Review of the NVERS and VDEM Inclusive Emergency Management Workshop

Last week the Northern Virginia Emergency Response System (NVERS) and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) co-hosted a two-day Inclusive Emergency Management seminar. This event served to build a better understanding within the northern Virginia region on the functional needs that should be considered of those with various disabilities during the emergency planning process. The first day was conducted as the VDEM 510 course, Emergency Operations Planning: An Inclusive Approach, while the second day was a guest lecture by Dr. Peter Blanck. Dr. Blanck served as an expert witness in the trial involving the City of New York and the issues with their emergency response plans following the events of Hurricane Sandy.

One major lesson learned during this two-day seminar came from the presentation made by Gary Talley of the Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Mr. Talley stressed that while there are many types of hearing disabilities, and a wide array of tools that can be used to communicate with this population, the most effective way to engage this population is to include them in the emergency planning process. By doing so, emergency planners can be sure that the issues and needs of this population are properly considered within the emergency planning process.

Additionally, emergency management planners and managers should also consider the tools that are used to communicate effectively with those who are hard of hearing or deaf, and understand that this process of communication is almost always disrupted during an incident. Televisions with captions, videophones and doorbells connected to lighting systems all rely on electricity; yet when power is lost the options for communicating with this community can become severely limited. Tactics such as door to door canvassing may fail; without a lighting system to inform the individual that a person is at the door, no one will answer the door and the canvassers will consider the home to be empty.

A third and final lesson from this two-day seminar came from the presentation by Dr. Peter Blanck. During his lecture, Dr. Blanck explained how the emphasis on go-bags, and the ability to use these go-bags as a means of support for up to 72 hours, is directed only towards the community that does not have any disabilities or major medical issues. A patient who requires medical services such as dialysis, has a trained assistance canine, or is diabetic will most likely not be able to survive adequately for those 72 hours. This is also true of the elderly population and the homeless; the 72 hour go-bag is built on the foundation that those individuals are healthy and prepared, which is almost never the case. Dr. Blanck also provided a more thorough legal understanding of the ruling in the New York City case and addressed how this ruling would affect emergency planning across the country. He stressed the need for all agencies to have an American with Disabilities Act coordinator and noted that even though the judge considered New York to have been successful in its overall evacuation, there were still some glaring issues.

Given the popularity of this two-day seminar and the positive reviews that were received, NVERS looks forward to hosting similar events in the future.