Bay Area CAN - Coordinated Assistance Network

The System of Record for Disaster Recovery

 By Alessa Adamo 

Why is a shared disaster client database important?  What do we even mean by a shared disaster client database? A little history may be in order to help explain. After the tragic events of 9/11/2001 it was apparent that nonprofits and faith-based organizations could play a much more significant role in helping people recover after disasters. One of the biggest obstacles participating organizations faced was the inability to share information about the disaster clients they were helping. Of course, there were obstacles to sharing disaster client information, including lack of trust between organizations as well as a way to share the information easily. That's when the concept of CAN - Coordinated Assistance Network was born.

A group of national nonprofit organizations involved in disaster response and recovery got together to endorse this common platform for sharing information about disaster clients with each other. These organizations included AIRS, American Red Cross, Catholic Charities USA, Lutheran Disaster Response, National VOAD, The Salvation Army, United Way of America, and UMCOR. Hurricane Karina is where CAN demonstrated its strength; it was used for the gulf hurricane disaster clients including offsite evacuees and had more than 1 million clients in its database.

In the Bay Area, CAN is being used on a smaller scale. It has been adapted for use in smaller emergencies such as the San Bruno Explosion and the recent apartment fires that displaced hundreds of residents. But Bay Area CAN is capable of handling any size disaster.

Shared client information:

Bay Area CAN offers a way for organizations to share information about clients who authorize the sharing of their information to assist their recovery. It's been shown in multiple uses that organizations that share information with each other make it easier on the client. The client doesn't have to restate all their information over and over again to each organization they approach. And organizations that contribute have a way to document their participation, verify their extraordinary expenses and immediately share their information with other organizations.

System of record:

CAN is the nationally recognized system for major disaster recovery client assistance records. It is supported by FEMA and HHS, and many disaster recovery organizations such as Lutheran Disaster Response, Catholic Charities and more are ready to use it when setting up long-term recoveries after a disaster.

Resources linked to a disaster recovery:

Clients need resources to help them recover. If resources are available for organizations to research, then it makes for a smoother recovery. 2-1-1 Bay Area has been a partner of Bay Area CAN since its inception and has populated the resource database with more than 15,000 services available through 1,500 organizations. And each of these services can be easily accessed and linked to a client's recovery effort. Even as resources become available in a disaster, they are easily added and available for use throughout the entire network.

Notifications:

Through the Sit-Stat boards and library, members can be notified of emergencies in real time. Push notifications are sent to members where they can monitor the event status and post their own notifications in relation to the event. Documents, maps, contact lists, recovery minutes and more can be placed into and accessed in the library.  Essentially, everything can be done using one tool.

Custom Reports:

Need a quick readout of general statistics in the client database? The dashboard is available to give you fast, reliable figures. Need custom reports? You can design your own reports to reflect anything reported in more than 300 database fields. Save your reports and use them anytime in the future or modify them at your convenience.

Sector or Neighborhood Custom Designs:

Looking for a database custom designed for your own neighborhood or sector group to share information, calendar events, input shared data about current clients or services? Bay Area CAN is available today. There is no need to reinvent a shared platform or use an Internet platform that forces you to receive ads and places you on untold numbers of email lists. Look into setting up your own portal in Bay Area CAN. It's secure, robust, customizable and ready today. Call SF CARD for details. 

Your own BA CAN System Operators:

BA CAN is powered by one of the most experienced software vendors in the business. They provide services to many of the 2-1-1 information networks nationwide and provide many more organizations with services through their Colorado location. SF CARD acts as local system operators for Bay Area CAN, which means you have even more versatility and flexibility when using the system. And our new Bay Area CAN Coordinator, Siobhann Bellinger, is here to answer your questions, help you with system issues and help with training.

It all adds up to one powerful system, customized to our needs and operated locally. Does it get any better than that?

For more information on Bay Area CAN, call Siobhann Bellinger at 415-955-8946 x226 or Siobhann@sfcard.org.

Disaster Readiness Conference in the Bayview  

While most of us think about earthquakes as disaster enemy number one in the Bay Area, it is important to keep in mind that the Bay Area is susceptible to much more than earthquakes as evidenced by a recent study from the California Geological Survey (CGS).

According to the study, landslides are a definite threat not only in the Bay Area but also throughout California. An article in the Chronicle interviewed the CGS lead geologist, Chris Wills, who stated that the purpose of the study was to show the areas in California most vulnerable to landslide as a result of an ARkStorm, which is estimated to affect a quarter of all California residents and cause $300 billion in property damage. As for the Bay Area, two-thirds of Marin and Sonoma Counties are classified as high-hazard as are many parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the East Bay hills.

It is not a matter of if but when landslides will happen. Mitigate and understand the risks for your area by examining the landslide hazard map and prepare accordingly.  

• Link to CGS study/landslide map 
• Link to SF Chronicle article  
• Link to SF CARD article 

Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Section - a new section in the San Francisco Department of Public Health

The newly-formed Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Section (PHEPR), directed by Erica Pan, MD, MPH officially commenced this February, 2011. This new section will work closely with staff throughout the Department of Public Health (DPH) to coordinate DPH emergency planning and response. The new section's initial tasks include identifying short and long-term goals, meeting with internal and external key stakeholders, and improving planning, response and communication. The section is conducting a strategic planning process that will help prioritize San Francisco Department of Public Health emergency preparedness planning.

The Healthcare Surge Challenge

What is healthcare surge?

Healthcare surge is not just the availability of beds at hospitals in a disaster. It is the entire community's medical capacity to handle the increase of patients from the disaster. More precisely, it is the physical space, staff and resources of the healthcare community all working together to meet the unusual increase in medical demand.

What do we do as a small nonprofit or faith-based organization after the disaster with our injured?  Are we prepared to handle the basic first aid needs we would face?  What supplies and training does this entail?  Who should do this?  Where do we send our injured?  How can we help when our hospitals and community clinics cannot take any more patients?  This is the Healthcare Surge Challenge!

Every person and organization needs to be prepared to handle these questions with the appropriate information and action in a disaster. The good news is that all major California hospitals are now on the emergency disaster communication network so that they will be able to communicate their level of capacity.  This is a great first step.    

What can we, the organizations who may be at ground zero, do? We can - 

1. learn to make appropriate triage, first aid and transport decisions
2. learn if our organization can help with reverse triage* from hospitals
3. promote our staff who are not disaster service workers (DSW) to volunteer and sign-up on the practitioner database to increase staff capacity at all healthcare locations
4. learn where the community clinics and hospitals are in our neighborhoods and across the city
5. learn about our city and county's disaster healthcare communications systems

Expanded:

1. SF CARD and the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium are hosting a Coffee Talk about First Aid and triage on July 15th (see the events section of the newsletter). This is a good place to start to prepare on this subject.
2. *Reverse triage from hospitals is the safe discharge of current inpatients and the refocus of hospital resources to those in even greater need. Where might these patients go? If you are a long-term care facility find out more about your role in helping manage the reverse triage from hospitals. It is important to understand that every patient you can take off our hospitals' hands frees-up capacity at that hospital to receive your critically injured. The San Francisco Department of Public Health's LTC (long-term care) Emergency Preparedness Workgroup will address some of these issues at their next meeting on July 11th.
3. While a particular staff member from your organization may be unable to get to your organization's facilities in a disaster, he or she may be able to help out the community in general. If you have a healthcare worker, who is not a DSW, encourage him or her to sign-up on the practitioner database and register as a credentialed volunteer in the event of a disaster. In the disaster, practitioners (physicians, nurses, behavioral health professionals and ancillary staff) listed on the database could be given privileges in their specialties for 72 hours to help meet healthcare surge needs in terms of staffing demands.  The San Francisco Department of Public Health's LTC (long-term care) Emergency Preparedness Workgroup will also address the practitioner database (ESAR VHP) to increase staff capacity at all healthcare locations at their next meeting on July 11th. ESAR VHP  is the Emergency System for the Advanced Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals.

While the appropriate decisions around transporting our wounded to hospitals or community clinics can mitigate the healthcare surge which invariably occurs in mass casualty disaster situations, being prepared as a community is the most important thing we can do to make a big difference in healthcare surge. So, here is the healthcare surge challenge - take the time as a member of the community to ensure that both you and your organization understand what you can do to mitigate healthcare surge.

Benefits Galore

By Brian E Whitlow

If your organization is headquartered or has a facility located in the Chinatown area, then the Chinatown Disaster Preparedness Committee (CDPC) has an offer you should not refuse. 

Over the next couple of weeks, CDPC with the help of many community partners will be wrapping up their survey efforts.  The survey has been created with the intention of gathering vital information regarding the resources available to the Chinatown community in the event of a large-scale disaster. 

Before I talk more about the survey, first I would like to introduce or remind you what CDPC is all about.The CDPC is collaborative of private, governmental, nonprofit and faith-based organizations that share a primary goal of working together to help the Chinatown community prepare for a major disaster.  The collaborative is organized and facilitated by NICOS Chinese Health Coalition (NICOS).  NICOS is a public-private-community partnership of more than 30 health and human service organizations and concerned individuals. NICOS' membership includes health care agencies, education- and faith-based institutions, housing and community development organizations, and child and youth development agencies.

Participants take ICS 100 certification course after SF CARD's basic ICS training.

Since 1989, CDPC has come together roughly every month to discuss preparedness topics and to engage in exercises.For example on June 10^th, 2011 representatives from 12 organizations participated in an Incident Command System training , which was conducted by staff from SF CARD. 

Why is the survey being completed?  Because nonprofit and faith-based organizations are extremely important and are an integral part in serving the Chinatown community, CDPC is trying to get a clearer picture of the resources currently available within the Chinatown community.   Part of the process of getting a clearer picture involves trying to determine where available resources lie and where gaps may exist in the Chinatown community.  CDPC members are collecting data that will be utilized to inform future planning and decision-making regarding deployment of resources and coordination of services across sectors in a disaster situation.    

What are the Benefits of Participating in Survey? By participating in the survey, your organization will be able to better partner with organizations that have a stake in the Chinatown community and open up your organization to an important avenue to share resources if needed during disaster.Additionally, the survey results will allow all of the CDPC members to get a significantly better understanding of what resources exist currently in the Chinatown community.  As most communities struggle to understand their collaborative strengths, this survey will help reflect the capacity and needs of Chinatown-based organizations in those with a satellite facility in Chinatown.As we all prepare to be on our own for at least 72 hours, it is extremely important that our neighborhoods prepare together - the survey is a fantastic tool to initiate dialogue and to help organizations engage with one another around the topic of disaster supplies.

How Does my Organization get More involved or join CDPC?  If you are interested in attending CDPC meetings, please feel free to drop by one of our meetings which are held the Second Thursdays of Each Month at 3:00PM.  Please contact Michael Liao, Director of Programs, at 415-788-0966 or at michaelliao@nicoschc.org for the latest information and address.  Please note that each meeting takes place at different locations in Chinatown. 

If you're interested in learning more about the survey, contact Christle Chung at christlechung@nicoschc.org.  If interested in taking the survey, please follow this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LQPXT6Q  

Need a dynamic speaker for your upcoming event, conference or trade show?  We have a great opportunity for you to learn more about SF CARD and what we do in the community. We are available for all groups including corporations, civic and neighborhood associations, organizations, clubs, schools and religious centers.

This is a complimentary service that allows us to share important information with the community, putting in practice our mission and our service to the community. If you would like to set up an event with one of our speakers or need additional information, please contact Kristin Szafraniec at Kristin@sfcard.org or (415) 982-8999 ext. 223.  

Japan's Long Nuclear Disaster Film

An Excerpt from The New York Times

By Peter Wynn Kirby 

March 14, 2011 - OXFORD, England - Peering at the post-tsunami devastation in Japan on miniature YouTube windows or video-streaming displays from Japanese news outlets provokes not only great empathy and concern, but an unmistakable feeling of déjà vu. As a scholar focusing on the place of nuclear energy in Japanese culture, I've seen more than my share of nuclear-themed monster movies from the '50s onward, and the scenes of burning refineries, flattened cities, mobilized rescue teams and fleeing civilians recall some surreal highlights of the Japanese disaster film genre. 

This B-movie fare is widely mocked, often for good reason. But the early "Godzilla" films were earnest and hard-hitting. They were stridently anti-nuclear: the monster emerged after an atomic explosion.

To continue reading, goto: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/japans-long-nuclear-disaster-film/ 

Refurbished Computers for Sale - Special Nonprofit Pricing

Some of the Key Computer Specs:

• Gateway Computer System
• Built in 15" Monitor
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• 1Gb DDR Ram
• 40Gb Hard Drive
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• Built in Speakers
• Built-in 10/100 Network
• 6 USB 2.0 Ports
• Firewire
• Keyboard / Mouse
• Windows XP Pro SP3
• Microsoft Office 2000
• Microsoft Outlook 2003
• Adobe Acrobat Reader 10
• Microsoft Security Essentials
• Nero Burning Software
• PDF Creator
• Power DVD
• Windows Media Player 11
• Windows Internet Explorer 8

If you're interested in more information or would like to purchase, please contact :

Steve Carlson

Nexis Preparedness Systems

Emergency Preparedness Advisor/ Training Manager

7197-E Village Parkway

Dublin, CA. 94568

925-918-1650

stevedc@pacbell.net

scarlson@nexisprep.com

Please note that the advert and computers are from an outside vendor and SF CARD is not responsible for anything!