Presidential Policy Directive 8

Lost in the media coverage of the Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) budget crisis last week, President Obama signed Presidential Policy Directive 8 (PPD-8) - National Preparedness. This directive is an update on Homeland Security Presidential Directive 8 (HSPD-8) signed by former President Bush in 2003.

The intention of PPD-8 is two fold, the first is an effort to galvanize the Federal response to All Hazards, whether its an act of terrorism, pandemic influenza or other natural disasters. The second mission of PPD-8 is to facilitate an integrated, all-of-Nation, capabilities-based approach to preparedness. To read the full text of PPD-8, please click here

The key point in my mind of PPD-8, is the term "all-of-nation". This coincides very nicely with FEMA Administrator Fugate's rhetoric discussing "whole of community" preparedness. The crux of the mission is that we need to do a better job at preparing the entire community. This is accomplished by developing custom preparedness messaging and preparedness activities. A one size fits all preparedness campaign cannot be effective.

At HandsOn Central Ohio, we provide a number of different trainings that are appropriate for all audiences. To learn more about available trainings, including Continuity of Operations Planning for non profits, Disaster Preparedness for Advanced Needs populations or to learn about our work with Franklin County Emergency Management and Homeland Security in helping to prepare the Somali Community, please visit the Disaster Preparedness section of our website by clicking here.

Defining Continuity of Operations

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) training in Cincinnati. The training opened my eyes to improvements that we need to make as an organization in our readiness planning. During the fall and winter of 2009, I drafted what I thought was an Agency Emergency Plan, a plan that would help guide us through a disaster, and therefore keep us operating.

One of my lessons learned from the COOP training was that what I had actually drafted was an Emergency Response Plan, a plan that details how HandsOn Central Ohio, would respond during a disaster to meet the missions that we have been tasked with under the Franklin County (Ohio) Emergency Operations Plan.

The process of creating a COOP plan is much more involved and detail orientated then my Emergency Response Plan. COOP takes factors into consideration that require Senior level officials to make tough decisions about what agency functions are most essential, what resources are available or needed for the agency to operate remotely (either at home or at a Hot, Warm or Cold site). A final process requires Senior Officials to conduct worst case scenario planning, known as devolution, which outlines who inherits certain authorities and responsibilities if a Senior Official perished in the disaster.

Based on this training from the University of Maryland's Center for Health and Homeland Security, we have decided to host a Continuity of Operations Plan seminar for local non profits and faith based organizations on June 3rd, 2010 from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm at Vineyard Columbus (6000 Cooper Rd, Westerville, OH 43081).

The number of attendees for this seminar is limited to 100 participants. We anticipate a strong response to this invitation, therefore we ask that organizations limit the number of attendees to two.

Online registration is available by clicking here.