EDEN is a consortium of Extension professionals from 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam who focus on disaster-related issues. In the event of a disaster, the full resources of the network are available to affected areas for publications, advice, and coordination. Click on the links above to begin accessing EDEN resources.
Top stories from EDEN regions:
- Western: Early Warning System for Cross Border Disease
- Southern: Clemson to Host Next EDEN Animal Agrosecurity Conference
- North Central: Taking Care of Business during Disaster
- Northeast: New York Extension Prepares for Disaster
- Use of the EDEN Name and Logo
- What's Your Story?
- Cited Links
- About EDENbriefs
Western Region
Early Warning System for Cross Border Disease
In 2003, the Department of Health and Human Services established a program for monitoring the US border for disease outbreaks. The program is called the Early Warning Infectious Disease Surveillance (EWIDS) System, and it is based on a cooperative agreement between CDC and 20 of the 21 US states that have borders with Canada or Mexico (Illinois did not participate). US states have formed groups to work more effectively together and with their partners across the borders. The four groups established are:
- Northeastern Border Health Initiative –– Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York
- Great Lakes Border Group –– Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania
- Northwest Border Group –– Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota
- Southern Border Group –– Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California
As it names states, the goal of the program is early warning of infectious diseases. In service of this goal, states are encouraged by the cooperative agreement to perform assessments of surveillance and laboratory capacity, improve electronic sharing of laboratory information, and develop lists of notifiable conditions. States have extended this list by entering into memoranda of understanding (MOU) with Canadian and Mexican partners, cooperating on pandemic tabletop exercises, cross-training in lab procedures and extending the Health Alert Network into Canada.
In the Pacific Northwest, the states of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, together with the governments of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory have created the Pacific Northwest Emergency Management Arrangement. This cooperative arrangement on emergency management predates the EWIDS system, and has the distinction of being the only congressionally-approved international civil emergency preparedness and response agreement. When EWIDS was created, PNEMA gave the region a head-start in developing new capacities and incorporating disease-related components to its already established regional program of planning and exercises. Tribal entities in the states are not specifically included in PNEMA, but they are engaged through public health preparedness funding at the state level.
PNEMA introduced the disease surveillance component to its participants at a conference held in Bellingham, Washington on August 2004, "Tracking Infectious Disease across Borders." This gathering energized several regional initiatives. The conference itself has become an annual event with "Pandemic Influenza Preparedness" in Vancouver, BC in April 2005 and "Building Cross Border Infectious Disease Surveillance and Response Partnerships" in Bellingham, WA in May 2006.
Southern Region
Clemson to Host Next EDEN Animal Agrosecurity Conference
As awareness of disaster preparedness and response continues to grow, Extension professionals around the country are finding more and more that they are uniquely positioned in their communities and regions to assist in animal agrosecurity issues. Some areas are well advanced in integrating the efforts and resources of local agencies; other areas are just beginning to organize. With the devastating outbreaks of FMD and BSE over the last few years -- including this year in Britain -- making our animal resources more secure is very topical.
EDEN has developed a series of Animal Agrosecurity conferences that are being presented in six locations in the United States. The first was hosted jointly by Penn State and the University of Maryland at Grantville, PA for audiences in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The second was hosted by New Mexico State University at Las Cruces, NM for the Southwest. By all accounts, these workshops were well attended and well received. (Articles about them appear in previous issues of EDENbriefs.) The next conference will be held on January 8-10, 2008 in Clemson, SC with co-hosts Clemson University and North Carolina State University.
The conferences focus on helping Extension professionals better define their roles -- and the roles of other agencies and organizations -- before, during, and after an animal agrosecurity event. These roles will vary from state to state, so this series of regional conferences can engage local audiences and address local needs.
The conferences guide participants in identifying key roles and players in:
- Emergency and disaster management in an animal agrosecurity event
- Education during all phases of emergency and disaster management
- Partnership development within and across states
- Crisis communication related to an animal agrosecurity event
- State animal response team development
- Educational program and material development/delivery for an animal agrosecurity event
Future conferences are planned for the Western region in Denver, CO , the North Central region in Fargo, ND and the Midwestern Region (location TBA).
For more information, visit EDEN's Animal Agrosecurity Web pages.
North Central Region
Taking Care of Business during Disaster
If a disaster strikes, how will your organization continue to function and recover efficiently? This quesion is addressed by the subject of Business Continuity Planning, now a subject of formal study. This summer, a continuing education/graduate education course titled Business Continuity Planning for Disasters and Emergencies this summer was offered in Minneapolis/St. Paul and also in Bismarck, North Dakota. John Shutske, EDEN POC for Minnesota provided leadership to both courses.
These courses were taught in a 16-hour workshop format, and participants worked with actual businesses to study their unique preparedness needs and develop and present an actual plan. The Minnesota session was held as part of the May "Public Health Institute." The featured industry site was a prominent, city-owned hospitality business. The field site for the North Dakota course was a large, regional power supplier.
Kathy Tweeten of NDSU Extension participated and discussed business needs as well as the EDEN Business Ready curriculum. Participants focused their planning activities specifically on the featured site's service center. In both courses, participants divided into teams that looked at needs that would help the site to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from selected events/hazards that they prioritized based on a formal risk assessment process.
Plans were written from an "all-hazards" perspective, but participants still considered events on the basis of their likelihood, impact, and effects on public trust. As part of their learning, course participants were introduced to various planning resources and frameworks including the National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 1600 Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs and EDEN's Business Ready learning module. The course will be offered again next summer.
Readers who are interested in bringing this training to their region are encouraged to begin their exploration with the EDEN Business Ready Curriculum. Contact John Shutske for a detailed course outline, PowerPoint presentations, and other course materials. Shutske states that he found the partnership with local business to be a win-win for the business and the participants, and it offers the participants a special experience.
Northeast Region
New York Extension Prepares for Disaster
Significant natural disaster events in the last few years have prompted Cornell Cooperative Extension to develop a program of internal planning and training for educators across the state.
In June 2006, New York and several neighboring states experienced a flood event called by a senior meteorologist of the National Weather Service a 200-year event. This was followed in October 2006 when an unexpected snowfall of up to two feet paralyzed Buffalo, New York and set a 137-year record. Then in April 2007, a Nor’easter that affected many states on the Eastern Seaboard brought 8-9 inches of rain to Eastern New York and New Jersey, easily overtopping the 100-year record for rain in April. Each of these events impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people with power loss, evacuation, damage to homes, and many other impacts.
The key to Cornell’s response is a full-time NY EDEN coordinator, who is EDEN POC Ellen Abend, to work with New York’s 57 Extension offices. Abend assists the offices in developing emergency plans based on the Ready.Gov template. As part of this process, Extension agents and office staff develop personal preparedness plans, so that Extension can secure its personnel before launching into response activities. The program has begun with direct training activities, but it will be taken to audiences beyond Extension through a train-the-trainer program.
A second layer of Cornell’s plan works to help Extension staff understand the roles they can play in disaster. As part of this effort, Abend works with Extension offices to forge links to local emergency management thus promoting integrated response to disaster.
A third layer connects New York Extension disaster preparedness activities to a Northeast regional project being fostered by EDEN and led by Dave Filson at Penn State. This project is working to develop templates for agricultural preparedness and response on a commodity by commodity basis.
According to Abend, "Our Extension Associations are viewed as credible and reliable community resources. Assisting them to be internally prepared for an emergency will improve their capacity to help their own communities prepare for and recover from a disaster. We've made good progress in NY, but there are more challenges and opportunities ahead."
For more information: Emergency Preparedness Resources for New York State
If you have an interesting story about Extension and disaster, we want to know about it!
Tell us how Extension in your area is responding to disaster or preparing for it. Maybe your Extension office is partnering with some local agenices, maybe you're reaching out across agency or county lines to solve problems. Maybe you are developing some great new training or informational materials. We'd love to highlight your work in EDENbriefs.
Contact an editor in your region listed at the end of this newsletter and tell us your story!
Use of the EDEN Name and Logo
Please encourage appropriate use of the EDEN name and logo.
EDEN member institutions may use the EDEN name and logo in a way that reflects membership in the network and in conjunction with their institution or state name. To identify member institutions in your state, use the pull-down menu on the EDEN homepage.
Non-EDEN organizations may use the EDEN name and logo only with the endorsement of the executive committee.
Grant applications or organizations that list EDEN as a partner or as a distribution channel must have executive committee approval. Letters of support committing EDEN must be written by the chair or his/her designee. Member institutions may not commit EDEN to financial obligations, distribution of materials or information, or other responsibilities without approval of the executive committee
Cited Links
Western -- Early Warning System for Cross Border Disease
- Early Warning Infectious Disease Surveillance (EWIDS) System,
- Pacific Northwest Emergency Management Arrangement.
- Cross Border Collaboration: Tracking Infectious Diseases and Responding to Emergencies in the Pacific Northwest -- Online Interactive Session
- United States-Mexico Border Health Commission
Southern -- Clemson to Host Next EDEN Animal Agrosecurity Conference
North Central -- Taking Care of Business during Disaster
- EDEN Business Ready curriculum.
- National Fire Protection Association's NFPA 1600 Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management
Northeast -- New York Extension Prepares for Disaster
About EDENbriefs
EDENbriefs is published three times a year in January, May and September as the newsletter of the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN). Our goal is to inform local Extension agents about the national network that is available to them in times of disaster, specific programs that may serve as models, and resources that may be useful in disaster planning or response.
Each state which is a member of EDEN is represented by a state point-of-contact (POC) and one or more delegates. You can find your EDEN delegation by clicking on "State Pages" at the top of this newsletter. Past issues of the EDENbriefs newsletter are archived on the EDEN Web site.
Editor: Becky Koch (ND), EDEN
chair
Associate Editor: Abigail Borron (IN)
Regional Editors:
West – Linda Williams (MT)
Central – John Shutske (MN)
South – Andrea Husband (KY), Janie Harris (TX)
Northeast – Peter Marshall (WV)
Newsletter prepared by: Charles Brown (FL)