Iowa Disaster Human Resource Council
Meeting minutes
November 8, 2012
The November 8, 2012 meeting was called to order at 10:04 a.m. by Rick Wulfekuhle.
Conference line and EOC roll call was done.
Present: Trish Burket, Blake DeRouchey, Janna Diehl, Tara Dowd, Diane Heidorn, Marla Potts, Lori
Williams, Rick Wulfekuhle
Present via conference call: Dan Cataldi, Don Hampton, Chris Juett, Barb Shultz, Linda Von Bank
Trish Burket moved to approve the October minutes as sent out.
Janna Diehl seconded the motion
The motion carried unanimously
Committee Reports
Emotional and Spiritual Care/Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) Community
Relations –
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Action Items Completed:
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Information shared by Karen Hyatt including possible need for emotional assistance
teams following Hurricane Sandy.
Sharing in case you have friends, family or business associates affected by Hurricane
Sandy. Also, there is some discussion of asking states with teams such as ours to assist
in the near future. I will keep you posted with future developments.
Disability Rights Office/CGB Offers Communication Guidance to Persons with Disabilities
in Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau offers the following information to
individuals with disabilities seeking information and assistance during the aftermath of
Hurricane Sandy:
Phone Calls
According to an October 30, 2012 FEMA news release, the President declared major
disasters for New York and New Jersey, making disaster assistance available to those in
the heaviest hit areas affected by the storm. Individuals and business owners who
sustained losses in the designated counties in New York and New Jersey can begin the
disaster application process by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, by
web enabled mobile device at m.fema.gov or by calling1-800-621-FEMA (3362).
Disaster assistance applicants who have a hearing or speech disability and use TTYs
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should call 1-800-462-7585 directly. If you do not use a TTY and are calling through any
relay service or by voice, you can also access the following voice telephone number: 1800-621-3362. These toll-free telephone numbers (provided by FEMA) will operate from
7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice.
If you have a hearing or speech disability, you also can use telecommunications relay
services to make calls for assistance. In your local area, dial 711 to access these services
by TTY or by voice. Alternatively, you can access IP Relay, IP Captioned Telephone or
video relay services on line.
If you are trying to send someone a text message and it is not going through, wait 10
seconds before redialing a call. On many wireless handsets, to re-dial a number, you
simply push "send" after you've ended a call to redial the previous number. If you do
this too quickly, the data from the handset to the cell sites do not have enough time to
clear before you've resent the same data. This contributes to a clogged network.
If you do not have electric power in your home, consider using your vehicle to charge
cell phones or listen to news alerts on the car radio. But don’t try to reach your car if it
is not safe to do so, and remain vigilant about carbon monoxide emissions from your car
if it is a closed space, such as a garage.
Television, Radio and the Internet
Tune-in to television, radio and the Internet (via your desktop or laptop computer,
tablet or mobile phone) for important news alerts.
FCC rules require audio information about emergencies provided on television to be
accompanied by visual information for persons with hearing disabilities. This is typically
provided through closed captions, so please make sure you have your captions turned
on.
If you have a visual disability, emergency information provided during televised news
programming must be provided in an audio format along with its visual format. If you
are watching regularly scheduled (non-news) programming and hear tones or beeps,
this signifies that emergency information is being provided. Turn on your radio or call
someone to get up-to-date information about the emergency that is occurring.
The Commission will continue to monitor closely complaints alleging violations of our
laws requiring access to emergency information on television, and will review for
possible enforcement action. If you have a complaint regarding the lack of emergency
information being presented in an accessible format, you may contact your video
programming distributor directly for quick resolution of the problem (you can locate
VPD contact information by searching the VPD Registry located on the FCC’s webpage
at: http://esupport.fcc.gov/vpd-search/search.action) or you may file a complaint with
the FCC.
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If you decide to complain directly to the FCC, your complaint should include:
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The name of the VPD (e.g., broadcast station, cable company, satellite TV
provider, local telephone company) against whom the complaint is alleged;
The date and time of the transmission of emergency information that was in a
format not accessible to persons with disabilities; and
The type of emergency.
You can file your complaint with the FCC using the on-line complaint Form 2000C
found at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/form2000c.html. You also may contact the
FCC by letter, facsimile transmission, telephone (voice/TRS/TTY), Internet e-mail,
audio-cassette recording, Braille, or any other method that would best
accommodate your disability. Send your complaint to:
Federal Communications Commission
Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20554
Phone: 1-888-225-5322 (voice); 1-888-835-5322 (TTY)
E-mail: fccinfo@fcc.gov
Internet: www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html
Fax: 866-418-0232
Fact sheets summarizing the closed captioning and access to emergency
information rules are available at the FCC’s Web site at
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/closedcaption.html, and
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/emergencyvideo.html.
Find more information at www.ready.gov, http://www.redcross.org, or
www.fema.gov.
Communications and Marketing –
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Nothing to report
Volunteer and Donations Management –
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Nothing to report
Casework Management –
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Action Items Completed
o Our Training opportunity was held on October 17th at the Plymouth Congregational
Church with 28 in attendance. Rev Dr. Bryan Crousore, Emergency Response Specialist
with Church World Service was the presenter. He illustrated how long term recovery
groups were organized and operated and the functions of long term recovery and the
importance of Case Management in the overall operations of a recovery.
o At noon we expressed our thanks to Bryan for his years of service and served cake with
lunch.
Functional Needs and Mass Care –
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Nothing to report
Finance Committee –
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Nothing to report
President’s Report –
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Action Items Completed:
o Rick reported that efforts will continue with the emergency management association in
moving forward with both strategic plans. Also noted discussions about aligning with the
mission of CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) and the Citizen Corps effort
with Steve O’Neil and the North Central Iowa group.
o Blake and Rick completed and submitted an application for the FEMA 2012 Community
Resilience Innovation Challenge in support of the fiscal effort for the potential AmeriCorps position along with the all hazard radio program. Notification of this was to be
announced 11-23-12.
o Gina sent Rick a report that the all hazard radios are being distributed with 89 to date
and hopes of the rest this month yet with their Community Action group’s heat
assistance program being implemented.
Action Items In-progress/Pending:
o Rick, Gina to report on any pilot County updates and a final plan.
o Rick, to get with Steve O’Neil for strategic plan efforts.
o Rick, Karin to get information needed for an outcome survey.
o Rick/others to continue work with securing funding for future implementation and
stakeholder interest.
o Other ideas on project implementation to e-mail to Rick.
New Business
Nominations for Vacant Committee Chairs
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Communication and Marketing
o Still no nominations
Open Discussion
Hurricane Sandy Updates
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Members with people deployed or were being looked at for deployment gave an update as to
what their organizations were doing.
o Many organizations reported current or future deployments from local offices to
impacted areas.
Unmet Needs
Training Opportunities
WebEOC Training
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January 17, following the IDHRC Meeting
Upcoming Conferences
NVOAD Conference, Portland, OR
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May 13-16
Prepare Fair, Crossroads Mall, Waterloo Iowa
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March 23
Janna Diehl moved to adjourn the meeting at 11:00
Marla Potts Seconded the motion
The motion carried unanimously
Next Meeting
The next conference call will be on December 20, 2012 beginning at 10:00 a.m. If you need a
conference line for your committee meeting please contact Blake. The conference line will be
assigned to the committees on a first come first serve basis. Conference call number: 1-800-6458878 Pin number: 003251 –Webinar information will be sent along with the agenda.
The next face to face meeting will take place on January 17, 2012 at the State Emergency Operations
Center at Joint Forces Headquarters. Committee meetings will begin at 9:00 a.m. with the large
group meeting at 10:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Tara Dowd