Pass It On Center and Georgia Tech co-host the FEMA Think Tank for March 2012, Focuses on Disability Topics

Disasters can strike anywhere, anytime and can impact anyone, so everyone must be involved in emergency planning, mitigation, response, and recovery efforts. This is a message that FEMA’s senior leadership brings to the table at every opportunity.

Deputy FEMA Administrator Richard Serino drove this point home during the Think Tank conference call in Atlanta at the Georgia Institute of Technology, March 22, 2012. Introducing the topic to an audience of over 30 community leaders in the room and more than 500 callers nationwide, he stressed the benefits of the call.

“Talking with teachers, leaders in the access and functional needs community, non-profit and community organizers – all of which are the epitome of whole community – gives me, and everyone, a better understanding of the reality – on the ground,” Serino said.

Topics discussed during the call included a focus on the importance of having access to electrical power and alternatives during disasters, especially for individuals with disabilities and other types of access and functional needs. Carolyn Phillips, program director at Georgia’s Pass It On Center, Tools for Life, the state’s Assistive Technology Act Program, noted that as smartphones have many different types of alternating current electrical power adapters, medical and assistive devices also have the same variability.

To demonstrate this point, Liz Persaud, Phillips’s colleague from Tools for Life, brought the chargers she’d need to keep her equipment fully functional. It required a suitcase to carry all of the items and weighed over 30 pounds.

Other speakers noted that individuals need to proactively plan for major power losses by including alternate sources of power such as solar power or generators.

“We need to think more creatively about power and how we convert power for people with access and functional needs,” said Phillips. She also stressed the need for including power access issues in drills and assessing those outcomes in after-action reports.

Atlanta, Ga., March 22, 2012 -- FEMA Deputy Administrator Richard Serino opens the Think Tank conference call at the Georgia Tech Centergy Building in downtown Atlanta. Also pictured (L) Marcie Roth, FEMA Director of Disability Integration and Andy Altizer (c), Georgia Tech Director of Emergency Preparedness. The Think Tank forum is designed to engage our partners, promote innovation and facilitate discussion in the field of emergency management.

Atlanta, Ga., March 22, 2012 -- At the Think Tank conference call at the Georgia Tech Centergy Building in downtown Atlanta, FEMA Deputy Administrator Richard Serino discusses powering durable medical equipment following disasters with Carolyn Phillips, Director of The Pass it On Center. The Think Tank forum is designed to engage our partners, promote innovation and facilitate discussion in the field of emergency management.

Direct link: http://blog.fema.gov/2012/03/fema-think-tank-for-march-2012-focuses.html