Couldn't we work together, you active and I don't so I come help you and you use my volunteers because they are cross registered? Kinda like Mutual aid?
I have been thinking about this a lot, seems simple, so why don't we do it? Not sure, but some of us do a version of this by cross registering with other agencies.
In my Area, several Emergency Managers have begun to advertise to their Community Emergency Response Team members (CERT) to consider cross registering with my Medical Reserve Corps (MRC). This gives me a whole new group of highly trained emergency workers who have been registered and back ground checked with my organization. And in a disaster those are important steps. So that is one of the ELEPHANTS in the ROOM- Back Ground Check.
Each agency has a need to reach a particular Back Ground check level as you can see there are many different levels, and for my agency our Risk managers have set a level due to our activity in a disaster (Alternate Care Facility- think peoples belongs, people at risk, medication, etc).
So by cross registering with the agency who has the highest need of back ground checks you can fix that problem. The American Red Cross fixed this problem internally after Katrina by going with one agency for all Red Cross chapters across the country.
So lets look at the other agencies in our area and ask "How can we make this work?"
- Background checks- can we find a common ground?
- Volunteer managers - could we train together and share resources, processes, systems?
- Volunteer manager teams - could we deploy together to help one in a disaster/event if the other members don't stand up?
Disaster_Dave
