Johnson County Emergency Management Planning

2010 CEOP Mid-year Planning Team Meeting

2010-07-23T10:16:00.005-05:00

The 2010 CEOP Planning Team met on July 13, 2010 to gain a status update of the activities completed and in progress with the planning process. The team discussed improvements that have been made, and global issues needing resolution. Information was also provided regarding the FEMA Technical Assistance efforts for Special Needs, and Pets and Service Animals. The meeting ended with next steps being identified for completion of the 2010 CEOP as well as additional future work in areas such as identifying and documenting EOC tasks per ESF, creation of Memorandums of Understanding with partners and suppliers, and creating training and exercise plans in relation to the CEOP.

ESF-8 Public Health and Medical Services Annex Update

2010-07-21T10:37:00.002-05:00

On 6/9/10, the ESF-8 Coordinating Agency team met to discuss the requirements and approach for ESF-8 Public Health and Medical Services. This annex has additional complexity due to the fact that multiple county agencies have key roles. These Coordinating Agencies are Johnson County Public Health, Johnson County Med-Act, Johnson County Mental Health, and the county coroner.

The team will be meeting with a representative from the Mid-America Regional Council to review the regional work in the areas of Hospital Coordination, Mass Surge, and Mass Fatality. They will then determine next steps in the areas of Public Health, Mental Health, Emegrency Services, and Mass Fatality at the county level.

Special Needs Planning for 2010 CEOP

2010-07-13T12:52:00.011-05:00

Johnson County has been awarded a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) / Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Technical Assistance Grant for special needs planning. Through this grant, DHS/FEMA has hired an outside consulting firm with expertise in special needs planning, IEM, to provide recommendations and planning guidance to Johnson County on how to address special needs issues in disaster planning.

While special needs issues are currently addressed in various disaster planning/preparedness initiatives, many of us have acknowledged that additional work is needed to formalize a more comprehensive approach. Special Needs considerations take into account economically disadvantaged, limited language proficient, disabilities (physical, mental, cognitive, or sensory), age vulnerable (under 5 or 65), & culturally/geographically isolated.

In the next few weeks, there will be community partners, county representatives, and other stakeholders joining in workgroup sessions to define the concepts, policies, and procedures to meet the 2010 CEOP planning needs.

Household Pets and Service Animals Planning

2010-07-13T12:45:00.000-05:00

Johnson County has been awarded a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) / Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Technical Assistance Grant for planning for Household Pets and Service Animals. DHS/FEMA has hired an outside consulting firm with expertise in animal planning, IEM, to provide recommendations and planning guidance to Johnson County on how to address household pets and service animal issues in disaster planning.

While household pet and service animal issues are currently addressed in various disaster planning/preparedness initiatives, many of us have acknowledged that additional work is needed to formalize a more comprehensive approach.

In the next few weeks, there will be community partners, county representatives, and other stakeholders joining in workgroup sessions to define the concepts, policies, and procedures to meet the 2010 CEOP planning needs.

ESF-6 Plan Status Update

2010-07-13T12:29:00.000-05:00

After the June 30 review, ESF-6 has two open items to complete for annex finalization. A small work group will be meeting to discuss shelter health screening for contamination, infection, and other health areas. Secondly, "special needs" workshops will be defining additional information to add to ESF-6 as well.

Emergency Management References: Principles of Emergency Management

2010-05-07T08:30:00.001-05:00

As we discussed in our last blog, we would like to share a number of reference documents focused on emergency management and/or emergency planning. The first is titled Principles of Emergency Management.

The history of this document stems from a connection to Johnson County Ks. In 2006, Dr. B. Wayne Blanchard, while planning for an EMI meeting in March 2007, received an email from Mike Selves (former Johnson County, Ks Emergency Manager and former president of the International Association of Emergency Managers). Mike Selves shared that "the single most helpful thing EMI could do in conjunction with the academic and practitioner E.M. communities would be to revive the concept of emergency management principles."

In March of 2007, Dr. Wayne Blanchard of FEMA’s Emergency Management Higher Education Project, at the direction of Dr. Cortez Lawrence, Superintendent of FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute, convened a working group of emergency management practitioners and academics to consider principles of emergency management. This project was prompted by the realization that while numerous books, articles and papers referred to “principles of emergency management”, nowhere in the vast array of literature on the subject was there an agreed upon definition of what these principles were. The group agreed on eight principles that will be used to guide the development of a doctrine of emergency management. This monograph lists these eight principles and provides a brief description of each.

Below are some key points and a link to the full document.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
DEFINITION, VISION, MISSION, PRINCIPLES

Definition
Emergency management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters.

Vision
Emergency management seeks to promote safer, less vulnerable communities with the capacity to cope with hazards and disasters.

Mission
Emergency management protects communities by coordinating and integrating all activities necessary to build, sustain, and improve the capability to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from threatened or actual natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or other man-made disasters.

Principles
Emergency Management must be:

1. Comprehensive – emergency managers consider and take into account all hazards, all phases, all stakeholders and all impacts relevant to disasters.
2. Progressive – emergency managers anticipate future disasters and take preventive and preparatory measures to build disaster-resistant and disaster-resilient communities.
3. Risk-driven – emergency managers use sound risk management principles (hazard identification, risk analysis, and impact analysis) in assigning priorities and resources.
4. Integrated – emergency managers ensure unity of effort among all levels of government and all elements of a community.
5. Collaborative – emergency managers create and sustain broad and sincere relationships among individuals and organizations to encourage trust, advocate a team atmosphere, build consensus, and facilitate communication.
6. Coordinated – emergency managers synchronize the activities of all relevant stakeholders to achieve a common purpose.
7. Flexible – emergency managers use creative and innovative approaches in solving disaster challenges. Professional – emergency managers value a science and knowledge-based approach based on education, training, experience, ethical practice, public stewardship and continuous improvement.

For further in-depth details regarding each principle and a copy of the complete document, click here.

Emergency Management References: Conventional Beliefs and Counterintuitive Realities

2010-05-06T08:30:00.002-05:00

Today's Reading Reference reflects on the psychological actions and reactions people have when impacted from disasters and catastrophes respectfully, and how to plan accordingly. Enrico L. Quarantelli provides views regarding myths surrounding six areas of social behavioral aspects. He helps the reader understand how disaster operations plans should consider these factors when developing and acting on the plans.

Quarantelli begins by defining the different types of collective crises used for the evaluation. Some of these include natural and technological events, conflict crises (riots, acts of terrorism, etc), and emerging kinds of events (such as SARS and massive computer system disruptions). He also provides a set of characteristics for a catastrophe and the social results from the event. Basically, the myths hold true no matter what type of crises (disaster or catastrophe) occurs.

He then shares the behavioral aspects where myths were found and the observations making them myths. The six areas are: panic, antisocial behavior, passivity in emergencies, role conflict and role abandonment, sudden and widespread mental health breakdowns, and locus (or source) of problems.

This article can be found here, at the University of Delaware Library's Institutional Repository.

ESF-11 Foreign Animal Disease

2010-05-05T10:00:00.001-05:00

On April 14, representatives from Johnson County Emergency Management and Homeland Security and the Johnson County Extension Office attended a workshop discussing Foreign Animal Disease (FAD). The workshop was conducted by a team including Kansas Department of Agriculture, Kansas Animal Health Department, Kansas Highway Patrol, and Kansas Department of Transportation.

The information covered included: the threat details to consider for planning, stop movement actions, quarantine requirements, deciding diversion sites, cleaning and disinfection considerations, and euthanasia if required.

In addition, there was a meeting conducted on April 19th with a representative from Kansas Animal Health to discuss Johnson County specific considerations. The FAD information from both sessions will be included in the ESF-11 Agriculture and Natural Resources annex of our CEOP, along with aspects of care to our food and water supply, pet care during emergencies, and additional areas in this ESF.

ESF-6 Mass Care Coordinating Agency Meeting

2010-04-30T13:45:00.005-05:00

The Coordinating Agency team members, including members from the Department of Human Services, the American Red Cross, and Johnson County Emergency Management and Homeland Security met on April 22nd to discuss ESF-6 Mass Care and begin planning for the first workgroup session. Topics that will be covered in ESF-6 will be Mass Sheltering, coverage of special needs sheltering, and animal care for pets impacted by disasters. Workgroup team members will soon be receiving an email with details for the first workgroup meeting.

Emergency Management References

2010-04-05T06:37:00.000-05:00

During the 2010 update of the Johnson County Emergency Operations Plan (CEOP), we will be highlighting a number of reference documents focused on emergency management and/or emergency planning. Through this process we hope to identify key concepts, academic research, and best practices that will assist us in updating the CEOP and other emergency management initiatives. Please share with us any recommendations you have for online references that should be considered during emergency planning!

The Emergency Support Function (ESF) Structure

2010-03-30T19:42:00.006-05:00

As mentioned in the CEOP Tutorial, the most significant change from the current (2005) version of the County's Emergency Operations Plan (CEOP) to the 2010 version of the plan is that the new 2010 CEOP will be structured around Emergency Support Functions, or ESFs. While emergency operations plans can be structured in a variety of ways, the federal government and many states (including Kansas) utilize a standardized list of 15 ESFs to organize their plans and organize their work in disaster response. While the current Johnson County plan is structured by functional annexes (Debris Removal, Mass Fatality, Mental Health, etc.), the 2010 Johnson County CEOP will be structured around the ESFs for consistency and standardization purposes.

ESF Concept: While the cause, size, severity, and scope of disasters will vary, there are a number of emergency functions that will be necessary to respond to many disasters. By organizing our plans and response efforts around these common functions we are better prepared for all disasters. Not unlike the functional approach utilized in the current version of the plan, the ESF structure is predicated on the idea that there are certain functions (or sets of coordinated activities) that are common in most disasters. The Johnson County CEOP and organizational structure in the County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) will be structured around these ESFs.

ESF Annexes in the CEOP: The components of the 2010 CEOP consist of a Basic Plan, ESF Annexes, and Support Annexes. The Basic Plan provides an overview of Johnson County's approach to emergency management and disaster response. It also describes the roles and responsibilities associated with response including an overview of ESFs. Most of the content of the plan is captured in the 16 ESF Annexes, addressing the major functional areas required to respond to disasters. Each ESF Annex accomplishes two main objectives:

Describes the scope of the ESF and the associated roles, responsibilities, and coordination necessary to meet the needs generated by disaster.
Describes the mission, membership, and key operational concepts of the ESF team in County EOC (when activated).

ESF Team in the EOC: The Johnson County EOC will be structured around ESFs. When activated in the County EOC, each ESF group is responsible for orchestrating the County's support within their respective function. The ESF group in the EOC can be described as an alliance of stakeholders who have common interests and/or share various levels of responsibility in the ESF. These ESF members will work together within their networks and statutory and regulatory authorities to ensure a coordinated and effective response to disasters. Each of the ESF Annexes in the CEOP will identify the organizations responsible for providing staffing for their ESF and the County EOC Manual will identify the specific tasks for each group.

ESF Coordinating Agency: Each ESF has a County department or agency identified as an ESF Coordinator. Organizations identified as Coordinating Agencies are responsible for coordinating the countywide planning, preparedness, and response efforts required to ensure the functions required of their ESF are performed successfully.

Preparedness: In preparedness, Coordinating Agencies are responsible for developing and maintaining the overall content of their ESF in the CEOP. During the planning process, they provide leadership during ESF workgroup meetings and work to build consensus among stakeholders. Coordinating Agencies also work with JCEMHS and other organizations to ensure necessary supplements to the ESF annex are developed and maintained, including but not limited to: emergency contact lists, resource lists, organizational/functional plans and/or procedures, EOC job aids (specific to their ESF), and regional plans.
Response: During disaster response the ESF Coordinating Agency will be responsible for orchestrating the county's support within their respective function and serve as the coordinating link between Johnson County and other operational units.

ESF Support Agencies: There are a number of ESF Support Agencies identified for each ESF. These are organizations whose expertise, resources, and/or statutory responsibility or authority make them invaluable partners in preparedness and response.

Preparedness: In preparedness, the Support Agencies work with the ESF Coordinating Agency and other Support Agencies to address countywide planning and capability development associated with the ESF.
Response: During a disaster response, Support Agencies may be called on to provide assistance as an organization and/or may be asked to respond to the County EOC as an ESF representative. As an ESF representative, Support Agencies will work with the Coordinating Agency to fulfill the mission of the ESF.

CEOP Resource Center Update

2010-03-22T09:00:00.001-05:00

On JCEMHS Blog dated Monday, February 8, 2010, we discussed the CEOP Resource Center, developed to provide a one-stop-shop for those involved with or interested in the 2010 Update of the CEOP. We want to remind you of this great resource and let you know that we are continuing to keep the information evergreen as progress is made. As you will notice, the “Status and Process” page is being updated with the latest meeting dates as they are scheduled. In addition, a new link has been added to each ESF page in the “Workgroup Documents” section called “Workgroup Member Survey”. This link will allow anyone to provide feedback to the coordinating agency regarding different areas of consideration to the CEOP. Lastly, there is a page called “Additional 2010 Update Documents”. There you will find many helpful reference materials to help you. Please save this CEOP Resource Center link to your favorites and reference it for the latest information. http://www.jococeop.org/

Citizen Participation for CEOP

2010-03-19T09:00:00.001-05:00

On February 23rd, 2010, the first of four Citizen Participation forums, for the 2010 County Emergency Operations Plan (CEOP) input, was held at Johnson County Emergency Management and Homeland Security. An overview of Johnson County Emergency Management and Homeland Security agency goals and the CEOP development process were shared. There are three additional citizen forums planned for May 25th, 2010, August 24th, 2010, and November 30th, 2010. Citizens are encouraged to join us at Johnson County Emergency Management and Homeland Security, 111 S. Cherry Suite 100 Olathe, KS., by signing up online here or by contacting Deb Maney at 913-715-1014. In addition, the agency is offering an additional option to join the forums using an online internet meeting option called “GoToMeeting”. If you are interested in doing this please indicate this when registering online.

CEOP ESF-4 & ESF-9 Update

2010-03-18T12:49:00.002-05:00

Over the course of the last month, the Operations Chiefs Subcommittee of the Johnson County Fire and Emergency Chiefs Association (JCFECA) has been working on the development of the ESF-4 Firefighting and ESF-9 Search and Rescue sections of the 2010 Johnson County Emergency Operations Plan (CEOP). A special workgroup from the Operations Chiefs was formed to work on the update and has met three times over the past month to help develop the drafts. Last week, the full Operations Chief’s Subcommittee reviewed and approved the current drafts to be sent on to the JCFECA for their review. The JCFECA will be discussing the drafts at their meeting later this month. If approved, the documents will be considered final drafts and posted. Special thanks goes out to Med-Act’s Mark Terry for coordinating the development of these ESFs and to the fire department representatives who worked diligently over the past month on this important initiative!

New Emergency Management Planner - Deb Maney

2010-03-18T08:55:00.000-05:00

Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security would like to welcome Deb Maney to the team, as the department’s new Emergency Management Planner. Deb comes to Johnson County from the private sector with a strong background in project management, emergency planning, and disaster response. She has also been a volunteer in our office since last year, assisting with the 2010 CEOP update. In her new role as the department’s Emergency Management Planner, Deb will be responsible for supporting various countywide emergency planning efforts including the 2010 update of the County Emergency Operations Plan. Welcome, Deb!

CEOP Tutorial

2010-02-10T08:12:00.002-06:00

JCEMHS has just released a new online CEOP tutorial for those involved with or interested in the 2010 CEOP Update. The tutorial provides an introduction to the CEOP as well as an overview of the 2010 update process and additional information on how to participate. The tutorial can be found at www.jocoem.org/planning/ceoptutorial.shtml.

CEOP Resource Center

2010-02-08T08:21:00.001-06:00

JCEMHS has just released the CEOP Resource Center, developed to provide a one-stop-shop for those involved with or interested in the 2010 Update of the CEOP. All of the information and documentation regarding the update process can be found at the CEOP Resource Center, located at www.jococeop.org. The site provides information on the current status of each ESF, planning reference documents, and eventually the working drafts of the ESF annexes.

Response Organizations

2010-01-21T16:26:00.001-06:00

Over the course of the next year, JCEMHS will be coordinating the update of the County Emergency Operations Plan (CEOP). To do this, JCEMHS will be developing 16 multi-disciplinary/jurisdictional planning workgroups to address each of the Emergency Support Functions (ESFs).

While some subject matter experts from the response community will recieve personal invitations to participate in ESF Workgroups, Johnson County wants to ensure other official representatives from the response community have an opportunity to participate in the process.
There is an open invitation to any agency head from the Johnson County response community (or their appointed designee) to participate in any ESF workgroup they see value participating in.

To receive notifications for planning workgroup meetings, agency heads of Johnson County response organizations (or their appointed designees) should please fill out the form found here, to indicate the planning workgroup(s) they are interested in participating in.

Citizen Participation

2010-01-20T15:23:00.000-06:00

JCEMHS believes that, to be effective, emergency response planning must be directly linked to the risks and needs of the community it serves. While a great deal of data collection and analysis has taken place to better understand the risks and needs of Johnson County, additional work is needed to ensure our community-wide disaster planning is as accurate and comprehensive as it needs to be. As such, JCEMHS would like to encourage Johnson County citizens to become involved with the planning process. To help facilitate this, JCEMHS has developed the following ways for the public to become more involved in emergency planning.

Public CEOP Planning Meetings: JCEMHS will be holding public CEOP planning meetings every three months until the plan is promulgated. Each meeting will consist of an overview of the current status of the planning update process, a review of any significant changes to the CEOP, and an open discussion regarding any emergency planning issues participants would like to discuss. Please RSVP for the meetings here.
Planning Blog: This blog will highlight planning status reports, working drafts of the CEOP, and provide a forum to discuss elements of the plan. You can also sign up to receive emails each time a new post is added to the blog.

Open Invitation for Feedback: While JCEMHS is always interested in hearing from and working with the community in emergency planning, we are particularly interested in getting a chance to hear your thoughts during the 2009 update of the CEOP. Please feel free to contact the planning department staff at anytime with questions, comments, or suggestions. Contact Chris Brantley, Emergency Management Planner (and CEOP update coordinator) at 913-715-1014 or cbrantley@jocogov.org or Dan Robeson, Assistant Director, Planning, at 913-715-1013 or drobeson@jocogov.org.

The 2010 Update of the CEOP

2010-01-19T16:19:00.000-06:00

Johnson County's Emergency Operations Plan (CEOP) is going to go through an intensive update during 2010. The CEOP defines the policies, coordination, and roles and responsibilities required to meet the needs generated by a disaster in Johnson County. It also describes the concepts of operations and emergency processes needed to successfully manage such an event.

While the County's plan is reviewed annually, an intensive update of the plan is performed every four to five years. The last comprehensive update of the plan was performed in 2005 and the current update is rolling out at the begining of 2010. While Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security coordinates the development and maintenance of the the all-hazard emergency operations plan for the County (KSA 48-92 and JC Resolution 64-95 & 23-03), the plan is the product of the combined effort of hundreds of stakeholders that participate in the planning process. To ensure that that the County's plan is as accurate and comprehensive as possible, the 2005 update of the plan involved the development of 17 functional workgroups, each addressing a specific annex of the plan. The membership of these workgroups totaled over 100 representatives from various disciplines and professions representing the private, public, and non-profit sectors and the city, county, regional, state, and federal levels. An even broader process will be used for the 2010 update of the plan.

Find additional information at www.jocoem.org/planning/ceop.shtml.

New JCEMHS Planning Blog

2010-01-18T16:03:00.000-06:00

Following in the footsteps of our ever popular Johnson County - A Community Prepared Blog, we have created a new blog that will capture the activities of Johnson County Emergency Management & Homeland Security's (JCEMHS) planning activities.

This blog will be utilized heavily during the next year to share information on the progress of the Johnson County Emergency Operations Plan (CEOP) update. The blog postings will include planning status reports, working drafts of the CEOP, and will provide a forum to discuss elements of the plan.

You can sign up to receive blog postings via email by entering your email address in the "Subscribe via email" box on the right side of the blog's main page.