Connecting Utah's PIOs with the resources they need
Author: PIO_Joe
Communications director for the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. Evangelist for the Utah PIO Association... building relationships and training on social media and crisis communications.
September is a special month in the emergency management/preparedness world. It’s National Preparedness Month, a chance to help your communities take steps to prepare. We’ve learned that preparedness saves lives, time and money.
Lives: When people have first-aid training, they may be able to prevent infection and prevent emergency situations from getting worse. When they know to drop, cover and hold on in an earthquake, they increase their chances of survival.
Time: Having preparedness under your belt means you can take care of yourself and then move on to helping others. First responders, also, can then take care of just those with the most serious needs. Your recovery is faster and so is your neighborhood’s.
Money: Rather than having to pay lots of money during disaster recovery, it’s better to spend it on preparedness and mitigation. We find that every dollar spent in mitigation saves four in recovery.
Here’s the theme for this year’s National Preparedness Month:
The Utah Division of Emergency Management has compiled a list of useful links where you can get messaging, including, sample tweets, links and graphics, to promote preparedness in your communities. Check it out here. Happy preparing!
With the new year swiftly approaching, I hope you can look back on 2015 with a fondness for any personal growth you’ve achieved. We tend to grow the most and in unexpected ways from difficult situations, but we’re not always going to be confronted by personal or public tragedies. So there are things we can do to always ensure we are growing and preparing.
During this time when people may sing about brown paper packages tied up with strings, a prepared PIO is one of my favorite things. Here is a list of five things you can do (start preparing now) to be even more ready than you currently are. Don’t feel overwhelmed to do them all. Just pick one and see what happens as your awesomeness increases.
1. Take (or host) a class
We’re going to see some great training take place in Utah this year. The Basic PIO (G290) and JIS/JIC Planning course (G291) are scheduled out through the middle of the year. We’re always looking for ways to bring the course to other areas of the state. Let us know if you are interested in hosting one.
But we’ll also have the All Hazards IMT PIO course (L952) to help PIOs prepare to work on an Incident Management Team in February. We’ll also have an All Hazards Task Force/Strike Team unit leader course for PIOs to build your capability of leading a PIO strike team if necessary. That course will be in April. See the training calendar here.
2. Check out your go kit
What happens if you need to respond to a JIC, a long-term incident or an incident scene? What tools do you have at the ready? What items will you wish you had?
During the Hildale response in September, the PIO team was relieved to find that one member of the JIC not only brought an extension cord reel that allowed four devices to plug in, but also a portable printer and a fly swatter. Another member brought a mobile hot spot that allowed up to five devices to connect to a separate cell network. A few people brought candy. What can you add to your go kit this year?
Here’s one example:
3. Hold a meeting
Do the PIOs in your county or region get together either in person or virtually? If your county doesn’t have a person listed on this page, your PIOs probably aren’t getting together very often. Make this the year that you spearhead efforts to get local PIOs together. The stronger our local networks are, the better we will be able to respond together in any crisis, public safety or otherwise. Check your training budget to see if it can accommodate some doughnuts and milk. Remember, if you feed them, they will come.
4. Meet someone new Our relationships will get us through the good and the bad times. Think about who you would like to know. Then just call that person to say hi. You don’t have to start working on contingency plans or save the world. Just talk for a minute and be glad you are meeting now instead of during a disaster.
5. Attend a conference
Opportunities abound for learning in large groups and for trading ideas with people you rarely see in person.
Well, another wonderful conference has come to an end. Thanks to everyone who helped plan the conference, to those who presented and of course, to those who attended. We hope you were able to take away something that will benefit you in your job. Feel free to check out the tweets from the conference here.
Mark your calendars for next year’s conference:
Sept. 27-28, 2016
Courtyard by Marriott, St. George
Hashtag: #UTPIO16
Thank you for your feedback on the evaluation forms. We are processing those and look forward to bringing you another wonderful conference next year.
Cheers to our leadership team for 2016:
Justin Hoyal, president
Joe Dougherty, Vice President
Wade Mathews, secretary
Roxeanne Vainuku, officer at large
Robin Heiden, officer at large
Charla Haley, officer at large
Steve Sautter, past president
and to those who received awards at the conference:
Tina Brown, South Jordan City, Communicator of the Year
Todd Royce, Utah Highway Patrol, Media Relations
Kim Wells, West Jordan City, Team Player
Hey PIOs! We’re so happy so many people have come to St. George for this year’s conference. We’re getting under way shortly with the first presentations.
Follow along on Twitter to see all of this year’s tweets using the hashtag #UTPIO15.
We made one last-minute change, inserting two breakout sessions about the Hildale Flood response from a public information perspective.
If you’re not here this year, we hope to see you next year!
Just a quick reminder that the cheapest price for attending the Utah PIO Association annual conference ($200) will be gone August 29.
Please get your registrations by Friday to take advantage of the cheaper rate.
This year, we are accepting registrations online for people who want to pay by credit card. If you register on Eventbrite, you do not need to fill out a paper registration form.
For people who need to pay some other way, please download and fill out this form and get it to Patrice Thomas as soon as possible.
Utah PIO Association 