Plan 9

The Montgomery County Health Department in Maryland has produced a emergency preparedness system called "Plan 9" to help families with their emergency preparedness efforts.

Some people find emergency kit checklists overwhelming and the total cost to acquire all items on the list to be staggering. Plan 9 simplifies the steps to creating an emergency preparedness kit, and a personal emergency plan.

Review, print and save the following Plan 9 tools free of charge to help with your personal and family emergency planning:

Plan 9 Poster
Plan 9 Brochure 1
Plan 9 Brochure 2

MRC Summit Agenda Announced

The agenda for the 2010 MRC Summit at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort has been announced.

Thursday, April 22 will include opening remarks from Utah Department of Health Director David Sundwall and Lt. Governor Greg Bell. Session topics for Thursday include the following:

• Building Community Partnerships
• State-Wide MRC Unit Programs
• Utah H1N1 response
• MRC go kit development
• Planning for Special Populations
• Public Health in Disasters

Session topics for Friday, April 23, include the following:

• Partnering with Emergency Management
• Evacuation and Shelter in Place
• Psychological First Aid
• Hands-on Triage Exercise
• MountainStar Pandemic Influenza Drill Lessons Learned

Friday's closing keynote will be from Captain Robert Tosatto, Director, Office of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps

Registration for the summit ends April 1st. Information on how to register for the conference can be found in the following MRC blog post: http://mrcdaviscounty.blogspot.com/2010/03/mrc-summit-april-22-23.html

1,300+ Volunteer Hours in 2009

Davis County MRC members volunteered over 1,300 hours in 2009. This includes time spent in attending trainings, exercises, public health events, and H1N1 preparedness and response.

The value of a volunteer hour for the state of Utah is estimated at $16.74. This equals over $21,700 of in-kind donations to Davis County last year! The Davis County Health Department and the Davis County MRC appreciates all the volunteer hours spent by MRC members.

Thank you!

More Earthquake Safety

Have you seen this email? The one that claims you should never "duck and cover" during an earthquake and should use the "Triangle of Life" to ensure you won't be crushed?

This email has been re-circulating recently and the Davis County MRC would like to share Snopes.com's take on the email. In summary, most of the claims made in this email are from skewed data. For example, the collapsed building in Turkey that is referenced, was not subjected to earthquake type shaking. Therefore, the resulting damage (from collapsing a building on purpose for planned demolition) cannot be compared to what would likely happen during an actual earthquake. Additionally, most buildings are subject to strict building codes, and do not "pancake" during an earthquake. Please take the time to read the entire Snopes statement.

The Davis County MRC encourages members to utilize earthquake safety advice from reputable organizations such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Red Cross. You can view their earthquake safety information by following the links below.

American Red Cross: What should I do during an earthquake?
FEMA: What to do during an earthquake

MRC Summit April 22-23, 2010

Registration is now open for the 2010 Annual Healthcare Preparedness and Medical Reserve Corps Summit on April 22-23 at Snowbird.

To register log onto UTRAIN at www.utah.train.org (your MRC train user name and password should work - if you don't have an account you can create one). After logging into your account enter the course number 1021056 on the right hand side of the page. Next, under the registration tab click on the "Register for Conference" button. To complete registration view each screen and click "next" after making any changes. Some screens will require nothing more than to click "next." On the last screen be sure to click "complete registration." You will receive a conformation email shortly after. The confirmation email will also contain a lodging request form for MRC members living more than 50 miles from the conference site.

If you would like to attend please register soon because space is limited for this FREE summit.

2010 Public Health Preparedness Summit

The 2010 Public Health Preparedness Summit was held in Atlanta, GA on February 16-19, 2010. The summit web site has recently been updated with pdf files of many of the presentations given. This is a great opportunity to learn more about current emergency preparedness efforts and best practices across the nation.

To view session presentations click on the heading "See What Happened at the 2010 Summit," then click on any of the links within the summit agenda.

ND Red River, Volunteer Efforts

March 15-19 is Flood Safety Week and many people across the country are experiencing preparing for floods first hand. Residents in Fargo, ND are expecting the Red River to crest before the end of the weekend, 3 feet shy of last year's record of 40.8 feet. In Fargo, flood stage for the Red River is at 18 feet and "major stage flooding" starts at 30 feet.

Thousands of volunteers have been working tirelessly filling and placing sandbags to try and reduce flooding in the Fargo area. The following article from WDAY News 6, describes efforts of volunteers, including hundreds of student volunteers who decided to miss school to step up and pull 4 hour (or longer) shifts to help with sandbagging. Read article here.

Incident Command Training

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Independent Study (IS) program provides online training for Incident Command (ICS) courses that are required for many first responders. The Davis County MRC has identified IS 100.a – Introduction to Incident Command and IS 200.a – ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents as courses all MRC members should complete.

Once you complete an IS course FEMA will email a link to you to obtain your completion certificate. Please remember to forward a copy of the FEMA email, or the actual certificate to the Davis County MRC at daviscountymrc@gmail.com.

Visit the FEMA Independent Study Program web site to see a complete list of all online trainings offered.

New Emergency Preparedness Web Site

This past week the Utah Department of Health launched a new Emergency Preparedness website.

The site is still being updated and will contain emergency plans, information on biological, chemical and radiological terrorism threats, natural disasters, outbreak information and more.

Visit the website here: http://health.utah.gov/preparedness/

Tweet Tweet

Davis County MRC now has a twitter account to share information with members. You can follow @daviscountymrc.

Haiti Response Update

The following message is from Captain Rob Tosatto, Director, Office of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps, Office of the Surgeon General, dated March 10, 2010.

***********************************

Dear MRC Leaders, Volunteers, and Colleagues,

Though two months have passed since the devastating earthquake struck Haiti, response and recovery will be on-going for many more months, and possibly years, to come. As with other disasters in the past, the Office of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps (OCVMRC) was proud and touched to receive the many calls and emails from leaders and volunteers looking for ways to support the Haitian people.

While this was not an opportunity for the MRC to deploy, OCVMRC staff was on daily calls and participated in agency planning to stay involved in the response. Unfortunately, the many willing to help were not able to be utilized, as there was no infrastructure in place to manage, shelter, feed, or transport additional people. Though MRC volunteers were not deployed to Haiti, several units provided tremendous support in their local communities, including:

• The Hillsborough and Polk County MRC units (near Tampa, FL) responded to Haitian Med-Evacuations, receiving 72 patients via airlift. MRC volunteers provided emergency trauma care, management of patient flow, logistics support, and general assistance to the county health department, helping the community integrate the patients into the medical system.
• The Lowcountry MRC (North Charleston, SC) worked alongside health department staff to conduct health screenings and operate a medical station at the Haiti Repatriation Center, sponsored by the county emergency management division. More than 700 returning U.S. citizens were screened and referred as needed for on-site medical and behavioral health care.
• The Calcasieu MRC (Lake Charles, LA) trained civilian responders that deployed to Haiti via a local organization.
• The Schoolcraft County MRC (Manstique, MI) assembled “Health Kits” for Haitian earthquake survivors.
• The Southeast Wisconsin MRC (Waukesha, WI) hosted a donation drive to aid Haitian disaster recovery.
• The Beach Cities Health District MRC (Redondo Beach, CA) collected shoes as part of the Soles for Souls program, sending more than 4,000 pairs of shoes to Haiti.

The large-scale earthquake served as another stark reminder that we can never be too prepared. We encourage you to continue to recruit, train, build partnerships, and communicate with your members and those you serve. By working together now, we will create more resilient communities in the face of crisis.

We applaud the efforts made by all MRC units to respond to the horrific devastation in Haiti and your on-going willingness to give of yourself, your time, and your talents.

With sincere thanks,
Rob
CAPT Rob Tosatto Director, Office of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps

Utah & Earthquakes

With the extensive media coverage of recent large-scale earthquakes (Haiti, Chile, Turkey), many questions have been raised about earthquakes in Utah. How often do quakes happen in Utah? All the time. The above graphic from the University of Utah Seismograph Stations shows a shake map for the last significant earthquake in the Davis County area - a magnitude 3.0 quake on November 19, 2009. While most Utah earthquakes are not the "big one," residents still need to keep in mind a large earthquake can happen at any time, and to remember the importance of being prepared.

The Utah Seismic Safety Commission has published a booklet entitled "Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country" that is full of valuable information regarding living along the Wasatch Fault. The book includes maps, descriptions of the Wasatch Fault, a history of earthquakes in the area and preparedness checklists.

For more information on earthquakes and emergency preparedness, visit the Utah Geological Survey website.

Davis County MRC

Welcome to the Davis County MRC blog.

In 2010 the Davis County MRC will increase communication and share more information with its membership. In addition to our quarterly newsletters (which will be 100% electronic this year - go green!), communication will continue through email, posts to this blog and other electronic methods.

Look here for updates on MRC activities in Utah and across the US, MRC statistics and disaster response information.

As always, thank you for your willingness to volunteer in Davis County.