First Annual National Rural Emergency Preparedness Summit
The Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium (RDPC) recently hosted its first annual National Rural Emergency Preparedness Summit in Omaha, Nebraska. The Summit, a critical activity in the Consortium’s needs and requirements identification process, brought in stakeholders from rural communities across the Nation to share suggestions and provide input on homeland security training needs that would better prepare them to handle an incident of an all-hazards nature. A one and a half day event, held on September 5 & 6, the Summit examined current needs of the rural homeland security community.
The diverse national group that participated in the event included representation from all relevant disciplines in the Consortium’s stakeholder community, including fire services, law enforcement, emergency medical services, emergency management, government, and the private sector to help inform training development for the coming year.
“The Consortium is committed to being a practitioner-driven organization. It is important to be well-informed of what the needs are before training development begins,” said Linda Mayberry, Executive Director of the RDPC.
The RDPC is a Department of Homeland Security-funded training partnership of academic institutions with a vision of creating an environment wherein rural communities across America will have the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to enhance the safety, security and quality of life for their citizens. Members of the Consortium include East Tennessee State University, Eastern Kentucky University, The University of Findlay, Iowa Central Community College, and NorthWest Arkansas Community College. Each of these institutions possesses experience and unique capabilities in serving rural communities.
Nebraska’s Lieutenant Governor and Homeland Security Director, Rick Sheehy, said, “The majority of Nebraska emergency responders serving rural areas are volunteers and it is critical that they and other stakeholders receive the training they need to respond to an incident. Nebraska has worked hard to ensure that its practitioners are prepared in all areas, from interoperable communications to agriculture incidents. The Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium is dedicated to ensuring that rural communities across Nebraska and the rest of the country receive optimal training. As the newest member of the RDPC Advisory Board I look forward to working with the Consortium to help achieve this mission."
Gary Wingrove, Chair of the RDPC Advisory Board and representing the National Rural Health Association, added that “Oftentimes the training needs of rural America have taken a backseat to their urban counterparts. The RDPC strives to identify those needs and ensure they are addressed.”
The participants at the Summit debated the critical training needs facing rural America today and developed a list of fifteen (15) cross-disciplinary issue areas that they recommend RDPC focus on as it develops curriculum in the coming year.
Additional information regarding the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium is available by contacting the RDPC at 859-622-8994 or emailing info@ruraltraining.org.
