TO: ALL ARES OPERATORS IN DISTRICT 3 (OFFICIAL)
ALL AMATEURS IN WEST VIRGINIA (INFORMATION)
FROM: WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INCORPORATED AND WOOD
COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO EMERGENCY SERVICES (ARES)
ARES DISTRICT 3 BULLETIN NR 07.32 DATE: August 12, 2007
SUBJECT: HALF MARATHON, FINAL TOUCH UP
September has been identified as National Preparedness Month. Each week the Department of Homeland Security is promoting a specific area of Preparedness. This week is: Back To School Preparedness.
Whether your child is going to a public or private school this year, at any level; kindergarten, grade school, middle school, high school, or college, you can know these institutions have a disaster preparedness plan. The plan may be in various stages of development or being re-evaluated, but it is in effect. Each school practices these plans, and educates their staff multiple times each year.
A parent's responsibility is to know how and where to get the information to find out where to pick up your child.
An often overlooked valuable tool for the school's administration is to fill out completely the Medical Information Card sent home with your child in the first few days of the beginning of the school year. As a Paramedic, I have often responded to a school for an injured or sick child, and the school did not have the complete medical information on the card that was returned back from the parent. At the hospital that information can be critical to that child.
On several occasions as well, the parent was not as home, and did not provide a secondary number for the school to call about the child, so the school was not able to let the parent know about the child going to the hospital until they came looking for the child after school. You should provide several numbers for the school to try to contact Neighbors, Friends, Relatives, all would be a way to get information to you about the most valuable and precious thing in your life.
Information Sharing is the key here. Giving information about your child and your contact numbers to the school, and getting from the school, their information on discharge of students in a disaster, is the best disaster planning one can do.
Bulletin by Don Williams, N8NUS, WV Citizens Corps program Developer, WV Homeland Security Region 1)
Ken Harris WA8LLM
Wood County WV
WV ARES Assistant Section Coordinator
WV ARES District 3 Emergency Coordinator