911 ResponsAbility

Fallen Officers at Dekalb County, GA

Our deepest heartfelt condolences go to the friends, family and colleagues of the officers gunned down last night in Dekalb County, GA. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Catfish have a national day of recognition...shouldn't our first responders?

Did you know that catfish, frozen foods and ice cream each have their own national day of recognition?

Do you know who doesn't have one?  The people who risk their lives every day to protect our communities and keep us safe -- our first responders.

That's right.  The firefighters, police officers and emergency medical workers who come to our rescue are not nationally recognized for their courageous work and the personal sacrifices that they make.

The First Response Coalition is trying to change that, and they need our support. Congress has just 8 days left to pass a House resolution designating September 25, 2007 as National First Responder Appreciation Day. Our first responders might not get the national day of appreciation that they deserve unless we convince the Congress to act!

Please sign the Coalition's petition. To do so, click here:

http://www.fixtheradios.org/campaign/nfrad_petition3/ie76d7w40ktiw7j?

Emergency Notification Systems Are Not the Answer at Universities

The results of the Virginia Tech shooting investigation were released today and the underlying theme of the report is that the Faculty is responsible and accountable to communicate faster. I'm not trying to say that emergency notification systems don't have their place. But getting the actual message out is the easy part. Figuring out what to say is a lot harder...and that is where MissionMode comes in.

From an AP article on the story published August 30 titled Va. Tech president defends himself:

"It took administrators more than two hours to get the first e-mail warning out after Cho killed two people in a dormitory. In the interim, Cho mailed off a video confession to NBC and then made his way across the Blacksburg campus to a classroom building, where he killed 30 more victims and committed suicide.

...during those two hours, administrators carefully considered how to deal with the first burst of gunfire, including a warning or a complete campus lockdown...

At the time, however, only two administrators had the ability to send campus-wide e-mail, and the message first had to be formulated by the Policy Group, a body that includes nine vice presidents and several vice provosts and is chaired by Steger. It took a half-hour just to assemble the group."

There isn't a more appropriate scenario I could come up with as an argument for the need for MissionMode.

1. MissionMode's emergency notification feature can send an alert to all team members via their phone, email, cell, pager, etc within seconds. Team members manage schedule by time of day, and day of week.
2. Team members can then log in to an online situation center where they can communicate and collaborate no matter where they are located.
3. Pre-defined situation templates ensure that the most up to date information related to your response plans and SOPs are available at everyone's fingertips and not sitting on a desk miles away, or clogging your email server as you try to email them to everyone.
4. Task assignments can be automatically triggered and responsible parties can give task status can be updated for all team members to see.

The sooner you can get to work on a situation, the quicker you can react, take action, and save lives. MissionMode can help.

Post-Katrina Success Stories: St, Bernard Parish, LA

USA Today featured an article yesterday about the population and growth (or none growth) of the New Orleans area since Katrina hit, almost 2 years ago. The article titled, “66% are back in New Orleans, but basic services still lag” goes into detail about how the population has begun to rise, but things such as “schools, child care, and city busses,” are falling short of returning to pre Katrina status.

There is however, a little parish located north of New Orleans parish that is doing all it can to reestablish not only it’s population but also its public services. St. Bernard parish was absolutely ravaged from Katrina, something that I have seen first hand. They have been working hard though to reestablish what once was and are taking this on very successfully. In June of this year, they reinstalled InterAct software and systems in their PSAP allowing them the best technology available to work on their community. In doing this, they are showing the state and previous St. Bernard parish residents that they can come back to the area, essentially coming home.

Look out for the September issue of Emergency Number Profession magazine as St. Bernard Parish will be featured in an article written by MC Warters, project manager here at InterAct, titled “St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana: Weathering the Post-Katrina Storm.” It gives insight into St. Bernard parish pre- and post-Katrina and how they have begun to reestablish their community.