Photo: Emergency Management Specialist Breonna Cole (left) and EMA Director Deborah Gaither (proper) stand within the Gadsden/Etowah Emergency Management Agency management room on September 12. (Emma Kirkemier/Messenger)

09-15-2022

By Emma Kirkemier, News Editor

In honor of National Preparedness Month this September, Gadsden/Etowah County Emergency Management Agency is conducting a preparedness and security marketing campaign.

“Everybody, if you think about it, has a part in preparedness,” stated Gadsden/Etowah EMA Director Deborah Gaither. “The citizens’ part is their responsibility, and we want to educate them and give them everything they need to be able to do it.”

Gaither defined that within the midst of pure disasters and different widespread emergencies, first responders are sometimes overwhelmed, so the time to organize is on a “blue-sky day.”

“Preparedness is about having all of that worked out beforehand, before the disaster happens,” stated Emergency Management Specialist Breonna Cole. “When you’re put under a tornado watch or the day that they tell you there’s a possibility of severe weather, that’s too late.”

According Cole, there are 4 key steps to family preparedness: have a plan; make a equipment; watch the warnings; discover your secure place.

Establishing a plan goes “a step further” than checking smoke detectors and different fundamental security practices, Cole stated. Families ought to focus on a number of eventualities and set up a gathering place in case of being separated throughout an emergency.

Practicing that plan as soon as it’s determined is simply as important.

“You always have to practice it beforehand because in the throes of an emergency, it goes out the window if you haven’t practiced it,” Gaither stated. “If the kids and everybody don’t know where to go, then it’s kind of chaos.”

This course of additionally contains making ready a disaster provide equipment, which ought to include gadgets like water, non-perishable meals, a climate radio, a flashlight and a whistle. According to Cole, a helmet can also be a should.

“Some of your worst injuries are head-related,” she stated. “Everybody either has a baseball helmet or a bicycle helmet, or you can go buy a bicycle helmet for under $20.”

For a full record of provides, go to gecema.com/disaster-supply-kit.

Cole stated the equipment needs to be simply accessible and, if doable, already positioned within the designated shelter or secure room.

Cole inspired residents to incorporate a NOAA climate radio, which GECEMA will program without spending a dime, of their provide kits. It is vital to have a number of methods to entry emergency alerts, she stated. Keeping knowledgeable throughout a disaster might be lifesaving.

According to Cole, a chosen secure place could be a room in a single’s residence, a neighbor’s basement or a storm shelter. Shelter Etowah is accessible to these with no secure house to discover a designated shelter close by. It might be accessed at ShelterEtowah.com or by way of the Gadsden/Etowah EMA app, obtainable on Apple App and Google Play shops.

Also on the app is emergency alert channel Alert Etowah, in addition to entry to native tower cameras and climate stations.

Cole stated neighborhood involvement can also be invaluable in an emergency.

“Sometimes you have to step in and be the first responder,” Cole stated. “You have to take responsibility for yourself and your family until first responders are able to give you that help.”

She confused that residents ought to by no means try change first responders, merely shelter themselves in addition to doable and verify on their neighbors, enabling medical and security professionals to first help these in speedy hazard.

Community Emergency Response Team, a program underneath EMA, affords coaching that people “a basic knowledge of how to take care of things until first responders arrive.”

Cole and Gaither have each weathered quite a few emergencies at EMA.

“I equate it to playing sports because I played sports in high school,” Cole stated. “You get nerves before a big game. It’s kind of like the same thing. You get a little nervous because you know it’s a severe weather day. Something might (happen); something might not. Then you start playing the game and all your nerves go out the window, and you’re just on autopilot. And all of that is to be attributed to planning and exercise and training.”

Gaither agreed.

“It comes back to you quick and you go, ‘OK, I know what to do,’” she stated.

Though emergency administration is a high-stress subject, each stated they discover objective of their work.

“I really think if you are a caring person, (if) you find yourself concerned for the safety of others, that you’re a person for this job,” Gaither stated. “It takes a special called individual to be able to do the job. I think God puts us all here for a certain reason. This must have been mine.”

“Etowah County is — that’s my home,” Cole stated. “It’s where I’ve been my entire life. Not only is my immediate family here, but the people I go to church with and the people I went to school with. It’s my family — the whole county. And I wouldn’t want to do anything other than help them in any way that I could.”

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