EM Weekly Podcast

Local officials blame at least 38 deaths and many more injuries on the storm, which has inundated parts of the Houston area with more than three feet of rain. In some places, totals surpassed 50 inches, setting a record for the continental United States. And, in Harris County, which includes Houston, up to 30 percent of the land had flooded, according to Jeffrey Lindner, a meteorologist for the Harris County Flood Control District. While the storm began to release Houston from its grip on Wednesday, it continued to wreak havoc east of the city: “Our whole city is underwater,” Derrick Freeman, the mayor of Port Arthur, Texas, said on Facebook early Wednesday.   http://www.weather.gov/stormready/ http://www.weather.gov/ https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/tropical-storm-harvey-forecast-texas-louisiana-arkansas

William R. Forstchen holds a Ph.D. in History from Purdue University with a specialization in military history. He is the author of over forty books, several of which have been New York Times best sellers. His groundbreaking novel, One Second After, published in 2009, is credited by many with being integral to the start of the “prepper movement” by raising national awareness of the potential threat of an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) strike. He, along with other experts on terrorism and the military situation in the Middle East, also firmly believes that it is time America took serious note of the threats leveled by ISIS: that we are their next target and that it is not a question of if. It is now a question of when.  Links http://www.onesecondafter.com http://www.newsmax.com/PeterPry/emp-nuclear-pyongyang/2017/05/04/id/788094/ http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/expert-north-koreas-h-bomb-is-super-emp-weapon/article/2579715

Body  Donna Boston is the Director of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Emergency Management Division.  Ms. Boston’s career in Emergency Management spans 20 years. She has worked with local government at the City level and currently works with the Orange County Sherriff’s Department, Emergency Management Division.  Orange County’s population exceeds 3 million people with wide ranging diversity. Ms. Boston’s career experience includes managing municipal Emergency Management Plans, managing public relations programs, Emergency Operations Centers during active emergency response, directing emergency exercises, managing grants, coordinating community training programs, presenting training programs, serving on strategic planning work groups, and representing local government through the Nuclear Community Engagement Panel related to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.  In her current position, Ms. Boston has managed the recovery for more than 8 federally declared disasters, and has worked through the cascading consequences of large scale emergencies, ranging from floods, landslides, communications outages to major wildland fires and earthquakes.  Ms. Boston is charged with managing Orange County’s Emergency Management Program, including County preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.    Ms. Boston has guided strategic planning in areas such as emergency planning for people with disabilities, access and functional needs; the use of technology during disasters; and the collaborative development of emergency plans with local government, private enterprise, non-profit and the faith community.  She works daily to provide leadership to the County, Region, and State in developing areas of emergency management.  Ms. Boston is known as an effective communicator who has presented to high level elected and appointed officials.    Ms. Boston’s educational background is built on a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis and a Graduate Degree in Public Policy and Administration (MPA) from the California State University, Long Beach.  In the past 20 years, she has attended an extensive amount of training on a variety of subjects related to emergency management.  Ms. Boston is also a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) through the International Association of Emergency Management, served as the 2003 President of the Orange County Emergency Management Organization, and is a past Board Member of the Southern California Emergency Services Association.  Ms. Boston is also a past member of the Board of Directors for the Orange County Chapter of the American Red Cross and has been appointed to the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Community Engagement Panel.  In 2016, Ms. Boston was appointed to the National Advisory Council for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to serve for a three year term. Links linkedin.com/in/donna-boston-71930311 [email protected]

Named 2016's‘Continuity & Resilience Consultant of the Year - North America' by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) Board member, New York Says Thank You Foundation Global Ambassador, Stars of HOPE USA Leadership Team member, RES/CON New Orleans Board member, Safe America Foundation Content Advisory Board member, Safeopedia Faculty member, Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC)   Suzanne is a certified, award-winning and internationally-recognized crisis management consultant, speaker and author, who has helped governments, communities and companies plan for and respond to disasters for over twenty years. She was recently named 2016’s ‘Continuity & Resilience Consultant of the Year – North America’ by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI), and had the honor of being a guest speaker at The White House during FEMA’s 2016 Individual & Community Preparedness Awards ceremony.   Throughout her career, Suzanne has been professionally and/or personally involved in helping communities respond, rebuild or recover from numerous crises, including the San Bernardino, Brussels, and 9/11 terror attacks, the 2016 Fort McMurray, Alberta wildfire, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy, the H1N1 pandemic, the 2003 Northeast Blackout, the 1998 “Ice Storm of the Century” in Eastern Canada, as well as numerous floods, fires, and severe storms. Prior to her career in business continuity and emergency management, Suzanne was a journalist, press secretary and media spokesperson for the Canadian government.   Suzanne is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) through the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), as well as a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) through the Disaster Recovery Institute (DRI) and a certified Member of the Business Continuity Institute (MBCI).   Suzanne’s critically-acclaimed book, Disaster Heroes, tells the stories of ordinary men, women and children who have done extraordinary things to help respond, recover and rebuild following some of the world’s most significant modern disasters. She is currently working on several new projects, including her next book, Disaster Heroes Too. Links linkedin.com/in/suzannebernier suzannebernier.com  (Personal Website)   sbcrisisconsulting.com  (Company Website)   [email protected]   Twitter sbcrisis

Craig Fugate served as President Barack Obama’s FEMA Administrator from May 2009 to January 2017.  Previously, he served as Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s Emergency Management Director from 2001-2009.  Fugate led FEMA through multiple record-breaking disaster years and oversaw the Federal Government’s response to major events such as the Joplin and Moore Tornadoes, Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Matthew, and the 2016 Louisiana flooding.  Fugate set a clear and compelling vision, mission, and priorities for FEMA and relentlessly drove the Agency to achieve better outcomes for survivors.  FEMA’s effectiveness in dealing with more than 500 Presidentially-declared major disasters and emergencies under Fugate’s leadership restored the faith of the American people in the Federal Government’s ability to respond to disasters.  Prior to his tenure at FEMA, Fugate was widely praised for his management, under Governor Jeb Bush, of the devastating effects of the 2004 and 2005 Florida hurricane seasons (Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, Dennis, Katrina, and Wilma). Links linkedin.com/in/craig-fugate-912b19131 disastersrus.org/   [email protected] Twitter WCraigFugate

Lisandra Pagan, PhD. is a business consultant. She helps small and medium size businesses and restaurants to plan, prepare and recover from emergencies and crises. She is the author of the Deliberate Plan for your Business, a workbook designed to help business owners plan for contingencies.  She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, course developer, and the host of the first preparedness podcast for Spanish speakers reaching over 62 countries. Her mission is to help people prepare for disasters and emergencies at the personal and business level to reduce the suffering, pain and losses.    Links  www.deliberateplan.com www.prephispano.com Books: Leadership by Peter Northouse Crush it by Gary Vaynerchuck on the use of the platform and social media to reach an audience.

Dr. Kelly Victory is a board certified trauma & emergency specialist with over 15 years of clinical experience. She served as CMO for Whole Health Man., delivering on-site healthcare for Fortune 500 companies. She is an expert in disaster preparedness and the medical management of mass casualties. Dr. Victory is a member of the Nat’l Preparedness Leadership Initiative, a combined effort of Harvard School of Public Health and Kennedy School of Gov’t to develop “meta-leaders” for national disaster preparedness & response. Dr. Victory has been a guest lecturer at the HBS Healthcare Conference, and is a member of the Leadership Council at Harvard School of Public Health. She served as an advisor to the Romney healthcare policy team and is actively involved in the reform debate. Dr. Victory teaches "Active Shooter Rapid Response & Evacuation" and "Leadership in Times of Crisis" for first responders, community leaders and organizations, aimed at limiting casualties and enhancing resiliency. Dr. Victory makes frequent radio/TV appearances to discuss issues critical to healthcare reform, disaster and public health. She holds a BS from Duke Univ. and her MD from the U. of North Carolina. Links linkedin.com/in/kelly-victory-02464610 [email protected] https://www.amazon.com/Resilience-Hard-Won-Wisdom-Living-Better/dp/0544705262   https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13457/disaster-resilience-a-national-imperative

Jennifer has always been that busy woman with food, water, duct tape, trash bags, and a change of clothes in her car. In 2012 Jennifer and her husband took a (CERT) Community Emergency Response Team course through the city of Seal Beach. The gear issued by CERT was one size fit none, and so she went in search of a pair of women's fit gloves.  When looking for a pair of gloves Jennifer discovered that the marketplace was lacking women's gear. At the same time she was telling her friends about her training. Jennifer heard the same three sentiments from several moms in her neighborhood: They knew they needed to be prepared but didn't know where to start They had started a backpack and had been overwhelmed in the process  Getting prepared stayed on their to do list for several years  So Jennifer started out to outfit the women in the world of emergency/disaster volunteering and preparedness.   Links https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/4867170/ https://citygirlprepper.com linkedin.com/in/jennifer-stewart-tai-426687a beyourownbestgirlfriend.blogspot.com (Blog) [email protected]

Mobilize Rescue Systems is a team of medical professionals, military veterans, and technology engineers, our mission is to empower bystanders to save lives by equipping them with the resources necessary to respond to a medical emergency - in the form of the world's first interactive rescue system. They are looking to make first aid, just like the Public Access CPR/AED programs across the United States. Our guest, Seth Goldstein is a Career Firefighter/Paramedic in Poughkeepsie, NY. Mr. Goldstein earned his EMT-Basic in 1997 and his Paramedic Certification in 2000.Mr. Goldstein has worked as a Paramedic for various agencies in NYS and for the Denver Paramedic Division. During his tenure in the commercial ambulance industry, he held the positions of QA/QI Coordinator, EMD Dispatcher, Communications Manager, Operations Manager and, left commercial EMS as the General Manager of an agency with 200 employees answering 60,000 calls for service annually. Goldstein left commercial ambulance work to become a full-time EMS Educator; earning his NYS Certified Instructor Coordinator credentials and eventually running two Community College-based EMS Programs in 5 years. Since 2009 Goldstein has been on staff at the National Center for Security & Preparedness (NCSP) as a Subject Matter Expert (SME), helping develop and deliver courses such as Advanced Active Shooter, TECC for Law Enforcement, TECC for EMS, and Responding to Mass Casualty Incidents. He is the lead SME for both the winter and summer versions of EMS Special Situations. In his current position as a Firefighter/Paramedic, he is nationally certified as a structural firefighter and holds NYS certifications for auto extrication, and is a Confined Space Rescue Technician. In 2013, Goldstein was selected by NYC Medics to join a group tasked with assisting the Kenyan Council of EMTs (KCEMT) with the development of the first Paramedic Program in East Africa. Through the work of this group, ACLS and PALS are now the standard of care in major hospitals throughout Kenya, and Paramedic Program development continues with growing support from the Kenyan government. Goldstein earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies from Binghamton University. Links www.Mobilizerescue.com https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/10817195/ linkedin.com/in/seth-goldstein-6899357

George Whitney has over 24 years of professional experience in emergency and technology management, including project and program management at the local, state, and federal government level. He is the former California Office of Emergency Services (OES) Chief of Operations, Acting Deputy Director and Acting Cabinet Undersecretary where Geroge managed the state’s 24-hour alert, warning, safety, security, logistics, communications, and emergency response functions. In this capacity, George also chaired the State’s Response Information Management System Committee and led a number of agency and statewide planning, training, and resource management initiatives. George is an experienced Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) assessor, team leader, trainer and former Technical Committee Chair. Links linkedin.com/in/george-whitney-64144911 [email protected] https://complete-em.com/AboutUs/