Central Virginia
Emergency Management Alliance
Mass Care & Human Services Committee
Thursday, March 9, 2016 1:30 pm
RRPDC | 9211 Forest Hill Ave Suite 200 Richmond VA 23235
Minutes
In attendance:
TaMisha Bascombe, Richmond HD
Beverley Brandt, Colonial Heights
Sami Clark, Richmond HD
Gray Corbett, CVHC
Ginny Ferguson, Hanover DSS
Floyd Greene, Powhatan
Paul Hundley, Richmond DSS, Chair
Donald Hunter, Prince George OEM
Anthony McLean, Richmond
Michelle Oblinsky, Chesterfield
Kathy Robins, RRPDC
Ben Ruppert, Hopewell
Ken Ryals, Emporia
Altise Street, 211 VIRGINIA
1. Welcome and introductions. The Chair called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m.
2. Approval of Minutes from the February 4, 2016 meeting. Donald Hunter moved approval of the minutes as
presented and Beverley Brandt seconded. Motion carried with no further discussion.
3. Old Business
 FY14 SHSP Grant Status | The Chair invited comments on the FY14 Shelter Equipment grant. Ms.
Robins reported that Louisa County has now completed their purchases. They were the last locality
to finish up.
 FY15 SHSP Grant Status | The Chair inquired as to whether all localities have received their award
letters and grant application packages. All answered in the affirmative. Powhatan has also received
their Grant Agreement.
 FY16 SHSP Grants | Michelle Oblinsky reported that the Grants Stakeholder Workshop will be next
week. This is where priorities and scoring criteria are reviewed and revised as needed.
 The Chair reported on questions/tasks from the March meeting:
o Mike Nelson was to get answers to the question about State Managed Shelters as well as
the status of the Hazard Mitigation Plan Update. Update on VDEM Region 1 staffing. The
Chair will follow up with Mr. Nelson.
o Steve Rykal was to report on the North Anna VOPEX. The Chair asked if anyone present
could give any information on this. There was no one present to report. Donald Hunter
asked about radiological grants, in his case, for the Surry Plant. The group reported that this
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is pass through money, not a grant. Ms. Oblinsky advised him to contact Susan Binkley at
VDEM.
o James Moss was to report on the AAR for the patient release situation at hospitals during
the snowstorm in January. No one present had anything further to offer.
4. New Business
 2016 Project Priorities. Results of discussion at the March:
o Regional storage for shelter supplies – The Chair expressed misgivings about a project such
as this that would require sustainment and possibly staffing. The City of Richmond proposes
to pursue the procurement of storage sheds to be located on the grounds of their primary
shelters. Trailers are not a useful option for them. They do store Red Cross push packs in a
school district warehouse, but these resources must be packed up and transported to
shelters when needed and they can be taken elsewhere by Red Cross at any time. It would
be better to have on-site storage for locally-owned resources at shelters. They are thinking a
minimum 16’ x 24’ delivered and set up for less than $5,000. Consensus of the group is that
this option should be added to our Shelter Supplies and Equipment grant application for this
year to allow this as an option for those localities that wish to have them. (A check of the
AEL shows that Storage Containers are covered (no restrictions listed) # AEL 19MH-00CONT)
o Shelter Training Academy – The Chair inquired if the group wishes to pursue this initiative.
Consensus is that this would be a very beneficial project for the region. Training would focus
primarily on shelter staff, rather than management. The Chair shared a list received from
Mike Peoples at Red Cross (attached) showing what training they could offer, including any
costs associated. Offer same courses at different times/days. We will need a work group to
develop this project. The Chair asked for volunteers. Considerations:
 How many days long?
 Suggestions for classes to include:
o Shelter Fundamentals
o Shelter Management
o CPR and First Aid (including psychological first aid)
o Feeding Fundamentals and Safe Food Handling
o EWA Phoenix Training
 Jurisdictional Administrators
 Registration staff
 Exercise on the final day?
 Help with facilitation? Red Cross? VDEM?
 Should this training be VDEM T & E responsibility? A shared responsibility with
localities?
 Venue?
 Target audience?
 Feeding?
 Make this a regular/annual event? Possibly approach like VDEM with the new EM
Academy and offer both basic and advanced training on a regular basis.
 Include churches or any entities other than Social Services or local government
staff?
 Budget?
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
Should use EWA Phoenix to register attendees at the training to get practice with
the system.
 Consensus of the group is to invite Social Services Directors to participate in the
work group to plan. Scale it down to 2 days or fewer. Involve the Red Cross. The
Chair will reach out to Social Services Directors and develop the work group. Also,
include Dawn Brantley, State Shelter Coordinator for VDEM. Ginny Ferguson
volunteered to be a part of the work group. She and Paul Hundley and Kathy Robins
will draft an email to DSS Directors to introduce the Alliance and this committee and
invite them to participate as well as a survey to determine what conflicts might
exist.
 Some discussion of who to include in training, such as Health District staff.
o Marketing to increase locality participation in grants in general. The Chair will call nonparticipating localities. Ms. Robins will send him a list. Ginny Ferguson reported that in the
Central Region, the regional director conducts a ‘State of the Agency’ assessment annually
by 2 hour visits to each local Social Services department. This may be another way to
leverage participation.
o Grant applications will be submitted by the Chair. In the case of equipment and supplies, he
will request that VDEM issue award letters to each participating locality so that they will be
Fiscal Agent for their portion of the regional grant.
5. Reminders
 The next Alliance meeting will be Thursday, March 17 at 9:30 am at the Virginia Public Safety
Training Center in Hanover.
 The Statewide Tornado Drill is March 22, 2016 at 9:45 am.
 The Virginia Emergency Management Symposium is March 29 – April 1 in Newport News. More
information at the VEMA website .
6. Open discussion, comments, round table
 Anthony McLean, Richmond reported that winter storms are being named by the Weather Channel
and not National Weather Service.
 Floyd Greene, Powhatan announced that Dave Bailey has taken a position as Fire Chief in Harriman,
Tennessee, to start March 14.
 TaMisha Bascombe, Richmond Health District reported that their Nursing Manager has retired.
Also, their Director, Dr. Stern, is retiring at the end of the month. RHD and MRC are participating in
the RIC full scale exercise on April 2.
 Altise Street, 211 VIRGINIA reported that the Patient Locator system was activated during the
recent tornadoes with 9-10 staff manning the phones through the event. She is still waiting on data
from the event. They have scheduled a training/information session to raise awareness of 211
VIRGINIA. This will take place on March 21, 2016 at 9:30 am at the United Way on Maywill Street.
 Gray Corbett, CVHC reported that the hospitals will also be participating at the RIC exercise on April
2. Happy to be partnering with 211 VIRGINIA.
 Beverley Brandt, Colonial Heights reported during the tornado event in February, the City never got
any weather warnings (due to a fluke of geography, they were never at the level of risk to trigger a
warning) though the localities around them did, causing many citizens who were watching the
television to call and ask why, thinking that the system was not working. Chesterfield and Powhatan
reported that they have elected not to issue weather warnings as part of their citizen alerting
systems. They still receive phone calls from citizens.
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
Paul Hundley, City of Richmond reported having attended a meeting last week where someone
reported that 211 VIRGINIA is who you call to check on a relative. He proposed to bring in Red Cross
to talk about their Safe & Well Program, which is a web-based system that helps people to check on
a relative’s welfare. The group is in favor.
7. The next meeting will be on Thursday, April 6, 2016 at 1:30 pm at the Richmond Regional Planning District
Commission, 9211 Forest Hill Avenue, Suite 200, Richmond, Virginia 23235.
8. The meeting was adjourned at 2:36 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathy Robins
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