Newspaper: Times Leader
Date: September 28, 2004

College Misericordia will host Ready Campus workshop

Increasingly frequent terror alerts and natural disasters demonstrate the need for being prepared for the unforeseeable. In Pennsylvania, colleges and universities and their communities are getting ready through an innovative project known as Ready Campus.

The first regional workshop for Ready Camps will be held at College Misericordia on Sept. 30 for college administrators at every level, including those responsible for academics, service learning, safety, and community relations, from throughout northeast Pennsylvania.

All the colleges are encouraged to bring representatives from their local Red Cross, emergency management agencies, and first-responders, such as police and fire officials.

Experts will show campus officials how they can help by making available residence and dining halls, infirmaries, telecommunications infrastructures and other facilities; by encouraging faculty, staff, students and alumni to volunteer to work with the American Red Cross and PEMA, and by creating courses that will give students experience in helping others during crises.

"The idea for Ready Campus came out of College Misericordia, which served as a valuable resource to its neighbors during the 1972 Hurricane Agnes flood," said Dr. Michael MacDowell, Misericordia president.

"We've all learned a lot from floods and other natural disasters. and we recognize that there are new and real threats," said McDowell. "Our goal here is to ensure that college campuses, large and small, are prepared to help their communities in times of need and produce graduates who embrace service to the community, especially during a crisis."

The project was developed by the Pennsylvania Campus Compact. College Misericordia, Pennsylvania's Office of Homeland Security, the American Red Cross, the Pennsylvania Association of College and Universities (PACU) and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania (AICUP) and is being funded by a $500,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) via the federal Department of Homeland Security. A portion of the funds is being used to hold the training sessions.

A 2003 survey of college and university presidents in the state indicated overwhelmingly strong interest in having the state's higher education institutions serve as resources for Pennsylvania communities in times of regional or national emergencies, and in having their staffs attend training meetings to develop and refine campus emergency response plans.

When launched this past spring, Governor Edward G. Rendelf said, "Ready Campus is designed to help higher education institutions in Pennsylvania, anti eventually across the country. collaborate with communities and relief agencies to ensure the safety and public health of American citizens and to prepare the citizens of tomorrow to serve their neighbors in times of crisis. I encourage all colleges and universities in the Commonwealth to participate in this critically important project."

That sentiment was echoed by Keith Martin, director of the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security. "Pennsylvania really needs Ready Campus," he said. "The theme in our state is relentless vigilance,' and the more we have people involved and alert, but not alarmed, the safer and better prepared our communities will be."

For more information, go to www.readycampus.org, or contact Pennsylvania Campus Compact at 717-796-5072.