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I tried to give a presentation to Governor Deal's Chief of Staff, Bart Gobeil, and I gave him a copy of the presentation and a copy of my report.
Here is the Presentation I gave to Bart Gobeil
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1QdRawkh6PBBu28liEC8q25tr6ZdZ_PO87AT3Za-_RQk/edit?usp=sharing
Here is the Report to the Severe Weather TaskForce in which I worked with many members of EMAs throughout Georgia, Health Depts throughout Georgia, personnel from GEMA, personnel from FEMA, personnel from Georgia Tech, people who work for the American Red Cross and other Voluntary agencies (VOADS), people from various charities and foundations who help those with Functional Needs in Emergencies, etc. Together we listed many projects needed in order to improve Emergency Response and I even gave a detailed breakdown of one project which I felt was the highest priority project at the time:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6cDJKzfqVJUcENOaFgyMEE5YWs/edit?usp=sharing
Bart Gobeil was clearly far too busy to pay attention to what I had to stay. He stopped me halfway through my presentation and told me that they had already changed the way they handle social media - that "GEMA tweets are now much more user friendly" - and he clearly felt that that meant he no longer needed to listen to my presentation.
He also seemed annoyed that I had costed out in detail one of the projects because I am not an "approved vendor" and "would have to go through the Procurement process for a project like that" - I did not get a chance to tell him I had anticipated working full time for GEMA (along with my team) while we implemented the project, he clearly wanted me out of his office asap.
So after that I started trying to work on these projects in other ways. I have spoken to various groups about different ways of implementing some of the things needed:
- The Weather Channel have taken on board a lot of my findings and will use them to help them to help people better in future disasters/emergencies
- Nextdoor.com have started to implement selective neighborhood alerting and cross-neighborhood groups in order to support people locally in emergencies/disasters http://vimeo.com/96643490
- I have spoken with EMAs all over Georgia, many Electric Utility companies, people in Health Departments and various Voluntary organizations and Foundations/Charities about ways in which Emergency Mgt / Response can be improved.
- I have personally taken the CERT course and various FEMA certifications as well as the Storm Spotter course and various Red Cross courses, and am working hard to get the word out about these courses. I truly believe that EVERY person who lives in the US should do CERT and I am trying to spread the word about that.
- I have worked with Laura George and various organizations including GEMINI (Georgia Emergency Management Interpreting Intitiative) to try to raise awareness of the areas in which we are severely lacking in terms of looking after those with Functional Needs during disasters (including deaf, blind, paraplegic, wheelchair-bound, even those who are pregnant or just out of hospital after surgery).
- I will not stop. I have created a team of experts and a Facebook group where we can discuss projects and initiatives https://www.facebook.com/groups/disasterreliefatlanta
PLEASE JOIN US if you feel you have some expertise to offer to help raise awareness or to help get these projects done!
[email protected] or https://www.facebook.com/msollicito
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