Dec 13, 2018
Continuing with our speaker series from the Continuity & Resilience Today conference in Toronto (May 2018), we speak with Emergency Management subject matter expert and registered nurse, Dee Grimm who will talk about the Lessons Learned from Hurricane Harvey (August 2017). Harvey presented unique challenges as it created unprecedented numbers of evacuees and those left homeless. Even today there are over 30,000 displaced persons in shelters and hotels throughout the state. Additionally, the medical challenges of closed or evacuating healthcare facilities, the loss of community health support systems and home health services for these displaced individuals all had to be planned for. Dee with talk about how the State managed the sheltering and medical responses and about the “boots on the ground”. Valuable lessons learned will be discussed and Dee will provide insight into best practices for providing mass care sheltering and medical support during catastrophic events.
Preparing for the Unexpected is about how people, organizations and communities plan, prepare, test, communicate and respond to sudden unplanned events such as natural and manmade disasters and crises. The show is for everyone who wants an understanding of how plans are created for individuals, organizations and communities and for anyone who wants to know what they can do in their own lives to help protect themselves from unexpected events. There is a myth that disasters happen to others but in reality, they happen to everyone. It's just a matter of when and how well-prepared you are. The greater the level of awareness, communication and knowledge, the quicker one bounces back from adversity. The overall aim of Preparing for the Unexpected is to reduce the suffering, effects and impacts caused as a result of disasters and unexpected life events by increasing knowledge and awareness of Operational Resilience, Business Contingency, Disaster Planning, Crisis Management, and related activities.