 This is COMNET. When an explosive device is suspected, it's important to protect responders on the scene as well as the public. Doug Smith looks at how robots can assist in the detection and response to explosive devices. As part of the Department of Homeland Security's Urban Area Security Initiative, Pinellas County, Florida purchased a mobile crime lab. Stacy Phillips linked up with the Forensic Science Division to see this vehicle's capability in action. Many counties across the country have special needs registration processes through their emergency management agencies. John Eastman visited Lynn County, Iowa to find out how they track their registrants using a geographic information system. When the coastal area of Houston, Texas is evacuated due to a hurricane or other emergency, special needs residents are transported to Dallas. Diane Roberts explores how emergency management and healthcare work together in planning and preparing for such an event. COMNET is sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, Preparedness Directorate's Office of Grants and Training and their Preparedness Network. Coming to you from the facilities of the National Terrorism Preparedness Institute at St. Petersburg College, here are Al Rochelle and Jennifer Holloway. Hello and welcome to COMNET, the communications, news, equipment and training magazine. This program presents weapons of mass destruction related awareness information for the nation's civilian and military response communities. COMNET is being distributed over government and commercial information networks. It's also being streamed over the worldwide web at terrorism.spcollege.edu. We invite you to visit the NTPI website for further details on the information provided during today's program. Continuing education units can be earned for viewing COMNET programs. To register for those CEUs, go to the NTPI website and click on the Continuing Education Units link under training. This link will take you through the registration process and the login process. After you login, you'll be able to view program videos, take the program exam and fill out an evaluation form. With an exam grade of 75% or better, you will immediately receive an online CEU certificate. And after viewing COMNET, please complete a viewer evaluation of the program. Your input and your comments are very important to us. In the new national guidelines for bomb technicians, the FBI mandates that all accredited bomb squads will need to be equipped with a robot by 2009. And this initiative may seem daunting, however, the benefits will be well worth the effort. Doug Smith looks at some of the advantages the new robots can bring to a bomb squad. Approximately 30 years ago when I became involved in a law enforcement bomb disposal, we didn't have robots. We were the robots. We made the approaches. But the devices 30 years ago were much less sophisticated. They were basic pipe bombs and basic explosive devices involved in very simple methods of initiation. What has changed over the 30 years is now that we see radio control devices, cell phones. We see secondary devices. We see secondary devices which are aimed at law enforcement. And as that changes, the threat level increases and the sophisticated devices become much more dangerous. We see a larger explosive device. We see a much more complicated firing system within that explosive device. And therefore robots are the way to go. The FBI is the only agency that nationally accredits bomb squads in the United States. Under new guidelines by 2009, the agency will require all certified bomb squads be equipped with some type of robotic capabilities. The reason for this mandate is simple. The system works not only for bomb disposal, but also for hazardous materials handling, hostage negotiations, and even court proceedings. As the nature of law enforcement changes, there will no doubt be new capabilities discovered. But the bottom line will never change. Using robots saves lives. It's become a tool that's part of the team now. And the way we have deployed them in the past or the way we do now, it is an essential piece of equipment now with the new threat or the new emerging C-Burn with the chemical, biological, nuclear and explosive threat that we have. The IEDs are the large vehicle bombs. Yeah, bomb squad robots are absolutely necessity. The use of robots has really played a key role for bomb squads across the nation. It's utilized in the robots not only for regular bomb squad work as far as render safe procedures on IEDs or improvised explosive devices, but it provides a level of security and safety for our bomb techs out there that they don't have to actually go up on target. If we're able to mitigate problems through use of remote means being the robot, that is something that's the avenue that we like to take, utilizing the robots as much as possible. One of the biggest advantages, I think, is that we have more than one team member that's able to view what the robot is actually seeing. And every time that we deploy the robot on a mission, we record that mission. And everything that's viewed through those cameras is recorded. We've used it as a standalone testimony in improvised explosive device courtroom presentations. It allows a jury to actually see the potential of the hazards that we faced at the time that we were dealing with that. This is the Andros F6A, a top of the line robot, and it's approved on the standardized equipment list or the SEL. The F6A features a unique track chassis which allows it to operate over rough terrain and even to climb upstairs. It also is equipped with multiple cameras to allow for 360-degree viewing and a two-way radio which has already been used in hostage negotiations. Because it has a two-way communication system, which can get up to the individual and make contact with them. And through the use of the cameras, we're also able to observe the situation and do reconnaissance of the area should additional resources need to be called in and handled by specialty units. Just on one package that we had, it was a suspect item that we had in the neighborhood. It was a small package. It was wrapped up in duct tape. Rather than having a technician go down there, we deploy the robot by utilizing the different cameras as well as the lights that we have on it. We're able to at night go run this down being 350-400 feet away, use the eyes and the ears of the robot to be able to go down, look at the package, see if it's something of interest that we may need to take action on. Using the disruptor that we have mounted on the robot, open up the package remotely, while us being 400 feet away in the vehicle, we're able to do it safely without any possibility of any harm to a technician. One other unique feature of the F-6A that's a necessity considering the sophistication of today's bomb threats is a sensor for detecting radiation and chemical agents. We have several monitoring capabilities off the F-6A and one is the APD-2000, which basically does nerve gases. We also have the EOD gas monitor. All this is plugged into the robot. We can send the robot downrange into possible hazards environment and have real-time feedback back to our operations to find out what is down there. It'll tell us oxygen levels, volatile organic compound levels, our VOCs, and what type gas and the percentages of that gas and from that it allows us to be able to choose what type of personal protection equipment that we may need to put our first responders in in order to go into a hot zone or a warm zone without initially exposing them to that environment. The only thing that's exposed to any potential hazard is the robot. The robot is able to be decontaminated. It's also able to be repaired and fixed. There are currently three categories of national team typing. Type one bomb squads must have a robot capable of responding to vehicle bombs. Type two bomb squads must have a robot capable of responding to ground level suspect packages while type three bomb squads are not required to have a robot. But that will all change soon. In 2009 all teams will be required to have a robot. But before you purchase a robot be sure to be diligent in your research. There are many options in size, functionality, and capabilities that need to be looked at to make sure that your robot is the perfect fit for your agency's needs. What I would do for a team that doesn't currently have a robot, I would explore teams that do. I would call the bomb squad commanders. I would call the different departments. I wouldn't focus just on, say, in andros. There are other robots out there. But the team needs to find the robot that best fits what they want to do. In Florida we have different types of geographics and terrain. You go out west, you may have something different. So you need to figure out where you work, what you actually want to use it for, and then you want to make sure that it will do everything that's needed. Can you hook a monitoring system up to it? Will you be able to monitor for c-burn? Will you be able to shoot a disruptor from it, disrupt the package? Are you simply going to use the robot for reconnaissance? If you're going to use the robot for reconnaissance, there are less expensive robots that you can get to go down range. But a robot that can do all of the things that a bomb technician basically can do is the type of robot that you would want. You don't have to buy everything, a cup attached to that robot, as long as it has the capability of being expanded at some point in time with our robotic system. We've retrofitted our system a number of times as new advancements have come out. A good thing is to go to other units when neighboring counties, other bomb squads, see what kind of equipment that they have, what's compatible. Especially if you're running on a regional level with other units, it helps to have robots that may be similar. Some other factors you should consider before purchasing a robot for your department are training and maintenance. Just like any new piece of equipment, it takes time to learn how to operate it. And since it's mechanical, a certain amount of maintenance will be needed. Many manufacturers have training packages that go along with the purchase. But even more important is the hands-on experience you get by simply operating the robot every day. Once a robot comes online and the decision is made to purchase a robot and a unit receives a robot, the thing is training. Not to let the robot sit. Spending in-service training time, if it means going out and doing demos at schools for the children, it gives the operator run time the more you run it, the better the operators become. And also utilizing your technician assistants that may be on the unit that aren't full techs yet, allowing them more time on the robot which frees up the technicians to do other type of chores for a mission. The more time you have using the robot, the better you become. Four hours of schooling is great. They teach you the basics. The fine motor skills is developed by the use of the actual robot. So the best information I could give, utilize it as much as you can. The more you use it, the better you become. Anybody that's going to look at purchasing a robot, no matter what agency, they need to take into consideration that there may be things that will go wrong with it. It's a mechanical electronic device which things can break on it. They can all be fixed. If it's maintained properly, the life of that robot, just like any other mechanical item, can be extended and sustained for many years of useful service to an organization. The price of one of these robots can exceed $100,000 and that of course is well beyond the budgets of many smaller municipalities. But there are resources available to help. Once a robot becomes part of your team, the benefits will become immediately apparent. One good resource would be the IAPTI or the International Association of Bombed Tech and Investigators website. They have links to all the robot manufacturers that are out there. They are also a very good source of information on the usage of robots, what will work and what may not work for you. Also, the Hazardous Device School run by the FBI at Redstone. They do a lot of research and development for these robot companies and they also teach robotics. So they're a very good source in making a decision. When you look at the price of a robotic unit, it can be high and so therefore you need to incorporate all your special operation units within your agency to see that it can be used for more than one purpose. When robotics first came out, they were primarily just a bomb disposal function. Now they've adapted to use with SWAT teams, hazard materials and if you can get everybody on board where that you'll get maximum use out of it, the robot will have a bigger selling function to that community. If you'd like some more information on the new national guidelines for bomb technicians and how the new robot requirements will affect your particular bomb squad, visit the NTPI website. Now let's take a look at what's coming up on the next live response. Keeping our ports secure without slowing down trade, commerce or passenger service is a challenge. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the United States has more than 360 commercial ports that provide approximately 3,200 cargo and passenger handling facilities. On the next live response, we'll look at the security of our ports and the challenges their protection presents. Live response, here's Wednesday, November 15th at 2 p.m. Eastern. For more information on viewing, make sure to register online at terrorism.spcollege.edu. Fidelis County, Florida recently purchased a mobile crime laboratory. This crime lab is the only one in the country to be funded by the Department of Homeland Security's Urban Area Security Initiative. Stacy Phillips links up with the Forensic Science Division to see this vehicle's capability in action. Get your hands off. Get your hands off. No problems were reported. The investigation is ongoing. 33 people are now in the hospital after their bus tour rolled over. What is going on? Read this. Sorry about the interruption. As a prophet of God, it is my duty to be here as a shepherd of mankind. Do whatever he wants you to do. We're off the air. You've just witnessed a mock incident where a domestic terrorist goes to extremes to get his religious message broadcast across the airwaves. Although this is not a real event, major crimes take place across the country on a daily basis. Once they do, it's the job of forensic response teams to move in and collect evidence in order to help solve the crime. Traditionally, evidence is brought back here to their lab for processing. But now, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office in Florida has a new tool, a 40-foot mobile crime lab that is loaded with state-of-the-art equipment for processing evidence. Most of the tools they have here at their home base can now be driven directly to them at the crime scene. It's very important because a lot of evidence is fragile. Fingerprints are very fragile. And the longer that we wait to start processing them, the more time that we have to contaminate those prints or the prints themselves could just dissolve from environmental problems. Here is the bullet casing found at the mock crime scene you just saw. In a true case, specialists would normally bag this and bring it back to the lab for testing. Instead, they were able to step into this mobile lab and get to work with a machine that uses super glue to adhere to any fingerprints that might be left behind. Once the prints are processed in the mobile lab, they are photographed and digitally sent to examiners back at the Sheriff's Office. In a matter of minutes, examiners receive the prints and begin searching databases for a match. Using traditional methods, these prints may not make it to examiners for hours or even days. The mobile lab has already assisted investigators in several cases. In one incident, our murder victim was identified in just 20 minutes, allowing the focus of the crime to move towards finding a killer. It's not just solving the crime, certainly we want to do that, but we also want to solve that crime as quickly as possible so that whether it's a terrorist who hurts many people at one time or it's just the murderer who might kill one victim, we want to be able to process evidence that will help us successfully identify that person so that we can get them off the street before they can hurt others. Well, as more time passes, the residue in the fingerprint that is left on the paper starts to evaporate. Most of a fingerprint is 98 percent moisture, so that's starting to evaporate. Also, it's breaking down. As sooner we can start to process it, it's always the better. Specialists often use the fuming hood to isolate any harmful chemicals, but also to immediately try and capture a print. We don't want to spray chemicals into somebody's home or an office area where people are working or we don't want to spray them outside where other people have the possibility of breathing them in and maybe getting ill. In addition to processing latent prints, the lab also features a crime scope, which helps examiners detect microscopic evidence like hair fibers. Here you can see what was found on the receptionist's shirt. Evidence like this, processed and preserved immediately, could be what ties a suspect to the scene. The lab also has a conference area and a projector that can display crime scene images for studying. This allows investigators to see the crime scene through photos and video without ever stepping into it and possibly contaminating it. Well, it gives us a contained environment where we can examine the evidence, where we can process it, where we can document it and store it on the scene so that we're not having to spread it out in different locations for storage and at different times to take it to a lab for processing and for securing. This lab also gives specialists a place to discuss evidence in private, get out of the weather, take a break, remain on the scene longer and ultimately be more efficient. This mobile crime lab costs $380,000 and it's the first to be purchased through a grant offered by the Department of Homeland Security's Urban Area Security Initiative. It's based here in Pinellas, but it's available to nine neighboring counties in central Florida. Obtaining the lab using federal funds wasn't easy. Pinellas County was competing nationwide for this money. The first step was for the county to establish the need for such high-tech mobile lab. One of the first gaps that we identified was the capability to respond anywhere in the region or in fact anywhere in the state following a terrorist event with a forensic response team. And in order to adequately do that, we felt that having a large, well-equipped mobile crime lab was necessary to fill that gap. Did you feel like the need was so great in this area that you wanted to make sure that you were prepared and that's why you went after this mobile crime lab? We felt that the need was there and that certainly we do have targets in the Tampa Bay area that could be subject to a terrorist attack. But the other fact of the matter is we're not immune to disasters, whether they be natural or man-made and having this capability on a daily basis also enhance our capability of assisting all of our citizens in the Tampa Bay area. Can you explain what you think the strongest case you had or the strongest point that you made to the security initiative to secure the funds for the lab? We explained one that we have the training and the capability and the willingness to work with our state and federal partners, first of all. We fully recognize that in a terrorist event the FBI is the lead agency and that they will be bringing in their evidence response teams. We understand that, but we also understand that certainly in a large catastrophic event that they will need to be supplemented with additional forensic response investigators or crime scene investigators and we demonstrated our willingness to be a part of that, our capability to respond and laid out a very, you know, a very sound strategic plan on how we would do that. In his plan, Captain Steiner also explained that Pinellas County has the manpower to support the crime lab. His division has 42 crime scene investigators plus fingerprint and latent print examiners which is more than most. He says this along with the department's willingness to participate in local, state and national incidents helped to strengthen his case. What would your recommendation be to other jurisdictions in trying to obtain something of this magnitude? Don't just think terrorism, think all hazards. Think of the natural occurring hazards within your jurisdiction whether it's hurricanes or tornadoes or earthquakes or floods, how you're going to be able to use this equipment on a day to day basis and not if that terrorist event should occur in your community. I wouldn't want the viewers to think, oh, there's no way that we can do this. We're not that big. Well, I think you can. If you're willing to, you know, work in a partnership, you know, with your surrounding region and your other law enforcement agencies, you write out a good strategic plan on how you're going to deploy this and you train with each other. Ultimately, it is here for one reason and that's to serve our citizens and to make a difference and fight crime. If your department is seeking funding for equipment, training, planning and exercising, you should find out if your state or region is part of the Urban Area Security Initiative. For more information, just visit the NDPI website. And now it's time for the latest Responder News. Homeland Security has awarded 399 million in competitive grants as part of its Infrastructure Protection Program. Comprised of seven programs, the Infrastructure Protection Program, or IPP, aims to help protect the nation's critical infrastructure from threats and hazards that could cause major loss of life, property and or services. 4.8 million was awarded under the Trucking Security Program. Through the American Trucking Association's Highway Watch Program, a full-time call center and the Information Sharing and Analysis Center will be maintained. Amtrak was given more than $7 million under the Intercity Passenger Rail Security Grant Program, mainly to enhance security in the Northeast Corridor in Chicago, and expand those enhancements to the West Coast after conducting a risk assessment. Eligible owners and operators of Fixed Route Intercity and Charter Bus Services were provided with $9.5 million under the Intercity Bus Security Grant Program to help improve the prevention and detection of improvised explosive devices or IEDs. The Chemical Sector Buffer Zone Protection Grant Program received $25 million to help enhance the security of facilities that could cause WMD-like effects if attacked. State and local authorities will be able to draw from the $48 million awarded under the Buffer Zone Protection Program grants to aid their efforts to secure arenas, power plants and other high-risk areas. The Transit Security Grant Program appropriated $136 million to fund training and security measures aimed at the prevention and detection of IEDs. Eligible rail, intercity bus and ferry systems were divided into two tiers based on threat, vulnerability and consequences. $168 million goes to the Port Security Grant Program to create sustainable risk-based efforts. Funding was awarded for specific projects within each port area based on that port's relative risk and the project's relation to port security priorities. Be sure to watch NTPI's November Live Response Program where some of these priorities will be discussed in detail. Infrastructure security is not the only area DHS is helping the nation improve. The California Department of Food and Agriculture using $400,000 received from DHS implanted microchips in almost 500 thoroughbreds as part of the National Animal Identification System. A microchip the size of a grain of rice was implanted in each animal to help identify it quicker. This inventory system upgrade allows horses to be tracked more easily and infected animals to be isolated more quickly during disease outbreaks. The California Horse Racing Board administered the program as part of DHS's national campaign to prepare the country for a bioterrorism attack. The Centers for Disease Control has released an interim version of its hurricane morbidity report form. The one-page document is designed for individual level active surveillance of medical conditions after hurricanes. It is not intended to replace regular record keeping or routine surveillance. The form should be used when timely, patient level information is needed for response efforts. The morbidity report forms are available for download at www.cdc.gov. The CDC requests that state and local authorities forward the completed force they receive from the field to them so they can better identify events of public health concern. As part of their continued efforts to capture terrorists, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI merged their fingerprint databases. DHS's Ident System and the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System are now accessible to investigators from both federal agencies. The new system allows FBI agents and DHS officials to access the biometric information and criminal history of 48 million people. Plans are in progress to make the linked system available to police departments from around the country. Dallas and Boston are currently testing out the newly merged system. One of the keys to thwarting terrorist attacks is vigilance. Law enforcement officials in Colorado hope to rely on the awareness of its citizenry to fight terrorists. Last month, they launched an internet-based system that lets ordinary citizens report suspicious activity. By logging on to www.ciac.co.gov, people can send reports with pictures to the Colorado Information Analysis Center. A law enforcement official at this effusion center would then review the report and determine if it was significant enough to be forwarded to the FBI. Colorado officials hope the ease of filing increases the flow of information. President Bush signed a port security bill earlier this month that approves $2 billion in spending over the next five years. The money will be available in the form of risk-based grants. The bill was designed to help prevent terrorists from sneaking nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons through our ports. Expected port improvements include background checks on port workers and proper credentialing, training exercises, and radiation detectors at the nation's larger ports. Through this bill, the Department of Homeland Security hopes to have the increased radiation screening levels in place by the end of 2007. The International Association of Fire Chiefs hosted the 2006 Fire Rescue International Conference last month. In addition to a Dallas Convention Center exhibition floor packed with engines, pumpers, and various fire technology innovations, attendees were treated to a fire service job fair, outdoor exhibits, and a fire truck simulator. The festivities even included a candlelight 9-11 memorial. Chief Killen also took the opportunity to remind those present in Dallas the importance of firefighter safety and the need for their commitment to reducing firefighter deaths. FRI 2007 will be held August 23 through the 25th in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information on FRI or any of our other responder news stories, log on to the NTPI website for contact information. I'm Jenny Dean and that's your responder news. Coastal area of Houston, Texas is evacuated due to a hurricane or other emergency. Special needs residents are transported to Dallas. Diane Roberts looks at how emergency management and healthcare work together in planning and preparing for such an event. The special needs evacuation in Texas will be a statewide effort calling on statewide assets, but it will be done by regions. For the Dallas-Fort Worth area, what that means is finding people, resources, and physical space for the 40,000 Houston evacuees who will come here and call this north central Texas town home. When a hurricane is spotted in the Gulf Coast, Texas's emergency management office spurs into action. They will begin to monitor the hurricane and within 72 hours decide whether to evacuate. The state will contact the evacuating city to say get out and they'll notify the receiving community to get ready. Guahiri Hurd is an emergency management specialist with the city of Dallas. But then we have another one that's for the Metropolitan Medical Response System. If a hurricane is in striking distance of Houston, Sister City Dallas will receive many of its evacuees. Emergency management, one of the biggest things that we do is serve as coordinators. We don't by no means consider ourselves the expert in those specialty fields. And what we do is we call upon those who are the experts to give their input to make sure that we have an effective plan. When this plan goes into effect and you find out that you're getting these evacuees into Dallas, what kind of preparations do you have to make here? Well, one of the first things we will do is contact the convention center and reunion arena, which are our two shelters here for the city of Dallas. We will then contact the American Red Cross to let them know that they need to get their staff, their volunteers together and report to the convention center because they're the ones who's going to serve as personnel for the sheltering operation. For example, Red Cross, we asked them if we had to do this again. What's the maximum number that you could take care of in a shelter operation? So we found out what their capabilities were and we did this with all of the organizations that were involved. In this evacuation scenario, however, special needs has two definitions. We have what is the mobile special needs, which are those individuals who need transportation because they don't have it. And then we have what's called the medical special needs. When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast last year, Dr. Paul Pepe saw medical special needs evacuees firsthand. If all of a sudden, your whole infrastructure, your doctor, your pharmacy, everything you depend on, your regular basis, food and water are gone, now you're displaced and you don't have access to those things, that's where the big problems came in. The frailist members of our population are indeed the people who are at home, who are paralyzed, who are brittle diabetics, whose blood sugars run all over the place, who have awful lung disease and can't even go up barely outdoors, who are on home oxygen and home. It's the wide spectrum of people who need either a small amount of medical care at home or perhaps even continuing care moment to moment care even at a nursing home. And these are the kinds of people that in the path of something horrible, like these terrible category five and category four hurricanes, indeed might have to be evacuated. Medical special needs evacuees would account for 10% of the 40,000 people heading north to Dallas from Houston. One of the big ones that has sort of leapt out in this field is the dialysis people. Patients who need dialysis are known to need this service. Usually it's three times a week, it can vary depending on the person, but it's a known service that they're going to need no matter where they go, otherwise they can get very sick. Dr. Irene Nemeth worked with special needs evacuees from Louisiana when Katrina and Rita hit last year. He and several doctors from the University of Texas Southwestern are responsible for an evacuation plan that's been one year in the making. Hi, this is Paul. Dr. Ray Swinton is co-director of EMS Disaster Medicine at Southwestern. He explains the evacuees would be classified by levels, zero through six. Zero would need very little care and six would need the most. A unique group in that way we describe special needs comes around the middle ranges. For example, what we refer to as a level three patient is someone who has significant healthcare needs but does not require acute care hospitalization. For example, a brittle diabetic, a dialysis patient, someone that may have significant physical limitations where they can't administer their own medications, would need to be in a place where access to medical leadership, nursing personnel, perhaps physicianly oversight, would need to oversee their care during an evacuation. The regional part of the plan that we've been working on a lot is an operation center for this region, which would help coordinate the hospitals, the public health, the EMS systems, all towards whatever goals we need for the event that is occurring. Why is it important to have all of those groups working together? Basically, for a long time in Disaster Medicine and in the whole field of disaster, there's been a lot of separate groups all working towards different end points. Public health is always sort of the one who's responsible for making sure everybody gets the care they need. The hospitals on the other side have most of the resources that will be needed and end up seeing a lot of the patients just because of the position they hold in society. So the idea of bringing them all together so that they could coordinate their work and make sure that they're covering everything that needs to be done is, from what I understand, a relatively new concept, but it seems to be a way to make everybody work together. It's sort of how we did it in Katrina and it's the way we think it probably should work in the future. It will be set up very much as a hospital would be set up. There will be people in beds. There will be nursing staff who have the ability to administer medications. There will be orders written for each patient. There will be continuity of the orders from where the patient was before or whether the I should say where the evacuee was before, let's say at a nursing home to where they are now. We will maintain a continuity of information flow and those procedures are in place now. They will either bring medications with them and in some cases they will do that or we will have a standard set of medications available for them as well. Part of our planning for this is that there is a standard of what beds we're going to use, what medications will be administered, what staff will be there, what the staffing hours will be in terms of the 24-hour-a-day response and so forth. Dr. Ray Fowler says Texas is setting up a prototypical design. The makeshift hospital will be housed at Dallas' 100,000-square-foot Alliance Airport. It will be qualified a level 3 medical shelter and would house 1,000 patients for up to two weeks. Knowing who will care for them and how is imperative for a successful working plan. The most important aspect of disaster preparedness is the fact that you have to identify the team members in advance, learn each other, and have a plan in advance that allows a response from the local level up city to county to state to federal and from the federal level down so that is a seamless pathway. If you don't do that in advance you will not be prepared. But the people who will be involved will be anywhere from primary care physicians, internal medicine physicians, all sort of different levels. Plus, nurses from lots of different hospitals would be involved and some of the regional public health nurses would also be expected to be involved in the initial plan. What did you learn from Katrina that helped you put together this plan? I think one of the main things we learned in Katrina is the fact that you need everybody to come and that there needs to be no egos issues. And the idea being that all the hospitals played an important role, every single one of them in the region. They all sent either supplies or people or resources that were needed to one, the shelter that we set up, but two, they saw the patients in their hospitals and throughout the region. So they all provided important roles. I didn't know there were 30,000 nursing home beds in Texas. I know that now. I didn't know that there were 10,000 beds open in September of last year and available at that time. I didn't know where the phone numbers were and the contact people were, but we know now. And so what we have to have in advance is a plan that we can say, should we have to evacuate thousands of individuals out of the path of one of these monstrous storms? Where would we take them? I think one of the good things that came out of the events of the last five years, be it 9-1-1 or the anthrax attacks or the Katrina, is that we've had to try to drill and prepare and fix some of the holes in the system. And we've gotten to know each other. And actually kind of what it comes down to is that in the past, I used to always think drills were a little bit staged and really didn't feel realistic. And every time we'd had a real event that happened after a drill, the drill event went much better. In mid-September, the special needs evacuee plan underwent a statewide phone drill to test it and work out any kinks. The plan involves a number of agencies and organizations. I think the trying to find the combination of people from public health, hospitals, EMS, and bringing them all together, even if they may not fit into the normal ICS kind of structure or they may not. The fact that you bring them all into a same location to enable communication and coordination is a huge step forward. We have mutual aid agreements with surrounding cities for fires, hazmat calls, flooding. So it's very important to us on a local level. But one of the things that was a result of Katrina and 9-1-1 is the need for state MOUs where we'd be able to request or allocate resources throughout the state and be covered under this mutual aid agreement. So that's something that is going to legislation as a result of those two events. So you have this plan in place for special needs evacuees coming from Houston. It's been a year in the making since Katrina. Are you ready? Yeah, my feeling is that first of all, we may be better prepared than we would like to have been because we went through the trial by fire a year ago. We came back from that selfishly to a degree for the state of Texas saying how do we not allow that in some of those occurrences to now have to be relived? One of the things that we always say in emergency management is plan for the worse and hope for the best. And the reason being is because you can write a plan for everything but I can assure you at some point there's going to be something that comes that you didn't plan for. So you just need to be able to think on your feet, have those experts around you in the field who can give input and stay flexible. Texas is just one state. Houston and Dallas are just two cities. Is it something that can be repeated around the country? Do you feel? Looking at something from its franchise ability or from its duplication standpoint is something that's critical to disaster medicine. The doctors say the next phase of this project is to roll it out and see if it'll work in other areas outside of Texas which is key to the paradigm they live by. Local preparedness, global response. The doctors hope once the plan is in good working order they can expand it. Some future goals include creating an electronic personal health record that can travel with a patient in case of an evacuation as well as having a secure website that provides preparedness information in times of crisis. Now let's get a look at several events happening around the country for first responders. The third annual Sea Shield conference will be held November 6th through 8th at the Sheraton Premier at Tyson's Corner in Vienna, Virginia. On November 7th through 11th the Fire Rescue Conference and Expo 2006 will be held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada and on November 9th and 10th the Emergency Preparedness for Government Facilities Conference will be held in Atlanta, Georgia at the Regency Suites Hotel. The 54th annual IAEM Conference and Expo will be held in Orlando, Florida at the Orange County Convention Center on November 12th through 15th. Then on November 13th through 16th Hazmat Explo 10 will take place at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. On November 15th and 16th the 7th Security Conference and Exhibition will be held at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. The 4th International Aviation Security Technology Symposium will be held at the Omni Shorm Hotel in Washington, D.C. on November 27th through December 1st. And on December 13th through 14th the Emergency Preparedness and Response Conference will take place at the Omni Shorm Hotel in Washington, D.C. The 2006 Southeastern Regional Homeland Security Summit will be held December 11th through 12th at the Double Tree Grand Hotel in Miami, Florida. Many counties across the country have special needs registration programs through their emergency management agencies. John Eastman visits Lynn County, Iowa to find out how they track their registrants using a geographic information system or a GIS. In the event of an emergency the most vulnerable members of our community are those citizens with special needs. People with mobility, hearing or medical challenges. In Lynn County, Iowa the Emergency Management Agency is using a geographic information system which specifically pinpoints where those people are thereby reducing time and manpower in locating and moving them. The special needs program that we have in Lynn County was initiated in 1994 by our resident nuclear power plant FPL Energy Dwayne Arnold Energy Center. The program was initiated in response to their requirement to address the needs of special populations in their community and specifically within their emergency planning zone. Nuclear power plants are federally regulated to make sure that the public they're situated in is safe. So not only are we producing electricity but we're ensuring that our employees in our communities are safe. So years ago we took a look at what would happen if in the unlikely event something happened at Dwayne Arnold how would we mobilize different populations. Part of those groups are special needs or elderly populations and we really needed to address that area of concern. Although they put the program in place initially to address their needs for radiological emergency planning we're now able to use that program to address any kind of emergency event. So if it's a hazardous materials event if we have a tornado come through the community we can access and use that information in the event of any type of disaster. So it's not restricted which is perfect for us because we need to address multi-hazard emergency events. Beyond Lynn County emergency management and the emergency planning staff at our nuclear power plant we've also brought in our geographic information system staff from Lynn County. They are players within our emergency operations center so as the program was being developed it just was a natural fit to bring this into the GIS mode and start mapping the locations of these residents. Robin can you give us an overview what the GIS system is? GIS stands for geographic information systems and it's a system of putting information into a program that will allow you to not only access the the information in different ways but also map it onto a mapping program so that any layers that you create whether they be the roads in our county or our special needs registrants we can pull them up on a map and have easy access to the information. First off you need data and data I'm talking about in a GIS would be maybe line segments or a road network that would have the address ranges to allow you to to plot out these points. They also need the application of the software that allows you to do this and we use ESRI's technology with just Arcview and Arc Info the ArcGIS suite of software that allows us to take these line segments and we can actually geocode these points or these addresses for their needs. I see that as helping the emergency management as a way to visually see where things are at it creates the picture it creates the location it could show you resources that are available at the time just it shows you transportation means that that are available. The mapping software allows for us to to map out the area affected by the incident and then the special needs populace would actually pop up on the screen and tell us that we have special needs people here here and here and specifically these are their needs. In the event of an emergency though and assuming that the system is working what happens what's the process. An event of any large scale would activate our emergency operations center and we would pull all the key players to this location to sit down and go through what exactly is going on and all the players would come to the table and we would look at the event and see what exactly we need to do in response to that and we would take the affected area then and immediately pull up where our special needs populations are located within that area so that we could work to send whatever is necessary maybe they need evacuation assistance if that's a case what type of assistance do they need how many handicapped accessible buses do we need how many regular school buses how many ambulances do we need where do we need them to be located and how do we get them there and then get them to a shelter that is appropriate for them. Registration in the special needs program is entirely voluntary and uses GIS resources already in place communities around the nation are paying attention to Lynn County benefiting from their experiences in data collection marketing and implementation. It's a voluntary program the information is confidential and we work to get the information out to the public and have them register with us so that in the event of an emergency we know where the residents with special needs in our community are and what are the best ways to help them. How do you classify how do you organize the kinds of people who have special needs and what way do you do that. It's set up in a database and it's based off the actual card that the resident fills out and the card asks for name address and phone number first of all and then it asks if they're blind or sight impaired deaf or hearing impaired and then goes down a list asking what kind of mobility issues that the resident might have ask them to list any electrical medical equipment that they have and then we ask the resident what exactly they think their needs would be do are they requesting additional notifications such as a knock on the door by an emergency responder are they requesting transportation or do they need additional assistance at a shelter and so by asking them to voluntarily register in advance we can automatically put those resources in place ahead of time so we know how many ambulances we may need or what type of shelter we need to relocate people to so that we can address all the needs of our citizens in Lynn County. I think it's a huge benefit to any community to do the pre-planning and to be able to make their responders aware of what exactly they're dealing with with the citizens that they're trying to help. What are the first steps that other communities could take to implement a system like this? I think the first thing is to get the information out to the public that you're looking at putting a system into place and this is what's going to be involved and then it's not going to be a cost to them but a benefit and start marketing the program however you can we have it as part of our hospital discharge packets for both hospitals in our county. We've also worked closely with the phone book companies and every year special needs cards are included with the new phone books so every resident receives one when the new phone books come out. I'm usually in March so marketing I think is the key to getting it started and once you start getting registrants then you can put the database into to play and start building your GIS system. By using a special needs registration program in conjunction with a GIS not only does a community citizens benefit but its first responders benefit as well. The citizens certainly benefit because they have made their special need aware to the responders ahead of time. We know exactly what it is that they need whether it be a personal notification due to a perhaps a hearing deficit or whether their mobility is an issue and then we are able to notate that into computers so we know in the event of an evacuation at a later time we have that information already preset and that certainly helps the first responders because we don't have to at that point in time try to think about who may need the extra assistance but we're able to pull off the GIS system off the computer exactly which the citizens in our area need special assistance and what that assistance specifically is. I think the program is so important because it saves so much time in the event of an emergency we have things in place ahead of time so that we don't have to knock on every citizens door we know where the residents are that need some additional assistance and we know what that assistance is so that we can send the right type of resource to help them and we're not sending a van when we should be sending an ambulance. I think that the time-saving factor is enormous. Any type of emergency event has some kind of chaos to it but if we can plan ahead and have a little more organization with our response to helping our citizens it's just going to make the the actual event move a little more smoothly and hopefully we can recover a lot faster. Why do you think there's a need for a program like this? I think that the need stems from the fact that we are all susceptible to emergency events at some point and part of our job in emergency management is to plan and prepare and respond to any type of emergency event whether it be natural or man-made events. So in this way I think it's important that we pre-address what the needs are of our community and if we have residents with special needs then we plan for them so we know what kind of resources may be needed as far as notifying them or transporting those residents to a safer location. What's the downside to a community not doing something like this? I think the downside would be are there going to be residents who are left behind because they're not aware of the emergency or they're unable to take action on their own because of a mental or physical condition and you know ultimately the downside is if you lose any lives and we certainly want to do everything we can to protect the lives of our citizens so by putting this in place we're trying to make sure that we just don't miss anybody. I would strongly recommend this program or something similar to it to all communities because all communities have some degree of risk from an emergency event and this is just a simple way to put into place some pre-planning for those residents who might need a little bit of special assistance in the event of that emergency so I would recommend it for any community. We all know that there's disasters out there and partnering with your local agencies can help ensure that your community is just that much safer so any kind of technology that you can adopt to make those communities safer is a step in the right direction. Minimizing chaos in an emergency is important to response and recovery operations by registering individuals with special needs and using data from a geographic information system emergency management can be proactive in their response to an event. If you would like more information on the geographic information system or any of the topics featured in this program visit our website or write to us at comnet PO Box 13489 St. Petersburg Florida 33733 and while you're on the NTPI website be sure and sign up and take the online test for CEUs also you can help ensure that we're meeting your learning needs by completing the evaluation form. And just a reminder that our next comnet will air Wednesday December the 13th at 2 p.m. eastern time and be sure to join us for live response on November the 15th at 2 p.m. eastern time when we will discuss the topic of port security. Thanks again for viewing we'll see you next time on comnet.