Our Part in Partners

When a local incident happens, the response usually involves several local partners, often more than you would expect. For example, the Public Health response to a bat-infested apartment building in Buford involved 16 community partners. This was a small scale incident. There was also the Burke County School Bus Accident on I-20 (Newton County) that occurred at the same location where the WIPP TRX exercise had taken place just a few weeks prior. The incident was managed more efficiently and effectively because of the 14 collaborating partners who had exercised together just a few weeks prior. This too was a small scale incident.

A larger scale event – like an active shooter incident – would bring together many more community partners. The response can be much more challenging to coordinate and orchestrate. We know the effect on a community or region when the response is not well coordinated.

Fortunately, the greater Metro Atlanta Region has not seen a recent major disastrous event. As we know, this doesn’t remove the need for planning and preparing. We cannot ignore incidents like the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting. We have the opportunity to learn from these events and make our own preparations.

The active shooter topic is this quarter’s focus for the newsletter. Kevin Johnson provides excellent advice to pass on to our clients, partners, and loved ones should the situation occur: get away! For those of us who are emergency responders, Chandra Hohn lays out tips regarding how to mentally cope during and after an event. Finally, Vanessa Dameron’s article reveals what organizations like Rockdale Medical Center are doing to protect their patients and staff.

By planning and exercising together, we make our community response that much greater – should something happen. The impact of a situation on our community, like an active shooter, will require participation of all partners. The strength of our community’s response will be measured by the breadth and diversity of its responsive membership.