A Message from the SUASI General Manager
by Richard Shortall
The Mission of the Bay Area SUASI is to increase the capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from terrorist incidents or related catastrophic events by providing planning, training, equipment and exercises for the entire 10-county Bay Area SUASI region. The October wildfires in Southern California and the oil spill in the San Francisco Bay serve as a poignant reminder of the importance of our mission.
The San Diego fires alone destroyed over 3,100 structures, caused at least seven fatalities and many more casualties, and forced hundreds of thousands to be evacuated. The projects funded by the Bay Area SUASI program are designed to improve disaster-related capabilities for disasters such as these. Read more about what the Bay Area SUASI Program is doing to plan for major disasters in this month’s feature article. Many organizations and individuals from the Bay Area assisted with the evacuation and care during the fires.
This month's Spotlight on Initiative focuses on a California Medical Assistance Team (Cal-MAT), which was one of the many locally-based organizations to respond to the recent fires. The team's experiences at the Del Mar Race Track and other areas of San Diego were related to The Dispatch by team member Richard Brown, who served as an EMT with Cal-MAT during the relief operation. Richard is a Bay Area SUASI Regional Planner in Contra Costa County.
I am also pleased to announce the appointment of William Bass as the Project Manager for the Citizen Preparedness and Mass Care & Shelter Initiatives, and invite you to read a description in this issue of his new responsibilities and relevant past experience.
We recently received news that the 2006 grant-year funds have been extended to June 2009. Many of these projects are well under way, and we will be reviewing each one, on a case by case basis, to determine whether timeline extensions are warranted. After that assessment, we will amend contracts and Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), as necessary. Our goal remains to conclude all of our 2006-funded projects by March 2008. Please see this month’s Project Updates for recent milestones on each project.
As we enter into a season of thankfulness, I would like to extend my gratitude to the many individuals who have helped us bring our important work forward. I also would like to take a moment to remember the victims of the recent firestorms in Southern California. Let us keep them in our thoughts throughout the holiday season.
Wishing you and your families a safe and peaceful Thanksgiving.
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Recent Disasters Highlight Challenges For SUASI
Recent events, including the fires in Southern California and the oil spill into the San Francisco Bay, remind us of the importance of our work. Bay Area SUASI initiatives are preparing our region to tackle many of the same challenges that these events highlight.
As we have seen time and time again, regional collaboration in the event of a disaster is central to an effective response. Enhancing regional capability through regional collaboration is a basic tenant of our program. Through our Regional Planning Initiative, we have established a management team and 11 regional planners that work to inform and involve each of the 10 SUASI counties and the Coastal Region of the California Office of Emergency Services. In fact, the working relationships that have been developed and enhanced through the work of the management team and regional planners, and the resulting increased level of participation and interaction in the workgroups, will continue to serve us well at those times when we need to operate in concert to address a regional-scale disaster.
To read more about the challenges the Bay Area SUASI is addressing, click on the full story link below.
[FULL STORY]
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Spotlight on Initiative
Cal-MAT Addresses Medical Needs During Fires
The Mission:
At midnight on Tuesday, October 23, Richard Brown, a certified Emergency Medical Technical (EMT), received an automated message from Cal-MAT (California Medical Assistance Team). Cal-MAT, which is operated by the state’s Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA), was established this year by Governor Schwarzenegger to provide rapid emergency response throughout the state. Cal-MAT teams are expected to deploy to a disaster site within the first 24 hours after the declaration of an emergency.
In the case of the recent Southern California fires, which represented the inaugural mission for Cal-MAT, the Governor’s objective was met. By 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning, 43 members of the Cal-MAT team, sponsored by the Contra Costa County Department of Health Services and composed of Bay Area doctors, nurses and EMTs, had mobilized at the Cal-MAT staging area in Menlo Park.
To read more about the response to the San Diego fires, click on the full story link below.
[FULL STORY]
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William Bass Joins SUASI Management Team
The Bay Area SUASI is pleased to announce the appointment of William Bass as the Project Manager of the Mass Care and Shelter Initiative as well as Citizen Preparedness Initiatives. In this capacity, William will oversee the work of a contractor developing a Shelter Toolkit on behalf of the Mass Care and Shelter Workgroup. He also will manage and oversee the many works-in-progress related to Citizen Preparedness, including the assessment of citizen preparedness training, regional citizen preparedness initiatives and competitive awards for a wide range of projects throughout the Bay Area.
To read more about the newest member of the Bay Area SUASI Management Team, click on the full story link below.
[FULL STORY]
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Bay Area SUASI Project Updates
In the first issue of the Dispatch, we provided an overview of the 2006 grant-funded Bay Area SUASI projects that are nearing completion. You now can access the project overviews on our new public web pages. In the full story, click on the name of the project to go to an Overview page for that project on BayAreaSUASI.org.
Provided in this article is an update on many of the projects, highlighting major milestones or activities accomplished over the past month. We hope that these updates will help keep project participants and other interested parties informed of our progress on these important projects.
Click the full story link to read updates about each of the Bay Area SUASI projects.
[FULL STORY]
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