3RD QUARTER 2015
ELMA / WEST SENECA SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 2006
ELMA Edward R. Sauer Emergency Manager (716) 652-7635 oem@elmanewyork.com
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BEING PREPARED FOR AN EMERGENCY BEGINS WITH “HELLO”
MEETINGS - 7:00 PM 2nd Wednesday of Month Training and meetings are at the Elma Senior Center unless noted. Elma Senior Center 3007 Bowen Road Elma, NY 14059
by Amy Thompson
Regardless of the type of emerWeb: gency you may face or where www.elmacert.org you live, it’s important to know your neighbors. Facebook: You’ve just moved into your Elma Community Emergency home whether it’s an apartment, Response Team, Inc. town house or house one of the first things to do should be to WEST SENECA meet your neighbors. John Gullo Why? Because your neighbors Emergency Manager could be the difference in an (716) 558-3238 emergency and are usually the jgullo@twsny.org first ones on the scene if there is MEETINGS - 7:00 PM a disaster in your neighborhood. 3rd Monday of the month Neighborly relations have deTraining and meetings are at the clined in the U.S. since the West Seneca School’s Ebenezer 1950s. Not knowing your neighBuilding bor hood and having a lack of local ties is bad for crime and a W. S. School Ebenezer Bldg. 900 Mill Road community’s ability to organize. Besides someday you may need West Seneca, NY 14224 Watch website and Facebook for help or a cup of sugar or milk. training and meeting locations. Many of us know none of our neighbors’ names, it’s particuWeb: larly pervasive among younger www.wscert.net and lower-income people acFacebook: cording to a 2010 study. West Seneca Cert “The biggest barrier is just a perception that we should not be involved,” said Keith Hampton,
associate professor of communications at Rutgers University. “We fear having people intrude in our lives, but we also have to recognize ... (the) risk in not knowing the people around you.” With this it is important to respect boundaries. Introducing yourself if you’re new to the neighborhood, or welcoming a neighbor who has just moved in, is a good way to establish contact. Attending local social events is a great way to meet people. Check Town Calendars and Websites for upcoming events. Once you meet your neighbors and get to know them discuss a Neighborhood plan for emergencies. With the November storm last year while taking calls at an Emergency Operations Center we encouraged callers to check on their neighbors. I was surprised to frequently hear “I don’t know them”. If a disaster happens again and you have put together a neighbor hood plan you will know who should be checked on first,
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if they are elderly or have medical problems or just might need some company to help get them through. Neighborhood maps and contact lists can help if any situation arises. Here are some ways to start connecting with your neighbors. Sometimes it’s obvious what we can do and other times it’s not. We don’t have to make big gestures - small things can make a difference too. It might take a bit of confidence but it gets easier. Here are some ideas of ways to connect: If you regularly pass someone in your street start by smiling and saying hello. Find an opportunity to introduce yourself. Tell them a little about you and what you enjoy about the area - then ask them what they like too. You could even invite them over for a drink or chat. • If someone new moves in close by make them feel welcome. Take the opportunity to introduce yourself and offer to help with any questions about the local area. For example you could offer advice on where town hall is, youth recreational opportunities etc. • If you’re new to an area, be sure to go round and introduce yourself to your neighbors. Tell them what brought you to the area and find out a bit about them and their lives. But respect boundaries too. • Look out for ways you can help your neighbors and don’t be afraid to ask if you need support too. Giving support and receiving it from others often improves happiness and well-being and sense of belonging. • Look out for opportunities to connect with people in your Local Community - for example a local event or festival or Community Service Club Meetings
Elma CERT toured the Mercy Flight facility during their July meeting.
MULTIPLE AWARENESSES
by John Gullo
Today we speak of situational awareness which is to help first responders see the bad things coming in time to change the outcome. Consistent with that mission, I try to help responders understand how various aspects of the job - from training, to human factors, to command competence and everything in between – can influence situational awareness in high-stress, high-consequence decision making environments. Each dimension of situational awareness requires you to capture clues and cues, comprehend those clues and cues into meaning and to predict future events. Let’s explore the three dimensions of your situational awareness.
PERSONAL SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
This is your awareness of yourself, your abilities, inabilities, knowledge, skill set, fitness, stamina, fears and phobias. This SA is the comprehensive assessment of you, conducted by you. Technically, and I suppose literally, no one should know you any better. This should make you uniquely qualified to conduct an accurate assessment of what you are able to do. But there are a few things that can get in the way, namely, biases, assumptions and perceptions. As you assess yourself you have certain perceptions about yourself and your abilities. I have seen many firefighters (myself being among them) who have inflated their perception of their physical abilities in spite of their age and declining physical conditioning. The mind can get stuck on the perception of the 21 year old, physically fit specimen that you once were. Unfortunately, time has a way of eroding the physical abilities but the mind can cling to the mental perception of stamina that has long since departed. Some responders tend to be exceptionally generous in their self assessments, thinking they know more than they can actually recall, thinking they can perform better than they actually can perform, and believing there is no incident that can beat them. These individuals have a flawed personal situational awareness and this can be dangerous for themselves and others operating at the incident. Personal situational awareness also includes an awareness of the individual’s role to be performed at an incident scene. It is one’s as-
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sessment of their familiarity with tools and equipment, ability to assess changing environmental factors, and the ability to remain calm and task-focused in a dynamic environment. In summary, it means knowing yourself realistically, demons and all.
TEAM SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
This dimension of situational awareness involves your assessment of your team, or company. The components of this assessment are the same only you’re evaluating fellow team members – their abilities, inabilities, knowledge, skill set, fitness, stamina, fears and phobias. You’ve heard it said that a team is only as strong as its weakest link. Team situational awareness ensures you understand, in advance, the strengths and weaknesses of team members before engaging in high-risk, high-consequence tasks. It stands to reason that the better you know team members the better you will be at developing situational awareness of the team. It’s hard to assess someone you don’t know very well. What do you base your assessment on? Assumptions perhaps. That can be OK so long as the assumptions are accurate. Making assumptions of team members abilities can result in bad outcomes. This goes for both assuming their abilities are better or worse than they actually are. The only way to really know your team is to get to know your team. This requires an investment of time and it starts with communications. With time the communication develops a relationship and the relationship builds trust. Once you trust someone, you can confidently put your life in their hands. Team situational awareness also means understanding the role the team is supposed to play at the incident. It involves capturing clues and cues of the team’s role and environment, processing those clues and cues into meaning and making an accurate prediction of the outcome of the team’s performance. What will success look like when the team accomplishes the task? How long should it take for the team to accomplish the task? Does the team have any weak links that will require an adjustment?
INCIDENT SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
The final dimension of situational awareness is for the overall incident. This ties all three together. You assess yourself and your knowledge, skills and abilities (fairly, both good and bad) and form personal situational awareness about
the job you have to do. Then you assess your team’s knowledge skills and abilities (again, both good and bad) and form team situational awareness about the job the team has to do. Finally, you form an awareness of the overall incident. What is the strategy? What is the role of your team in accomplishing the overall strategy? What is the knowledge, skills and abilities of other teams and commanders? It is very important to develop incident situational awareness because no individual or team operates in a vacuum. Everyone’s role is part of a bigger strategy and awareness of everyone’s role helps improve personal and team safety. On occasion I have seen, heard and read about incidents where individuals and teams operate independently. Almost as though they have blinders on, they perform their tasks with little concern or awareness of the overall incident’s coordination. While it is command’s role to coordinate the overall incident, it is every responder’s role to develop and maintain personal, team and incident situational awareness.
NARCAN TRAINING
The Elma CERT hosted NARCAN Training at the Elma Senior Center in June at the Elma Senior Center A Training by Erie County was held in July in West Seneca at Vigilant Fire Hall. Both Trainings were well attended
ELMA CERT AT CAR SHOW Elma CERT group had an informational booth at the Annual Car show at Elma Town park. The team held a raffle for a Go Bag. Debbie, Shanon Cindy with Winner are shown right.
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WATER OUTAGES
by Pat Jakubowski
Although towns do our best to keep our system in top notch shape, things happen beyond their control and they do have water outages in the from time to time. They work diligently to keep the times as short as possible but we do need the community to be prepared if for some reason we have to shut off the water. We never know when or if a long term incident could occur, so your preparedness is necessary. 1. Report a water emergency, such as a suspected water main break or water outage, call your water department. If after hours, weekend, or holiday, call 911. • You see water coming up from the ground or roadway • No water or sudden no water pressure 2. Make up an emergency plan for your home or business, specific to your needs whether health related or if you have pets or animals. • If on dialysis or have any other water depended health issue, please let the water department know in advance, so they can help address any issues that may come. • Have at least 1 gallon of water per person available at all times. Keeping at least a three day supply but ideally enough to meet your needs for two weeks. Also add any water needed for your animals and pets. • Have a large clean food grade receptacle to be able to fill with water if there is a need to get water elsewhere 3. Once water is restored it may be cloudy or discolored • Cloudy water is air that is in the water mains. It is a good idea to run the first water after an outage through an outside faucet. The other faucets can be opened slowly to allow the air to escape. Air will make a spurting or hissing sound as it escapes. Once water is flowing again allow the faucet to run a minute or two. • Natural minerals in water tend to be riled up when they reverse the flow of water which can often occur during a break or construction. This is not dirt in the lines. It is safe to drink, bathe in etc. It is recommend not doing white or light colored laundry during these times. • The minerals usually take a day or two to settle. If you still have milky or discolored water after a few days, call your water department so we can attempt to alleviate the problem.
ELMA
Sign up for Code Red to be notified of emergency situations or critical community alerts.
Sign up for Elma Code Red : www.elmanewyork.com
WEST SENECA
www.westseneca.net, wscert. net and facebook page
UPCOMING TRAINING & EVENTS CALENDAR August 4 National Night Out
Elma - Elma Town Park
West Seneca - Southgate
12 Elma CERT meeting 28 EMPact Hunter Safety September 9 Elma CERT Meeting 15 CERT Training 16 SMART - EOC Overview 19 SMART - EOC Overview 20 West Seneca CERT Meeting 22 SMART New Members
HAM Radio Class TBA
October 10 Elma CERT meeting 15 West Seneca CERT meeting 17 SMART - ICS 200
CPR Class TBA
Check the West Seneca CERT and Elma CERT, Inc. websites for updates and upcoming events. Anyone interested in training provided by SMART must pre-register at: www2.erie.gov/smart. Some trainings may have prerequisites. * Restricted Enrollment