Emergency Responders and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community: Taking the First Steps to Disaster Preparation (course)

The CEPIN (Community Emergency Preparedness Information Network) course, Emergency Responders and the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community: Taking the First Steps to Disaster Preparedness is being presented on Wednesday, September 30, 2009 from 8:00am-5:00pm at the Pierce County Emergency Operations Center, 2501 South 35th St, Suite D, Tacoma, WA 98409.

Hosted by Hearing Speech and Deafness Center – South Sound in cooperation with the Pierce County High Risk Populations Planning Committee this course requires a balance of participants between emergency responder and planning personnel and members of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Communities, both professional and community members. Attached is a registration from in PDF that can be completed and saved and emailed to LeeAnna Paynter, Program Assistant, HSDC-South Sound, lpaynter@hsdc.org . Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided. Registration deadline is September 23, 2009.


Delivered by Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. (TDI)

This course will provide participants with an understanding of the tools and knowledge needed to prepare a community response, as well as respond to and recover from emergencies ranging from weather-related emergencies to a terrorist attack, for deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened, and deaf-blind individuals.

COURSE DETAILS
This is an 8-hour course, beginning at 8:00 am and ending at 5:00 pm. The maximum number of students is 40. All registrants must be a U.S. Citizen. Photo identification is required upon registration. There is no registration fee for this class.

Audience: This course is designed to provide deaf and hard of hearing (including deaf, deaf-blind, hard of hearing, late-deafened and other individuals with hearing loss) and emergency responders with the basic skills they need to communicate with each other in the event of emergencies such as terrorist attacks and natural and biological disasters. The course will also instruct participants how to respond to a variety of emergency situations.

All key members of emergency response agencies involved in the planning of and response to a disaster would benefit from this course including: law enforcement, fire, EMS, public health, community advocates, special needs populations representatives, elected officials, homeland security officials and others who may be indirectly or directly affected.

Scope: At the conclusion of this course, participants will gain the skills they need to prepare for and respond to an emergency situation involving individuals who are deaf, deaf-blind, hard of hearing or late-deafened. The course materials will train participants to identify and recruit those in their neighborhood whose daily activities place them in a unique position to identify potential barriers to effective communication as well as proven solutions to work around such obstacles