Bridge MeetingOkemah, OK

4-13-09

Meeting 1: Okemah Emergency Management Personnel 3/13/09 Personnel from health

department, EMS, city and county emergency management, Creek Nation, Creoks, churches

Meeting 2: Boley citizens 3/24/09 Expressing their opinions on past

emergencies and sharing their experiences

Both groups answered same list of questions

Recent Experiences with Natural Disasters How well community responded / preparation

level Least prepared for disasters Assistance available

Existing Resources Local organizations involved in helping

community prepare Other organizations who could be involved

Assessing the EPD Project Are the steps reasonable / appropriate? Value of “community coach” Is the vulnerability assessment process useful?

Session 1: Some Areas of Agreement

Session 2: Some Areas of Differences

Session 3: Opinions on the EPD Project Responses / comments from first two

meetings will be shown, then break into discussion groups for more in-depth

conversation

Issues / topics that were consistent in both meetings

Ice Storms (Winter 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2001)

Fires (Nov 2006, Spring 2007) Droughts / Fires Floods Tornadoes

Most Common Loss of electricity Fences / hay / livestock lost in fires

Less Frequent Trees lost Paden gymnasium collapsed Street / road damage Weleetka businesses lost

Elderly Lack of planning Lack of mobility Poor communication

Those with small children Lack of mobility

Mostly Yes But, sources of information used

were varied (next section) Acknowledged strength of

community Personal contacts

Need for improved outside communication noted

Some disagreement about which ones are currently involved (next section)

Those who could help: Ministerial alliance Local businesses Fire dept auxiliaries

Issues / topics where there were inconsistencies between groups

Some thought the community responded quite well Well-trained combination of entire community People know their roles

Some felt the community did not respond well Lack of a plan / lack of generators / equipment

Some were very aware of Emergency Operations Management (EOM) plans, others were not

Some knew immediately who to call / where to go, for others the information was not obvious

Some were very aware of Emergency Operations Management (EOM) plans, others were not

Some saw the plan as a success for obtaining / staging resources, others knew little about the plan

Most agreed that educating the public about these plans is problematic

Some indicated that most of their information came from TV – which had very little coverage for their specific community

Weather radios were also used

Others mentioned contact from the emergency management team within Okfuskee county

Local contacts also seen as very important

Some saw very few local organizations that were involved Red Cross Fire Department Police

Others saw a lot more Health Dept Department of Human Services Schools Hospitals State Gov’t Salvation Army

Some listed large organizations DHS Health Department Schools

Others listed local individuals or organizations Volunteer Fire Department Local leaders Church members

Feedback on the steps involved and the community coach

Most were fairly optimistic Felt it represented a good starting point Having an organized plan would help keep

people from panicking Very inclusive Good to look at areas that are at risk Useful for future planning Involvement of new people is useful, but

challenging Helps agencies who think about “what if” to be

better prepared Will encourage participation from larger

community groups

But some had a few problems with it Getting community involvement will be

difficult Having enough volunteers to develop and

implement the plan would be challenging Would require some technical expertise to

implement Education needed before process even begins

(particularly for surrounding communities to learn about each other)

How does it get updated? Need for person-to-person recruitment will be

time consuming

Most generally thought it was a good idea Must be someone from outside the community,

with experience Would be necessary to have this person Good for motivation, and experience from other

sites

But there were a few problems noted Community coach can’t do it all Difficult for the coach to relate to community Trust is an issue Can’t have an overbearing personality How would they be funded?!