PORT ANGELES — A free training session on creating reunification centers after a natural disaster will be offered from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. today.
Mary Schoenfeldt, Ph.D. will speak in the council chambers at Port Angeles City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
She will provide information about the logistics of reunification sites.
Schoenfeld also will lead the participants through exploring the work that volunteers and professionals need to do to keep a reunification center a place where healing, support and restoration for victims, and their families is a priority, said Jamye Wisecup, program coordinator with the Clallam County Emergency Management Department.
“Minute 16 …. this is the point in time with a mass casualty incident where your response readiness makes a difference,” Wisecup said in a news release.
“With most disasters, the initial and unexpected actions of a natural, or intentional disaster settles in under 15 minutes. Our collective actions to respond and take care of those directly impacted make “Minute Sixteen” a crucial point in time when the reunification centers we activate will move our community toward healing in the aftermath of the disaster’s impact.”
Wisecup said that emergency planners have learned the most effective practice has shifted to leveraging the help of the general public — including friends, family members and bystanders — while awaiting the arrival of professional responders.
“Staffing reunification centers with trained volunteers and professionals will be the first step to help the healing of those family and friends whose lives will be changed forever as they take the first steps towards healing after the trauma of a mass casualty incident,” Wisecup said.
Schoenfeldt is considered an expert in the field of Critical Incident Stress Management and Disaster Mental Health and Emergency Management, Wisecup said.
Her work has taken her to Haiti, to school shootings and various other incidents around the world.
This work session is being provided by Clallam County Emergency Management so there are no costs to participants.
For more information on this special training opportunity, contact 360-417-2483, or 360-417-2525.
