Misericordia University

In April 2005, parts of Pennsylvania experienced severe flooding. Misericordia helped arrange an initial planning meeting with emergency mangers in the weeks prior. When the American Red Cross met with local emergency management agencies to discuss the threat of overflow of local creeks and rivers, the Red Cross went out of its way to consult and include the college. It was important to them that the college be represented at the discussion table. Fortunately there was no flooding, but the indication of partnership was very encouraging, and emergency management agencies are now aware of valuable resources at the institution.
Helen Speziale hspezial@misericordia.edu

Keystone College

Keystone College partnered with the Red Cross on disaster training and to prepare the college as an evacuation site in case of a disaster. The Red Cross and the college worked to provide training to faculty, staff, and students to become familiar with the protocol necessary to set up and run a shelter out of the gymnasium in case of a major emergency. The Red Cross came to the campus on four separate occasions, teaching a different topic each week: introduction to disaster services, mass care, shelter operations, and shelter simulations. Those who attended the training will be able to temporarily assist the community independently of the Red Cross if the organization is needed elsewhere in case of major disaster.
Stacey Wyland Stacey.Wyland@keystone.edu

Kutztown University

The university and community partners engaged in an open forum about roles and responsibilities-in short, what they expected of each other as community members. This dialogue generated good ideas and thoughts, some of which will be implemented. Kutztown's Ready Campus workshop was a primer for additional activities to be scheduled in the future. Efforts to involve Kutztown students will move forward throughout 2006. The Ready Campus grant and concept has enhanced Kutztown's understanding of the need to partner with our community emergency response agencies. The Ready Campus grant project is just "the tip of the iceberg" as more needs to be accomplished in developing opportunities for students to learn how to integrate community service and areas of study to help the university enhance its capacity for sustainable campus-community partnerships.
Stephen Helms shelms@kutztown.edu

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University coordinated a full-day training event for approximately 50 people. A group from the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston facilitated a discussion program called Basic Disaster Life Support, which was developed with the Medical College of Georgia, the Southwestern Medical Center of Dallas, and the University of Georgia. Participants included medical, police, and environmental health & safety groups from Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University and University of Pittsburgh. The city of Pittsburgh fire and emergency response teams were also involved. These groups explored "disaster paradigms," or basic models for efficient disaster response.
Mark Bannister markb2@andrew.cmu.edu

Pennsylvania College of Technology

Pennsylvania College of Technology partnered with the North Central Chapter of the Red Cross to strengthen emergency management and preparedness by offering training to the entire campus community. Penn College has offered 14 separate disaster classes on seven topics: introduction to disaster, shelter operations, mass care, disaster health services, family services, disaster assessment, and weapons of mass destruction. The college is proud of its remarkable turnout of staff, faculty, and students-approximately 200 individuals. After completing the training, the college feels it will serve as a strong and unified voice for disaster safety at the local level.
Carl Shaner cshaner@pct.edu

West Chester University

A crisis communication lecture was provided by the renowned expert, Dr. Peter Sandman. Dr. Sandman visited the West Chester University (WCU) Campus on September 29, 2005. Students from the class, ENV 475/575 Bioterrorism and Public Health hosted fellow students, WCU administrators, representatives from the Chester County Department of Health and Chester County Department of Emergency Services, emergency professionals from local townships, hospitals and corporations and a representative from the PA State Health Laboratory. In addition, emergency professionals and administrators from sister university, Kutztown University attended. Students and professionals were able to learn about Crisis Communication from one of the finest risk communication experts in the country, Dr. Peter Sandman. Dr. Sandman has consulted with clients such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO). The lecture and materials provided will better enable future and current emergency professionals to communicate in a crisis. In addition to a shared learning experience, this endeavor has fostered goodwill and collaboration among the organizations represented and students.

Immaculata University

A tabletop exercise was conducted on the campus that simulated an armed visitor on campus. The scenario involved the armed visitor entering a residence hall. The intruder set fire to the building and wounded a University security officer. Students were evacuated from the residence hall. The intruder escaped with a hostage and entered another residence hall.
The exercise included University security personnel and administrators, municipal police officials, emergency medical personnel, municipal fire officials, county emergency communication dispatchers and municipal codes and life safety personnel.

Juniata College

Juniata College partnered with the Huntingdon County Emergency Management Agency to develop a mobile medical response element for its student Quick Response Service (QRS). A police bicycle was purchased. It was equipped with medical supplies for use at both campus and community events. Juniata's QRS is comprised of about 25 emergency medical technicians and 30 other medically-trained student responders. In addition to their role as a basic life support emergency response team, this organization sponsors training in CPR, first aid, life guarding, and collaborates on a course to become a Pennsylvania State Certified Emergency Medical Technician.

Lackawanna College

A workshop was held with broad representation from the College and the community including Scranton's public safety director and Red Cross Emergency Services Director. The purpose was to focus how Lackawanna College could become a community resource when emergency situations arise. Community members, especially neighbors of the College also were present. As an outcome, the College hopes to develop formal agreements with the City of Scranton and the Red Cross to assure seamless emergency response. Students will also be involved in developing response measures as part of service-learning courses.

Widener University

A community crisis management workshop was held. During the workshop, participants were offered several scenarios which provided the opportunity to understand the human and physical resources that will be required to appropriately respond to a community disaster. The outcome of the workshop was the development of clearly defined intervention goals and strategies for responding to a community disaster. Collaboration between the American Red Cross, the city of Chester and members of the Widener community will continue.