STORY TYPE: Homeland Responder Brief #117-118 TRANSCRIPT: There are many many different ways. First of all, you need to get in touch with your community. You need to get in touch with your neighborhood in terms of looking at your risks. What are the threats that are really facing your community. You need to be an informed citizen. And we need to think of risk in terms of the broad spectrum of risk. Yes, do you have a nuclear power plant by your house that can pose a risk? Are you in a flood zone? Do you live in Tornado Alley? Are you in a high dense population area that would be more prone to potential terrorist attacks? Do you have a high level of crime? You need to look at all of the risks that can impact your community. Then you must take action. You need to engage other citizens whether it's through a neighborhood watch program, or some other type of a watch program. You need to get informed. Be aware of - know what your emergency plans are. Know who your first responders are. One of the things in the Citizen Corps program that were finding, is that as citizens, every day citizens, volunteer to support the emergency responders. They are becoming more and more familiar with the roles of the emergency responder. They are becoming more and more familiar with what the first responders can do. How they spend their days, and then also what their needs are. So they are becoming much more integrated with fire houses, with police stations, with EMT's, with their emergency management response. And that's when it starts happening. We have a saying in emergency management, and that is "the time of a disaster is not the time to be exchanging business cards." And one of the things that citizen corps has brought to the table is that connection, between the everyday citizen and the emergency responder. It's interesting. America is such a rich and diverse country. In terms of it's engenuity, and it's willingness to step up to the plate when they are asked. And back in June the department went out to the governors, and to the homeland security directors, and to the emergency management directors, and others with the ask, and the ask was "we are having a second year of National Preparedness Month, would you join us? Would you do something in your state to promote preparedness? Every governor as responded in a tremendous show of support, and the activities are as varied as America is varied. We have the state of Maryland, where the governor has over a hundred events for National Preparedness Month., and these run the full gamut. They run the full gamut from awareness meetings, where they are talking about it, and a simple thing of sharing brochures and pamphlets on preparedness at local grocery stores and other local venues, to having training sessions in terms of how people can get involved in either red cross or take some first aid training, get involved with CERT or some of the other preparedness organizations. Or they're have group sessions, or group meetings in terms of talking about it would mean if there were disasters in our community and how to be better prepared. They're having exercises, training sessions. The governor has, in Maryland alone, has taken a lot of steps to getting his message out that this is important. Virginia is doing the same thing. They're having a large kick-off event, again to get citizens engaged, but more importantly to show, that the local officials, whether it be a state level or local level, are committed to this and they are the ones who are reaching out to the citizens saying "would you be part of this?" Would you help us, help you, by being better prepared? One of the biggest goals is awareness. And a second goal is having people take action. And the third goal is really to embed the idea and the concept, that preparedness is an every day, every month type of activity. It is wonderful. It's one of the best things that national preparedness month in September does, is it creates a focal point and the focal point is that preparedness is very important. But the second message is, that this isn't just a once a month, or once a year type of activity or action. For people to be prepared, they need to do it year round. If you'll notice in October, that it's national fire prevention month. That's when the smoke detectors get checked, so people need little reminders. They need tools. They need a little tickler file, if you will, to remind them. And I think one of the best things that national preparedness month has done, is enabled us to focus on the whole message of preparedness. Well, there's been a lot of studies done on this. The biggest motivator is that they have a sense of belonging in their community, that they can contribute to the well-being of their community. One of the other biggest motivators in volunteering is the ask itself. People volunteer because they are asked. And once they're asked and they realize that they can become part of the solution, and it is very gratifying for them, then they continue to volunteer. We recently did a very detail interview, a focus group type interview in Independence Missouri, and what we found is that in Independence Missouri, it is part of the value system and the culture of the people to volunteer. It is embedded in them that this is part of what they do. So, it's very natural. It's just part of, you're a good citizen, you volunteer, you give back. But, oh universally the thread that runs is that I was asked, it gives me a wonderful feeling of participating and being a part of my community, and it also gives me a lot of confidence that I can go outside of myself to return to my community, to my first responders, to a charity, to people and to groups that mean a lot to me. Citizen Corps is a fairly new program. It was actually established in 2002, by the President of the United States, George W. Bush, after 9-11. In his state of the union address, when he created USA Freedom Corps, he created Freedom Corps as an office of the Whitehouse to promote a culture of service, citizenship and personal responsibility. Part of the mission of Freedom Corps, as an executive office within the Whitehouse is to promote the administration's policies on volunteerism and service. There's three big prongs to USA Freedom Corps. The Peace Corps. The Corporation for National Community Service – which is the AmeriCorps program, learn and serve, and then the new program Citizen Corps. So, we function really to promote a culture of citizenship, service and personal responsibility on citizen preparedness and we bring together that element of the volunteer world that really supports the emergency responders. We have three main purposes, the main aspects of our mission in Citizen Corps, to prepare, train and volunteer. The program, it's an interesting project because one of the things that we are most interested in doing is not creating a whole new set of programs that work independently from the emergency response community, so the key programs within Citizen Corps are: the neighborhood watch program. When I say that, people raise their eyebrows, because the neighborhood watch has been around for over 35 years, or 30 plus years, and they say well I have a neighborhood watch, I didn't know I was part of Citizen Corps. But they are. It's still run by the Department of Justice, through the National Sheriffs Association, but is part of the Citizen Corps family. The same thing with the Volunteers In Police Service program. VIPS. Again, it's a Department of Justice program that is run by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. CERT, the Community Emergency Response Team training program came from FEMA, and it is now within the office of Citizen Corps. And then the Surgeon General's Office, of the Department of Health and Human Services, runs the Medical Reserve Corps program. That is a brand new program that was started after 2002, to really harness the capabilities, the knowledge, skills and abilities of local medical professionals who could serve at a community based level. And then, the new program that we have is Fire Corps. And we actually launched Fire Corps in December of 2004. Now, when you look at these programs and you look at the different disciplines that they represent, and you know that one of the goals and initiatives of Citizen Corps, is to get everyone engaged in some aspect of preparedness and hometown security, you know that you have to broaden the reach. And we were very interested in including other organizations that already have an established infrastructure. And that have volunteers, and that have programs, and that have resources. And our goal is not to build a new robust organization, but to let all of these organizations that work so well in their community, to come together under the Citizen Corps Council umbrella. So, a local government, or a state government forms a Citizen Corps council, they include fire, law enforcement, emergency medical, emergency management, but they also include the other key components of their community. It could be University Presidents. It could be the owners of, or the president of their Chamber of Commerce. What ever industry is very prominent in their community. It could be faith based groups, other volunteer groups. And it brings them all to the table under the Citizen Corps umbrella, and says, What are our needs that the first responders have that are not being met under the rubrick of Citizen Preparedness? Then how can we reach out to people who are trained, or who need some training and have them help us meet that gap, and so that's really the essence of the program. We have brought together with us now over 25 different National non-profit groups, from the Red Cross, to Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, to the American Radio Relay League, to the newest member Meals-on-Wheels program. All these different organizations have their own client base if you will. They have their own volunteers. They have their own mission, but they come together with Citizen Corps for a better hometown, homeland security. That is a very good question, and that's tough one. One of the nice things about Citizen Corps is that it is totally community based. It is grass roots based. And one of the things as I travel around and talk to state Citizen Corps Councils, and even to local ones, what we're finding is that one of the benefits of the council. One of the big benefits of having a Citizen Corps Council is that these different organizations are now sitting around the table, and they are learning more about themselves, more about each other in terms of what their capabilities are, where there are some duplications, and how they can better connect. We work very closely with such groups, as the Points of Light Foundation and also as National Volunteer Organizations active in disasters. That organization brings together dozens of non-profit groups and so what we try to do, is not so much create new programs that are going to be out there, that we would implement that perhaps would duplicate others, but put out a capability that has to be met. And then go out to state and local governments to the non-profits and say, how now can we best meet this capability? It's really multi-pronged. One, because it is so grass-roots based, and because it has the imp Ramada, Every Citizen Corps Council has the imp Ramada, if you will, of either the mayor, the county executive, the city manager, has to have a local elected official to actually sanction the council. So, we want them to bring all of the people together. And we really expect them to do the coordination and to reflect the diversity, and the population mix of their community. That's – Local government is really where it comes together. However, what we do with our affiliates, with our national strategies, with our grant guidance, is really try to make sure that we are hitting the various segments of the population. One good example, and this is really a tribute to being a part of the Department of Homeland Security, is that we are working very closely with the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Now you would think, what would be the connection? Well, the connection is reaching to the community that is people with disabilities. We work very closely, part of our National Citizen Corps Council has subcommittees. One of the subcommittees now, is a subcommittee on people with disabilities. So, we are bringing together a mechanism to implement the President's executive order on emergency preparedness for people with disabilities. And what we're doing, is we're saying what are the needs, and bringing together in a clearing house type faction, and really in a coordination fashion, all of these different interest groups. Working with the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, working with us and saying, what are really the needs of people with disabilities in the times of emergencies and disasters, and how can those needs be met? So, if you follow this line, once we know, one, one very easy anecdotal example. During a bio-terrorism type exercise, there was a situation where they were putting people through mobilization and decontamination, a decontamination center. A gentleman comes up and he has a walker. The person who is running the decontamination unit does not know that the walker must go through the decontamination unit together with the person, so he takes the walker, the person goes through the decontamination unit, and then he hands him the walker. Simple things like that when you involve the disability community up front in the planning, and they are at the table with the emergency responders doing the emergency response plans, and the preparedness plans, they would know that in order to make sure that that person is fully decontaminated the walker and the person (drop out) Well, you know, just to continue with the story, it gives it that realism in terms of people with a disability being able to coach the emergency responders that are putting together the implementation plans on what is really going to work in the times of an emergency and not. Recently with Top-Off 3 in New Jersey, New Jersey really tapped into their Citizen Corps volunteers. Whether they were their community emergency response team volunteers, CERT, or the medical reserve corps. And one of the things that they did is they placed volunteers at the emergency operations centers, the EOC's. And they found that these volunteers have a lot of skills that can be used. We recently, and in the 2004 hurricanes, the ham operators, the American Radio Relay League, also one of our affiliates, had instrumental roles, because one of the first things that happens in emergencies and disasters is that your communications go down, and your wonderful cell phones don't work, and the land lines don't work, and so you pull out the ham operators, and there's this resurgence now, they are training a whole new breed of ham operators, and the ham operators are working side by side with the emergency responders in the EOC's. Once you tap into volunteers, trained volunteers and you use them early and often in your planning, and in your training and in your exercises. I think that you find that you have a much better quality of exercise and training event, because you're actually addressing problems. Last year, the District of Columbia, as part of their exercise and training scenarios, what they did, I think they went to 11 of the wards, and they did an exercise together with the emergency responders and they planned a black out with actual citizens and said, alright, now what would you do? And they went through a series of steps. And the initial response was well I wouldn't do anything because the firemen are going to be there, or the policeman is going to be there, or the first responder is going to be there. And when you go through the scenario, and you realize that the first responder can't be everywhere, those first 10-12 hours of a disaster, then what do you as a citizen do? On the other side of the table, what it did, is it gave the emergency responders a much different perspective of some of the issues that people face when they're in total darkness, or when their in blackout, or when they're without water, or ice or refrigerated medications. So, it is a tremendous eye opener alerting process for both sides of the coin. I do want to emphasize, and I can't emphasize it enough, that the Citizen Corps program and all of its volunteer components, are never in any way meant to supplant the emergency responders. This program is to support the great work that the emergency responders do. One of the, as we look through the national goal in terms of having a better prepared America. We realize that citizens and citizen participation are a very important aspect of that equation. So of course we are very happy to see that all of our plans, all of our documents include a very active role for citizen participation and citizen preparedness. One of the goals of course, is that we really would like to have a very aware, and a very confident American public. That they know what steps to take, and that they are aware of their environment, that they are not afraid to report abnormalities that they may see, whether they're at a train station or a metro, that they're aware that we do live in a very very different environment now, whether it is a terrorism event. You're not going to stop or change mother nature, and what steps are you taking to better prepare yourself and your family, and your friends, and your community? So, we think that everyone can have some level of understanding of personal responsibility towards their own preparedness. And it doesn't have to be elaborate, knowing that you have working smoke detectors, knowing where you know where the exits are at work, knowing your business's evacuation plan and how to exit, knowing that your children have a school evacuation plan and that it's practiced. Having some type of communication plan. All these college kids are going back to school, how many parents sat down with their kids and put together a very simple communication plan that said, tell us if something happens, this is who we want you to call first, this is who we want you to call second, and if you can't reach them here's the other plan, and this is how we're going to get a hold of you. This our meeting point. Those are some very basic steps that people need to take. I was interested in a lot of the programs in this area focusing on what do college students really need in terms of supplies to go back to their dorms, and to go back to college? And I was fascinated that none of the programs focused on any type of emergency kit, a public alert radio of any type, or something that would make them self sufficient for the first 72 hours of any type of disaster or emergency. And we have a long road to go in terms of educating the public and reaching out, where this becomes part of the standard going back to school apparatus if you will. A lot of different ways. One of course, since we're in the web age, everything that we do is web-based. We do have an extensive website on www.citizencorps.gov. You can go to that and you can click on all of the different programs associated with Citizen Corps. Every one of those programs has a map and an area where you can plug in your zip code and you can see where there is a VIPS or volunteers in police service program near you, a Medical Reserve Corps unit, CERT units, Citizen Corps Council. So you can get involved that way by just getting the basic information from the website. You could also go to your local fire department, go to your city hall, ask them if they have a citizen corps council, if they have a CERT program, how you can get involved. Your law enforcement. It doesn't have to be volunteers of police service, it could be Citizens on Patrol, you can neighborhood watch, a crime watch. It's interesting. A lot of the other watch programs are really gaining momentum, whether it is one of the waterway watch programs. In Iowa, they're doing quite a bit with AG Watch, because they feel that a neighborhood watch per se is really not going to be responsive to their needs, but of they can focus more on the agricultural type of watch issues, whether it's agro-terrorism, or just being vigilant in terms of things that are happening within their area. That are related to agriculture is another things that's growing. So there are a lot of different ways. The other way that always is a sure fire way of working is through neighborhood watch programs that are now becoming much more diverse in terms of not just crime watch, but I know that in Colorado, a lot of the neighborhood watch groups are going into the firewise program, where they're really taking a look at the wildfires that threaten a lot of their vegetation and hence their property. They're looking more at counter terrorism programs. They're combining their efforts with the CERT program. The best way to get involved is having a neighbor who's involved, who drags you to a meeting and the next things you know, you're involved and you're hooked. And I also think the emergency responders who use these programs, are also one of the best calling cards. When it works it's really fabulous. I was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa has a tremendous volunteer police service program, and they train their volunteers to do a lot of behind the scenes, admin paper type work, that a sworn officer normally doesn't have the time to do, but they also have a unit that works with their forensic director and they're actually putting them to work on cold cases. So, again what are the needs of the community that are not being met, and how can volunteers get some training and become part of the solution for the local community? Yes. I think that is extremely important, as I mentioned before, the worst thing that can happen and the one perception that we do not want to have is that Citizen Corps is about replacing, or supplanting the wonderful emergency responders and the tremendous work that they do. We are also insistent that Citizen Corps Councils be tied into state and local governments. And the reason for that is you cannot have these programs be successful if they are not tied into, and part of the infrastructure, of state and local government. They have to work with the emergency responder, whether it's fire, law enforcement, emergency management, or EMT's. I could tell you from experience that one of the first things that people want to do is they want to rush to a scene and they want to be of help. What that causes is a lot of problems, especially if they don't know what to do, so they need to make sure that they are in sync with their emergency responders. If you take a situation like the current one that is happening with hurricane Katrina, we do not want people to self deploy. We do not want people to become more of the disaster victims in that area. There are a tremendous number of volunteer groups, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Church world Service, I can go on and on and on. These groups all need volunteers. It would be much more prudent to call and volunteer your services through one of these groups. We also are dependent on what do the local people need that are actually in the emergency management decision chain. And they are our best barometers. What do they need in terms of, where are there most predominant needs? Feed their needs in, and then if they are in need of volunteers we would then make sure that we would go through our networks to get them to where they are needed. The worst thing that could happen is that people with very good intentions start self-deploying and arrive in a situation, and at a location where there is no infrastructure, and they then become part of the victim problem instead of part of the solution. I think America is such a blessed country, and I have never been in a situation where I haven't been called on, or someone hasn't been called on to offer a helping hand, and the feeling of satisfaction that you get in terms of saying I know how to give back to my community. I know that I'm part of the good infrastructure. I know I'm part of what makes my community work. I also know that I have some skills to take care of myself and I can take care of others. I think volunteering is really part of an American tradition. It is a easy way to give back. It doesn't take a lot of time and it could be for any type of skill that you may have. You may not think you have a skill until you go an offer it to someone only to realize that it was in great demand. But also the feeling of being asked, of being asked, Can you help me? Can you help? Is a tremendous feeling when you say yes I can and you do something. I know of no greater thing in terms of really giving back to a community and having a good feeling about yourself and what you're doing, than to volunteer. END - Liz DiGregorio TRANSCRIPT: Preparedness is important because you never know when an emergency will strike. We ask people to take a few simple steps in advance, and by doing so they will make themselves and their family more comfortable and more secure when something does happen. The three steps we have been talking about for years with Ready is to make an emergency supply kit, a kit of supplies that will help you and your family be comfortable for three days. Have an emergency plan that you establish with your family, a plan to get in communication with each other, a plan to get together if you're separated, a plan of where you would go if you needed to evacuate, and a plan of where you would stay if you were in a situation such as a tornado where you'd have to shelter in place. And the third thing is to be informed. Learn about where you live and what types of threats you face. Do you live in an area that would be affected by hurricanes? Do you live in an area that would be affected by tornados? What are the proper ways to respond to those type of disasters? The Ready Campaign is a national public service advertising campaign done together with the Department of Homeland Security and the Ad council. We have advertisements, as well as a website. www.ready.gov and an 800 #. One eight hundred be ready. And through those sources we provide information to the public about how to prepare. Things such as things they should include in their emergency supply kit. Information about different threats, natural disasters and possible terrorist threats. We tie in with Citizen Corps because Citizen Corps is Homeland Security's grass roots, on the ground, citizen preparedness effort. Citizen Corps takes the general ready message and tailors it to specific communities. If you live in California, Citizen Corps Councils there are likely to talk more about earthquakes. If you live in the South they might talk more about hurricanes. They take that message, they tailor it to their community, and they also deliver it to the community. What's very important about preparedness is bringing it neighbor to neighbor. You're more likely to be, take action if your neighbor tells you they're taking action, versus if the government in Washington is giving you some ideas. (Retake Citizen Corps answer) Citizen Corps works together with ready, because Citizen Corps is the grass roots arm of the Department of Homeland Security. It takes our ready message and localizes it to individual communities. For example, a Citizen Corps Council in California might talk about earthquakes. A Citizen Corps Council in tornado alley might talk about tornados. They can take that message and tailor it to that specific community. They also can help us get it out to that community, and deliver it neighbor to neighbor, local events, local elected officials, and spread it in a way that helps us get that message out. Preparedness Month gives us a chance to really focus on that issue. We partner together with the American Red Cross's here and we're happy to be doing that, and to both be spreading the message. September is obviously the middle of the hurricane season, and it's a good time, it's also back to school time. It's a good time for people to think about these issues again. As you're getting back from vacations, taking time to think about your family's emergency plan. If they still make sense. If your child changes schools. Have you changed work location? Think about mapping things out again, and refreshing the things in your supply kit. We have more than a hundred and ninety national organizations in all 56 states and territories who are involved in National Preparedness Month. Each one of those organizations is doing something tailored to them and their members to spread the preparedness message. For example, states and localities are doing a lot of town halls, and emergency preparedness fairs, and also handing information at state fairs that are already going on. National organizations are helping us spread the message by sending things in newsletters to their members, or employees, and a lot of businesses are going to be doing CPR demonstrations for employees or emergency drills throughout the month. The average citizen should be prepared because we never know when an emergency is going to strike be it a natural disaster, or other emergency. If they take some time in advance to make an emergency supply kit, a family emergency plan and be informed about different threats they'll be more safe, more secure, and more prepared. END - Kristin Gossel TRANSCRIPT: Absolutely. I got involved with the Red Cross about 4 years ago, and really learned a lot about disaster preparedness since then, and I think having a plan where you give thought to how and when would I evacuate, how would I stay in touch with loved ones if we got separated is important. I think having a disaster supplies kit where you would have a flashlight with extra batteries, and a first aid kit, and three days of food and water is absolutely vital, and those that have that in New Orleans right now are in a lot better shape that those who don't. And I also think having a battery powered weather radio can be key so that you can get the up to the minute information that you need about what's going on. Well, I think that we all get very busy, with our jobs and our families, and our educations, and because we're so busy we don't stop and think about an emergency until it's eminent. And by the time it's eminent, it's often too late to prepare, so it's really my hope that by having National Preparedness Month, and having Homeland Security and the Red Cross put a lot of emphasis on it that people will really just take a little bit of time out of their busy schedules this month to really think about, ya know, how can I prepare Well I think, having that disaster plan is important where you know how and when you evacuate, and how you would stay in touch if you got separated from loved ones. I think having an emergency supplies kit is important. Like I said, the first aid kit. The flashlight with extra batteries. The three days of food and water, very very important. I also think having that weather radio so that you can get up the minute information is important, and also being a volunteer is a great way to be prepared, not only for yourself but for your community. You can go to Citizen Corps, go to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army, or any number of volunteer organizations that can give you information about how you can be prepared but you can also help to get others in your community prepared, which is a wonderful place to be. END - Marc LaFountain END |