On February 23, the Quadra Island Emergency Support Services Team will practise setting up an Emergency Reception Centre at the Quadra Island Community Centre. Two weeks ago, the SRD’s Protective Services Coordinator asked how feasible it was for CKTZ to deploy its’ “radio in a suitcase” to different locations on Cortes Island. The SRD is currently considering extending its fire protection zones on both Cortes and Quadra Islands. At its last meeting, the SRD Board approved funding to purchase mobile radio kits to enhance emergency “ … communications between the City of Campbell River, Homalco First Nation, and Wei Wai Kai First Nation.” These are only a few recent examples of how the SRD is preparing for an emergency in our area.
Continue reading The SRD Is Preparing For An EmergencyCategory Archives: Disaster
How To Set Up A NEPP In Your Community
[From the Archives: Nov 11, 2019]
Quadra Island probably has one of the most highly developed Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness Programs (NEPP) in Northern Vancouver Island. In the last of my interviews from the 2019 Emergency Preparedness Tradeshow, Betsy Young Quadra Island’s NEPP coordinator, explained how to set up a NEPP program in your neighbourhood.
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Homalco Air Rescue
(This is the third in a series of articles from the 2019 Campbell River Emergency Preparedness Trade Show.)
By Roy L Hales
People in the remote indigenous communities surrounding Vancouver Island occasionally wait days before they can access the advanced medical facilities in Vancouver. According to David Carsen, of Land Forest People Consulting, “Air ambulance does the very best they can … [but] there is only so many machines and, from time to time, they are not able to respond.” Patients in Kyuquot, for example, have been forced to make a 6 – 8 hour trip to Campbell River by ambulance. Homalco Air Rescue is a First Nations initiative that will provide much needed evacuation and medical transportation service in less than an hour.
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Campbell River’s 2019 Disaster Preparedness Trade show
By Roy L Hales
This mornings program is the beginning of a series about the 2019 Disaster Preparedness Trade Show, held in Campbell River’s Thunderbird Hall on Friday , Oct 18, 2019. The room is filled with a smorgasbord of stories, ranging from oil spill clean-ups, to a First Nations helicopter rescue initiative and much more. You can find them in in the halls 21 booths and four free public education sessions. One of the organizers told me this is Shaun Koopman’s day. Shaun is the Strahcona Regional District’s Protective Services Coordinator and he is behind this public introduction to the emergency response community.
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Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness
By Roy L Hales
Two distinctly different threats and, a variety of methods of dealing with them, were identified at Cortes Islands Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness Program (NEPP) workshop at Mansons Hall on April 16, 2019.
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