Communities communicating with formal and informal systems: Being more resilient in times of need

Gaston Armour is the statewide emergency preparedness coordinator in the Illinois Department of Human Services, Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness. He can be reached at gaston.armour Illinois.gov. M y intention in writing this article is to highlight the need for using traditional and nontraditional methods in communicating vital information within the community day-to-day as well in times of an emergency. For many of us life has changed in many ways since we were teenagers. Going to and from work, family errands, church, school and other daily routines are so very different. Today we must be aware of our surroundings and the constant threat of natural and man-made incidents that could happen at any time. Extended families no longer live in the same block or neighborhood today as they once did. Many family members live in different parts of the country or other parts of the world. Family and community existence is very different and challenging when it comes to virtually every aspect of life’s daily activities. The events of 9/11, the Virginia Tech shootings and Hurricane Katrina have changed our worldview. We must constantly be prepared to meet life’s challenges for ourselves and for those close to us. Family members, friends, neighbors and colleagues – many of them may have to depend on us to help out in times of an emergency or disaster. Such incidents can include, for example, fires, floods, tornados or man-made threats. As Heartland Alliance disaster expert Charna Epstein recently remarked to the author, "Your true first responder is not going to be the police or fire department; it most likely will be the person sitting next to you on the bus, the person who shares your work cubicle or your next door neighbor.” Since 9/11 the federal government through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has required states to develop additional protocols as well as special teams to work directly with faith and community-based organizations (FBOs and CBOs) to communicate more directly with government entities when incidents occur. Today businesses, local governments and citizens are more aware of the impact that natural and man-made disasters can have on our daily lives and activities within a few hours or even a few minutes. Over the last five to seven years Illinois agencies have developed special units to coordinate, collaborate and work with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in times of a disaster. In 2008 the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) created the Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness (OSEP). IDHS normally serves hundreds of thousands of individuals each year in a state with a population of over 13 million people. The agency understands the impact on millions of individual lives through the services they provide to their customers at 95 offices around the state. Before IDHS created OSEP, the agency was part of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. The agency housed and provided services such as food stamps and mental health services that helped over 9,000 Katrina victims get their lives back to normal over a three-year period. The individuals and families served during this relief effort were not IDHS’s regular customers. On the basis of this experience the agency realized the importance of having a unit specifically assigned the task of coordinating emergency preparedness activities intrastate and interstate, along with FEMA, the other units of the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies. IDHS, led by this new unit for preparedness (OSEP), understands the need for individuals