Starke County EMA Director Holds First Community Organization Active in Disaster Meeting

Posted on April 25, 2018
Author Jacque Ryan, WKVI

Starke County Emergency Management Agency Director J. Nier hosted a meeting with community members who interested in participating in a group focused on local disaster preparation and response efforts.

Church representatives, members of the medical community and concerned citizens were among the individuals who attended the first Community Organizations Active in Disaster or COAD meeting on Tuesday night.

Director Nier explained that Starke County COAD was actually established a while ago. However, she said when she took the position in October of last year, the group had been inactive for some time. During the flooding event in February, she realized that there were certain needs that were being unmet so she’s attempting to revive the organization.

While the community had no shortage of generous donations, Nier said her office is still full of clean-up and comfort kits as well as clothing donations, the response to the event was lacking proper organization.

She said the three main things that COAD will focus on will be getting more local volunteers, establishing a donation manager and community outreach.

Volunteers will assist with various aspects of disaster response from damage assessment to working with the Red Cross. Some of the volunteer work would require additional training such as National Incident Management System (NIMS) training through FEMA and protocol classes with the Red Cross. Individuals would have to be willing to take the extra time to complete the necessary certifications.

The EMA Director said that the donation process is something that definitely needs to be addressed and potentially managed by one of the volunteers. She also mentioned the possibility of obtaining a 501-C3 non-profit classification so the group could set up a donations fund to use for future resource and housing needs.

Now that the unmet needs have been acknowledged, the next step is to set up a new Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). Nier said the most recent EOP she found was from 2009.

IU Health Starke Hospital representative Josephine Klisek noted that Director Nier could use the hospital’s plan as a template for the county and church leaders talked about providing potential shelter sites and bringing in more members of their congregation to assist with future planning.

During the remainder of April and throughout the month of May, the pioneer members will reach out to others in order to add more individuals to the network. Starke County COAD will meet again on Tuesday, June 5th at 5:30 p.m. in the meeting room of Starke County Annex Building #1.

If you have any questions about how to get involved, contact Director Nier at 574-772-9182.