Unpublished Paper
Essay for Certified Emergency Manager Application
Certified Emergency Manager Application
(2013)
Abstract
During a metropolitan regional emergency preparedness campaign a few
years ago, when I was an independent emergency preparedness researcher, a neighborhood
volunteer Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) member & trainer, and volunteer
regional emergency preparedness campaign trainer, the executive director of a neighborhood
non-profit asked my assistance. The assistance requested was institutionalizing with their
residents the facility’s emergency plan that the non-profit had developed.
The neighborhood non-profit corporation operates a residential living facility consisting of 140
“affordable housing” units for seniors 62 years of age or older or individuals with accessibility
needs1 who come from diverse backgrounds. The facility also serves as a community center for
persons living in the surrounding neighborhood who are encouraged to participate in the
activities at the facility and to involve residents of the facility in outside community/
neighborhood activities. This upscale inner city neighborhood spans approximately 10-by-10
city block square area, which also includes a major university and medical center that is one of
the city’s trauma center, with a year around population of an approximate 13,840 residents. The
neighborhood is located in a Mid-Atlantic City with an estimated population of 632,000. The
city is the center of a metropolitan region with a mix of dense urban environments, suburbs, and
rural communities are home to more than five and half million residents. The metropolitan
region also receives more than 20 million visitors and tourists each year.
The problem: The neighborhood non-profit corporation operating the residential living
facility had completed a comprehensive all hazards emergency plan that is synchronized with the
City’s Municipal Response Plan (MRP) and it complies with state and federal programs that
subsidized elderly and disabled housing. While the plan articulates the functions and roles of the
non-profit, its staff and vendors, the plan assumes that the facility’s residents are engaged and
aware of their roles. An unscientific poll of the facility’s residents conducted by the executive
director revealed this is an incorrect assumption.
Keywords
- emergency preparedness,
- emergency management
Publication Date
Spring April 4, 2013
Comments
On June 28, 2013 received official notification of meeting all the necessary requirements [including this essay] for earning the Certified Emergency Manager designation (CEM®).
Citation Information
Thomas Lyons Carr. "Essay for Certified Emergency Manager Application" Certified Emergency Manager Application (2013) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/thomas_lyons_carr_iii/18/