident Command to Community Based Disaster Coalitions. You may search for courses by area, date or topic – Sarasota County is in Area 6. To see local upcoming courses, visit the site now!

The Online Training series explores each of the training websites available to prepare MRC volunteers to be ready for a disaster or public health emergency. Find our first post here and a complete listing of training websites on our training page.

“Preparation through education is less costly than learning through tragedy”

-          Max Mayfield, Director of the National Hurricane Center, 2000 – 2007

The above words speak to one of the core values of the MRC program and volunteers. By building a pre-trained, pre-credentialed volunteer force, MRC promotes disaster response that is prepared, orderly and ready to minimize any tragedy born from disaster.

The MRC Online Training News and Notes series will explore each of the training websites available to prepare MRC volunteers to be ready for a disaster or public health emergency. Find a complete listing of training websites on our training page. Below we will look at the first website, MRC-Train.

MRC-Train

MRC-Train is a free service of the Public Health Foundation meant specifically for MRC Volunteers. More than 75 online courses are available just for MRC members on topics like Family Disaster Planning, Emergency Volunteer Management and more. You can browse all MRC-Train courses at this link. In addition to the trainings, the site also has sections for resources and discussion boards that are available to registered members only.

Once you create a profile, MRC-Train keeps track of all the courses you have taken and transcripts for that course. You may quickly create an account on the website and start taking courses right away. If you prefer an overview of the site first, you can watch a short training video to become familiar with how the site works. Visit the website to explore one of the premier learning resources for MRC volunteers.

Lately it seems that spring is everywhere – in our flowers, trees and environment, we see signs of growth and renewal. This spring, the MRC website has also been renewed! With refreshed information and new pages, the website continues to provide up-to-date information that serves both current and pending MRC volunteers.

We have made quite a few changes: updates include a new volunteer orientation sign-up, FAQ and Request MRC pages and an updated training page. Learn more about each new feature below.

New Feature! Orientation sign-up – People who would like to learn more about MRC Sarasota can now sign up to attend an in-person orientation session through the MRC website. Point your friends and colleagues who are interested in MRC Sarasota to this page.

Frequently Asked Questions page – Are MRC Sarasota volunteers covered by liability protection? What are MRC Sarasota training requirements? Find the answers to those and other common questions about becoming an MRC volunteer on the new FAQ page! If you have a question not listed, ask it in the comments and we may add it to the FAQ.

Training page – We’ve updated the training page to include links relevant to current and pending MRC volunteers. Current volunteers: check out the expanded online training section, which has access to training courses from the national MRC site, FEMA, FDEM and more. Pending volunteers can learn what to expect from the three required MRC training courses and click through to take the courses online.

Request MRC page – Now, community organizations can use our website to request MRC volunteers at their next event! Any organization that is hosting a health screening, health promotion or general disaster preparedness information event can ask for MRC volunteers.