Confluence News Magazine
Our new news magazine “Confluence” serves as an intersection where we come together to share Center events and activities each month and important information about our all hazard emergency management career pathways. Our video and pod casts will bring together our pathway programs, their faculty, students and employers, and our communities across the state to discuss a variety of issues, interests, trends and discussions about our career pathways.
Functional Assessment Service Teams (FAST)
By Nancy Aird The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was enacted on July 26, 1990. It guaranteed equal access to individuals with disabilities to state and local programs, services, programs, activities, and facilities, which included support from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), faith and community-based organizations, and private sources. FEMAs’ Whole [...]
ADA Thoughts: Outlooks By Scott Preston
By Scott Preston When I ran the UW CERT team, I would actively seek out members from the hard of hearing/deaf community and the blind community. Dana Platt, the State 9-1-1 TTY manager at that time was someone who volunteered on several occasions. The UW would pay for an [...]
ADA Thoughts: Outlooks By Curry Mayer
By Curry Mayer It is interesting that we, in emergency management, talk at length about helping as many people as possible in all of our programs and in all of the phases of emergency management, however, I don’t believe we have spent enough time thinking about how we reach [...]
ADA Thoughts: Outlooks By Jim Mullen
By Jim Mullen It is frustrating when the obvious is missed. The challenges a disabled citizen encounters merely trying to access entry into an office, navigating stairs and hallways are always in plain sight. Those few individuals over the course of my career with whom I worked that experienced [...]
Featured Interview: Jim House
By Linda Crerar Society continues to be reminded of the importance of making emergency planning efforts inclusive of people of all ages and abilities as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. ACL. I interviewed Jim House, disability community leader working to ensure that people [...]
Women in Leadership Profile: Michele L. Turner
Women in Leadership Profile: Michele L. Turner MBCP, FBCI, CISA, CRISC By Deb Moller “If you would go fast, go alone. But if you would go far, bring others along.” - African Proverb As a woman of color, Michele is aware that there are biases in the world that [...]
Diversity: The Invisible Side
By Kellie Hale I don’t believe the term “diversity” should be viewed as a buzzword or fad. It is an important word that should continue to be a part of a person’s lexicon. For me, there is not a day that goes by where I don’t learn something new [...]
United Nations Women Training Center Classes
By Nancy Aird In 2015, the world leaders adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to ensure women and girls’ rights across all goals for justice and inclusive economies by 2030. The United Nations (UN) Women site provides daily news, blogs, and training to promote these SDGs. The [...]
Women’s History Month Resources
For Teachers A selection of resources for teachers https://womenshistorymonth.gov/for-teachers/ Digital Classroom Resources - Explore all of the resources the National Women’s History Museum has created. There are lesson plans, biographies, posters, primary sources, and more. https://www.womenshistory.org/students-educators/digital-classroom-resources Lesson Plans on Notable Women and Women’s History in General. https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/womens-history-month-resources Domestic Abuse [...]
Women in Emergency Management: Continuing to Break Barriers
By Kellie Hale First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library archives. Did you know that First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt is considered the initial supporter of women in the field of emergency management? Mrs. Roosevelt encouraged her husband to appoint Florence Kerr [...]
Women are Essential to Peace…
By Linda Crerar The United Nations has sponsored International Women’s Day since 1975. When adopting its resolution on the observance of International Women’s Day, the United Nations General Assembly cited the following reasons: “To recognize the fact that securing peace and social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights [...]
Women in Leadership Profile: Toya Moore
By Deb Moller When Toya Moore was a child, her family doctor provided care in a hospital setting. When she’d go for a check-up, she saw a sea of white people in white coats. One day, she saw something different – a black woman in a white [...]
Women in Leadership Profile: Elizabeth Klute
By Deb Moller Imagine a book of inspiring stories about women leading interesting lives. A teenage girl working as a wireman for the local electric company. A sheep shearer in New Zealand. A sailor living aboard a boat for seven years. A woman who taught Bill Gates [...]
Washington Disaster Resiliency Work Group
In the 2019 legislative session Insurance Commissioner, Mike Kreidler proposed legislation to help our state prepare for and mitigate climate disasters. The Senate Bill 5106 was signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee and created a workgroup represented by 27 organizations including legislators, state agencies, insurance companies, Tribal leaders, [...]
Japan Insights on Preparedness
By Nancy Aird March 3, 2011, marks the tenth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster. Japan faced this experience with “BOSAI,” a science that can save your life. Nationally this cultural idea of preparedness /resiliency evolved from the EDO period experiences of [...]
Preparedness Workshop
In January, we marked the 321st anniversary of the last full-rip 9.0 Cascadia earthquake. In March, we note the 20th anniversary of the Nisqually earthquake. Even though we live in earthquake country, we aren’t ready for a significant event. Will we ever be? Is getting people to prepare an [...]
Resiliency and Climate Change: Both Go Hand-In-Hand
By Kellie Hale The world is continuing to see an increase in high temperatures, seasonal weather is shifting, with an increasing impact on weather events (e.g., snowstorms, floods, hurricanes, tornados, drought, etc.). The longer we put aside our need for climate change adaptation, the more difficult and expensive it [...]
The Mental and Emotional Toll COVID-19 has Impacted Our Frontline Health Care Workers
By Kellie Hale COVID-19 cases have not gone down, unfortunately, and continues to rise across the nation. Hospitals are continuing to be overwhelmed with patients. Our frontline health care workers are continuing to experience multiple stressors with little relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a constant fear amongst [...]
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – Happy Birthday
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have turned 91 years old this year. Born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He would grow up to be known for his leadership and contribution during the American civil rights movement in the 1960s. His father and mother brought on Dr. [...]
Looking Back While Looking Forward
By Linda Crerar, Director CoE-HSEM In 1969, I attended Shoreline Community College in Seattle, working on my Associate’s degree and intending to go into a health care profession. I had an opportunity to join a volunteer group at Harborview Medical Center in their Emergency Room, providing social work and [...]
Women in Leadership Profile: Brandi Hunter
Brandi Hunter knows that when you’re young, an impatience for too much talk and a preference for taking action can get you into more trouble than you expected. It certainly can make the people around you wonder, as you do yourself, where you’ll end up. But take those traits [...]
20 Reasons Why We’re Proud of 2020
Confluence serves as an intersection where we share events, interests, and important information about our Center and the state’s all-hazard emergency management pathway programs.
Interview with Elyzabeth Estrada
For this month’s Confluence, we wanted to highlight tribal emergency managers. Our Education & Outreach Coordinator, Brandi Hunter, recommended we highlight Elyzabeth Estrada. Brandi said, “I met Elyzabeth on LinkedIn. She had joined Aspiring Emergency Managers Online and introduced herself to me, and said she would like to help [...]
Building Cultures of Preparedness With Tribes
Building Cultures of Preparedness With Tribes – An Overview In 1999, Governor Gary Locke and Attorney General Christine Gregoire joined tribal chairs from throughout the state in signing an “Agreement to Institutionalize the Government-to-Government Relationship in Preparation for the New Millennium.” This agreement, between the State of Washington [...]
The Importance of Feeding America During COVID-19
Message from our New Advisory Board Member, Vincent Davis - The Importance of Feeding America During COVID-19 “In general, very few people are prepared for any kind of disaster including disability which doesn’t require a hurricane.” – Arthur Ashe As I go about the important work of feeding families [...]