| Dr.
Vincent A. Campbell
Dr. Vincent A. Campbell is Associate Director for
Science in the Division of Human Development and Disability,
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In that position,
he is responsible for excellence in the scientific work of the
Division staff. He began his career at CDC in 1997 as a health
scientist in what was then the Office of Disability and Health,
National Center for Environmental Health. His primary
responsibilities were to develop and monitor a surveillance program
to determine the health status of people with disabilities, identify
particular health risks in this population, and make information
available to national and state health agencies and others with an
interest in disability. Dr. Campbell has served as science advisor
to a number of disability and health state projects and research
grants. Since coming to CDC, he has worked with several interagency
committees on disability; he was CDC’s liaison for Surgeon General
Satcher’s initiative on improving the health of people with mental
retardation. He has published several papers and spoken at numerous
national conferences on health surveillance and comparative health
status of people with disabilities. His particular interest is in
the health issues of people with intellectual disability. Dr.
Campbell has served as subject matter expert on emergency and
disaster issues with regard to people with disabilities and other
vulnerable populations with the Coordinating Office on Terrorism and
Emergency Preparedness at CDC, the American Red Cross, and the
Department of Health and Human Services Office on Disability. During
the 2005 storm season, he provided data from the 2000 US Census on
the number of people in affected areas to the Department of Health
and Human Services Office on Disability.
Before coming to CDC, Dr. Campbell was Director of
Data Analysis and Research with the Alabama Department of Mental
Health and Mental Retardation and Senior Scientist at the Civitan
International Research Center at the University of Alabama at
Birmingham. He earned his doctorate in educational psychology at the
University of Alabama.
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Steven Christianson, DO, MM
Dr. Christianson is Medical Director VNS CHOICE/VNS
HomeCare. Visiting Nurse Services of New York (VNS NY) is one of the
oldest home care companies in the US, in existence for over 107
years. There is a skilled staff of 1,800 registered and advanced
practice nurses, 400 rehabilitation therapists, 360 social workers,
and 4,000 home health aids providing expert home care services to
22,000+ patients daily and over 5.2 million visits annually in NY
City and the boroughs as well as Staten Island and Nassau County.
VNS HomeCare is the certified home care agency that supplies the
entire nursing, rehabilitative, and social services to the patients.
Dr. Christianson coordinates the Physician Advisory Committee, work
with staff and physicians employed by the agency, provide clinical
support, and act as the agencies ambassador to the Medical Society
of New York State and other external organizations. Dr. Christianson
also participates in business development efforts related to
physicians, physician and customer satisfaction, medical protocols,
quality assurance, and help coordinate clinical programs like the
annual flu immunization program. VNS CHOICE (Community and Home
Options of Integrated Care for the Elderly) was the first New York
Commonwealth demonstration program to be operational in NY. It is a
partially capitated Medicaid long term care health company that
enrolls dually eligible (Medicare and Medicaid) members who qualify
for nursing home care but want to remain in the community. Dr.
Christianson focuses on five key areas: quality assurance,
utilization review, physician relations and network development,
clinical supervision and support, as well as long term care planning
and development. VNS CHOICE was operational in January 1998 and had
3,800 members enrolled in the four boroughs of NY and Staten Island
by January 2005. The program will become a licensed LTC company in
NY when that becomes available. A PACE program is under development
to start in early 2006.
Dr. Christianson holds: BA in Zoology University
of California, Berkeley 1968; Doctor of Osteopathy medical degree,
Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine 1973, with AMA Board
Certification in Internal Medicine 1976; and a Masters in Management
degree, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Chicago 1989.
Dr. Christianson’s knowledge and skills include:
Knowledge of medical practice as an actively practicing General
Internal Medical specialist in multispecialty group setting.
Knowledge of healthcare administration as a lead administrative
physician responsible for managing a health center serving 25,000
people and its associated clinical staff for 14 years. Knowledge of
managed care as a physician executive in HMOs, responsible for
developing programs in quality, credentialing, and utilization as
well as strategic planning. Knowledge about long term care as
medical director of a Long Term Care program responsible for
clinical policy and standards as well as quality, utilization,
network development and strategic planning. A knowledge of homecare
from acting as a medical director of a large certified agency with
responsibility for clinical policy development and strategic
planning. Knowledge of healthcare accreditation standards as a
physician reviewer for a national managed care accrediting agency (NCQA),
and a consultant in healthcare accreditation.
His experience includes working at various levels
of responsibility in medical care for 36 years with experience in
medical group practice, HMOs, PPOs, Long Term Care, and Home Care
organizations.
return to top of
page Curtis
L. Decker, JD
 Curt Decker has been affiliated with the National
Disability Rights Network (NDRN)* since its inception in 1982. As
Executive Director of the nation’s largest non-governmental enforcer
of disability rights, he oversees all activities related to training
and technical assistance, membership services, and legislative
advocacy. Before founding NDRN with other P&A Directors, he served
as Director of the Maryland P&A – the Maryland Disability Law
Center. Curt also served as Director of the H.E.L.P. Resource
Project for Abused and Neglected Children for four years, and was a
VISTA worker prior to working as a senior attorney for Baltimore
Legal Aid Bureau for five years. Mr. Decker currently chairs the
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), a coalition of over
100 national disability groups, and serves on the boards of Friends
of Research and Opera Vivente. In his career, Curt also served as a
legislative consultant for numerous groups, including the American
Association on Mental Retardation, the National Public Law Training
Center, and the Maryland Academy of Physician’s Assistants. He is a
graduate of Hamilton College and Cornell Law School.
*formerly the National Association of Protection
and Advocacy Systems (NAPAS)
return to top of
page Karen Eaton, M.B.A.
Karen is a Registered Nurse who also holds a Master of Business Administration degree. She has over 22 years experience working with numerous public and private sector organizations in Healthcare Administration prior to joining the Department of Health in 2001. She has served as the Executive Director for seven regulated health professional boards and was soon promoted to Operations Bureau Chief. Her areas of responsibility included the Unlicensed Activity Investigative unit, Testing Services, systems development, and license renewal for all healthcare practitioners. Ms. Eaton was then appointed as the Director of Public Health Nursing by the Secretary of Health. Within 5 days of this appointment she was named as the agency Incident Commander for the SARS outbreak. She has also served time as the Director for the Office of Emergency Operations. Ms. Eaton’s current responsibilities include Statewide Public Health Nursing and Pharmaceutical Services, and the Director of Special Needs Shelter Systems. Over the past two years she has managed Florida’s Special Needs Shelter’s planning and response to 8 hurricanes, 3 tropical storms, and a major interstate initiative to assist the state of Mississippi in it’s response to Hurricane Katrina. Under her leadership the Florida Special Needs Shelter system is now a national best practice.
return to top of
page Alexandra
Enders
Alexandra Enders is Senior Research
Associate/Policy Analyst at the Research and Training Center on
Disability in Rural Communities at the University of Montana. Her
policy analysis focus is on the infrastructure issues -
Transportation and Telecommunications – which determine the
availability, accessibility, and usability of the vehicles of modern
participation. Using GIS, rural and disability demographics, she has
been incorporating spatial analysis into policy and survey projects
focused on service system access and distribution. She has a long
time interest in universal design, accessible media, and
dissemination. For more than 25 years, she has been involved with
service delivery systems and networks, public policy, funding and
quality assurance issues, program development and training
activities, information services, independent living program
development, and technology evaluation and effectiveness studies, at
the Electronic Industries Foundation in Washington, D.C., the
Rehabilitation Engineering Center at Children’s Hospital at
Stanford, and the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley,
California. She is a past-president of RESNA, the Rehabilitation
Engineering and Assistive Technology Association of North America.
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Dante Gliniecki
 Dante Gliniecki is the Statewide Volunteer Coordinator for the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). The position is responsible for supporting the activities of the Missouri Disaster Recovery Partnership, Missouri Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (MOVOAD), Citizen Corps, and various human services related programs and partners. Mr. Gliniecki is responsible for coordinating and strengthening voluntary agency response to disasters in Missouri while strengthening the partnership between the public and private sectors. An important part of Mr. Gliniecki’s responsibilities is supporting the Missouri Special Needs Populations Task Force that is planning to meet emergency needs of special populations. Before joining SEMA, Mr. Gliniecki worked for the American Red Cross.
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June Isaacson Kailes
 June
Isaacson Kailes is the Associate Director, Center for Disability
Issues and the Health Professions Western University of Health
Sciences, Pomona, California. June’s national and international
writing, consulting and training on disaster issues for people with
disabilities is well known. Her publications include (http://www.jik.com/pres.html#DISASTER%20%20
PREPAREDNESS%20PUB):
-
Living and
Lasting on Shaky Ground: an Earthquake Preparedness Guide for
People with Disabilities,
distributed by California Office of Emergency Safety,
-
Creating
a Disaster - Resistant Infrastructure for People at Risk Including
People with Disabilities
used and published in several countries,
-
Emergency
Evacuation Preparedness: Taking Responsibility for Your Safety - a
Guide for People with Disabilities and Other Activity Limitations,
http://www.cdihp.org/products.html
This guide inspired by 9/11 integrates new information regarding
evacuation strategies. It is widely used and is incorporated into
several government and private sector evacuation plans as well as
used by emergency management personnel.
-
Saving Lives:
Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning,
(http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2005/saving_lives.htm)
(researched and drafted for National Council on Disability
– this report outlines a roadmap for the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) to build a solid and resilient infrastructure that
enables the DHS to include the diverse populations of people with
disabilities and activity limitations into its programs and
services.),
-
Report on Special
Needs Assessment for Katrina Evacuees (SNAKE) Project,
[http://www.nod.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.viewPage&pageId=11]
in
the fall of 2005, less than two weeks after Katrina, June lead the
analytical team, under a subcontract with National Organization on
Disability, which deployed four rapid assessment teams to Gulf
States to investigate the status of response and recovery of
seniors and people with disabilities. Each team consisted of two
emergency management specialist and one disability subject matter
expert. The teams used a survey, topic guide to collect
information from a representative sampling of responders. This
report details systemic points of breakdown and failure and
immediate actionable corrections to help improve the response and
recovery effort now in the areas of sheltering, response
management and services.
-
Emergency
Preparedness: Taking Responsibility For Your Safety - Tips for
People with Activity Limitations and Disabilities.
(2006)
http://www.cert-la.com/ESP/ESP-Disabilities-Guide-2006.pdf
(written for the Los Angeles, County, Office of Emergency
Management, Emergency Survival Program.
-
Serving
and Protecting All by Applying Lessons Learned Including People
with Disabilities and Seniors in Disaster Services,
(March 2006)
http://www.cfilc.org/site/c.ghKRI0PDIoE/b.1545243/k.97B8/
Disaster_Preparedness_Serving
ProtectingbrPeople_with_Disabilities.htm
June’s consulting
practice began in 1978. She consults, writes and trains on: ADA
implementation, advocacy training and skills building; health,
wellness and aging with disability; developing and analyzing
disability-related public policy; planning barrier free meetings,
disability literacy and competency training, reaching the disability
markets; customer service and product design, incorporating
universal design and usability principles into existing and new
environments and disability specific disaster management issues. She
has received many awards and written over 80 publications including:
A Guide to Planning Accessible Meetings, Be a Savvy Health Care
Consumer - Your Life May Depend on It! and Health, Wellness, and
Aging with Disability.
return to top of
page Brenda D. Phillips, Ph.D.
Dr. Phillips is a Senior Researcher with the Center for the Study of Disasters and Extreme Events and is a Full Professor in the Fire and Emergency Management Program, Department of Political Science, at Oklahoma State University. She has taught emergency management, research methods and social science courses for 26 years. Her work has been funded multiple times by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Geological Survey and others. Dr. Phillips has given invited presentations to the U.S. National Weather Service, the U.S. National Academies of Science, the New Zealand Ministries of Civil Defence and of Health, and the Australian Emergency Management Institute among others. Her work has been published in numerous scholarly journals, refereed proceedings and books and has been posted on the FEMA Higher Education web site. She is an associate editor for Natural Hazards Review, serves on the Advisory Board for Tulsa Partners, Inc., and is the immediate past secretary-treasurer of the International Research Committee on Disasters.
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Rhonda White, M.B.A.
Rhonda White has an MBA from the University of South Florida and has worked for the Florida Department of Health for more than 19 years. Ms. White has worked in the STD and HIV/AIDS Programs, the Office of Planning, Evaluation & Data Analysis, the Leon County Health Department and is the Director for the Office of Public Health Preparedness within the Division of Emergency Medical Operations.
Ms. White's considerable strengths include excellent grant writing and planning skills as well as leading multi-disciplinary teams to accomplish department wide objectives. Most recently, she has provided critical leadership in the department's Operation Vaccinate Florida smallpox vaccine administration program, the multimillion dollar CDC Bioterrorism Cooperative Agreement and HRSA Bioterrorism Hospital Preparedness Grant, as well as during the hurricane responses of 2004 and 2005.
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Facilitator
Biographies
Cynthia Frankel, RN, MN
 Cynthia
Frankel, President, Global Vision Consortium, a Strategic Emergency
Management firm in Northern California provides innovative disaster
planning, practical solutions and training to state/local
governments, hospitals, clinics, schools, Port Authorities, and
community based organizations. Her projects emphasize Pediatrics,
Special Needs, Mental Health, and emergency management systems.
Recent consulting highlights include: 1) developing and implementing
a statewide model clinic/health center “Train-the-Trainer” Emergency
Operations Plan template for the California Emergency Medical
Services Authority, EMSA, June, 2004; 2) producing the Emergency
Operations, Continuity of Operations, and Bio-Terrorism Emergency
Operation Center Plans for four State/County Departments including
the California EMSA and Mental Health Departments; 3) teaching,
“Behavior Emergencies, Special Needs, and Bipolar Children” courses
to first responders/ health care professionals, and 4) publishing
articles on THE “UNSEEN VULNERABLE CHILDREN” IN DISASTERS: A NEW
CHALLENGE FOR EMERGENCY MANAGERS, ASPEP Journal 2003. Her philosophy
incorporates a vision to: create viable operational plans;
strengthen foundation infra-structure organization capability; build
on-going partnerships and assets; integrate the public/ private
sector with communities; promote family centered self-sufficiency;
and promote community capacity building, leadership, accountability,
and sustainability. She is also participating on the California
Emergency Medical Services Authority for Children Coordinators
Group, working for Alameda County Emergency Medical Services on
Pediatrics, Special Needs and Disasters, and facilitating school and
faith based emergency preparedness. At the core of her understanding
is her experience, with her special need child and the challenges
she shares with other parents. For more information contact her at
(925) 285-2403; (925) 284-4715; CynthiaFrankel@comcast.net.
Zachary Goldfarb
Zachary Goldfarb, EMT-P, CHSP, CEM, is the
principal of Incident Management Solutions, Inc., a New York-based
consulting firm specializing in planning, training, and operational
leadership for emergencies and major events. Validated by the United
States Department of Defense as Medical Nuclear, Biological, and
Chemical Subject Matter Expert Instructor, he participated as a
consultant member of the federal Domestic Preparedness Training Team
in the nationwide instructor-training program preparing first
responders in the 120 largest cities to manage the medical
consequences of terrorism.
Certified as a paramedic since 1978, Mr. Goldfarb
has served in many capacities during his 25-year career with City of
New York Fire Department’s (FDNY) Emergency Medical Service Command
(and the New York City Emergency Medical Service, prior to their
1996 merger), including Deputy Chief, Bronx Borough Commander,
Deputy Chief of Operations, Emergency Management Coordinator, and
commanding officer of the Special Operations Division. He is the
author of the New York City Emergency Medical Action (disaster)
Plan, which promulgated one of the most frequently used medical
incident command systems in the nation. During both the 1993 bombing
and the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, he served
as an EMS commander at the scene. In the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina, Chief Goldfarb led the Louisiana Special Needs Assessment
of Katrina Evacuees (SNAKE) team for the National Organization on
Disability (NOD), which observed, documented, and reported on the
plight of special needs evacuees in the days and weeks following the
storm.
Zachary Goldfarb has an associate’s degree in
paramedic science and a bachelor’s degree in public administration
and management from the City University of New York, and is a
graduate of the New York City Leadership Institute. A nationally
certified emergency manager and certified healthcare safety
professional (Master’s level), he lectures and writes widely on
emergency management, incident command, homeland security, and
related topics. Goldfarb is Technical Editor of FireEMS magazine,
and a member of the editorial advisory boards of Fire Engineering
magazine and Opus Communications’ Healthcare Security and Emergency
Management newsletter.
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Edwina Juillet
Edwina Juillet's abiding interest is: egress for
persons with disabilities. Her more than thirty year career as a
healthcare risk manager is how she became attuned to the issues of
emergency evacuation for persons with disabilities. The genesis of
her avocation --egress for persons with disabilities-- was the
enactment of the Rehabilitation Act. This evolved with a focus on
issues of emergency evacuation which she continues to pursue through
her work in research and codes/standards, publications. She is the
co-founder the National Task Force on Fire and Life Safety for
People with Disabilities, (in 1978).
Examples of her accomplishments, include:
- publication of Evacuating People with
Disabilities, The World Trade Center Bombing: Report and Analysis,
special issue of the Fire Engineering Magazine, December 1993;
Emergency Procedures for Employees with Disabilities in Office
Occupancies, Orientation Manual for First Responders on the
Evacuation of People with Disabilities, printed by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Fire Administration, 1995
& 2003 (respectively).
- Serving on Life Safety Code 101 main committee,
and Technical Committees - Means of Egress and Board and Care (as
chair).
- research project Egress Procedures and
Technologies for People with Disabilities, for U.S. Architectural
and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, Project Components:
Literature Review, Survey of User Experience with Egress
Strategies, Tactics, Facilities, and Devices, with the Findings
and Recommendations Compiled in form of Draft Brochures, Draft
Standards, and Reports as Co Investigator with Hughes Associates,
1987-1988.
September 11th, 2001 brought about many projects,
national, local, public, private, with objective to look for and/or
develop "best practice" for the emergency preparedness for/by
persons with disabilities. Edwina currently serves in an technical
advisory capacity for two of those projects, World Trade Center
Evacuation Study being conducted by the Mailman School of Public
Health of Columbia University and Nobody Left Behind: Disaster
Preparedness for Persons with Mobility Impairment, being conducted
by the University of Kansas Research and Training Center on
Independent Living.
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Jennifer Mincin, MPA
Jennifer Mincin is currently a consultant with EAD
& Associates, LLC a woman-owned, emergency management and special
needs consulting firm providing particular expertise in special
needs emergency planning, a distinct discipline that ensures people
with physical, sensory, and/or cognitive disabilities are prepared
for man-made or natural disasters and emergencies and their
consequences. Focus also includes the overlay of sociological
elements and other marginalizing factors. As a team consultant, Ms.
Mincin specifically works on specific projects regarding human
services, non-profit management and general emergency management
trends.
Prior to EAD & Associates, LLC, Ms. Mincin was the
Executive Director of Families of September 11 (FOS11) as well as
Director/Deputy Commissioner of Human Services and Public Relations
at Nassau County Office of Emergency Management where she oversaw
all aspects of disaster human service programs and responses,
developed community outreach initiatives, coordinated the efforts of
relief agencies, provided on-scene human services management, and
liaised with media and local, state, and federal entities. Prior to
being Director, she spent a year and a half assisting with the human
services recovery efforts both as a FEMA human service specialist
assigned to New York City Office of Emergency Management as well as
a Manager of the September 11th crisis-counseling program, Project
Liberty. While at Project Liberty, Ms. Mincin oversaw and
coordinated disability and uniformed services crisis counseling
programs in addition to coordinating special events. Ms. Mincin has
an extensive background in human services as well as public
relations, speaks nationally and has published in the area of
emergency management, disability and disaster mental health.
Ms. Mincin received her MPA from Columbia
University School of International and Public Affairs and holds an
undergraduate degree from Barnard College, Columbia University. She
is currently pursuing her PhD in Social Policy. Ms. Mincin is a
native New Yorker and currently lives with her husband, Dr. Gerald
Esmond, on Long Island.
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John A. Muller, Ph.D.
An independent consultant for the past three
years, Mr. Muller has designed and directed the Illinois Public
Health Association’s ongoing initiatives on emergency management
with special populations. The initiatives provided local health
departments with tools and training to involve special populations
in emergency preparedness planning and integrate special needs in
local emergency management plans.
During his 23-year career as a public
administrator, Muller held executive positions in Illinois’ agencies
for child welfare, social services, medical programs, work force
development, and adult education. His areas of expertise include
developing policy and programs, contract administration, strategic
and program planning, interagency collaboration, and communications.
Mr. Muller earned his doctorate in English
Literature at Indiana University and has taught literature and
composition (i.e., reading and writing) at several universities.
return to top of
page Hal Newman
Hal Newman likes to tell people that he has taken up
knitting. Newman knits meaningful networks of people, ideas,
organizations, concepts and corporations in order to produce
extraordinary opportunities to advance policy, social action, or
business development. So, rather than having to ‘work a room’ [no
matter how large the room may be] trying to find the right contact,
Newman provides his clients with choreographed meetings with the
person [or organization] they need to meet. As an EMS director,
Newman learned first-hand the challenges of evacuating holocaust
survivors and geriatric special needs residents from peril to safety
and provides strategic counsel for emergency management clients in
both the United States and Canada. He is a dedicated community
builder who recently retired his paramedic certification and
exchanged it for a coaching card to lead his twin seven-year-old
daughters’ soccer team. Newman studied journalism at Bethany College
and emergency health services systems analysis at University of
Maryland. Hal is currently Managing Partner of Team EMS Inc., and
Managing Editor of Big Medicine.
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JoAnn Scordino
JoAnn Scordino is currently consulting as a
Disaster Preparedness Specialist. From 1995 - 2005 she worked for
the San Francisco Office of Emergency Service & Homeland Security as
the Community Disaster Preparedness Coordinator. Her primary
responsibilities included disaster preparedness trainings for the
public, City liaison to the American Red Cross, the Fire Departments
Neighborhood Emergency Response Team, and several programs and
committee's dedicated to preparing our special needs populations.
Ms Scordino was instrumental in creating and
securing funding for the City College San Francisco, AmeriCorps
Local Emergency Response Team (ALERT) program. Student members
participate in a year long service learning program for emergency
planning for special needs populations and agencies.
Prior to working in emergency management, she
began her career with BA degree's in Sociology and Social Work with
an emphasis in community organizing. She worked as an advocate for
the elderly and in mental health, and has extensive experience
managing volunteer programs.
She currently resides in San Francisco, CA.
return to top of
page Hilary Styron
Hilary Styron currently serves as Director for the National Organization on Disability’s Emergency Preparedness Initiative. In mid-September she led the Special Needs Assessment 4 Katrina Evacuees (SNAKE) Teams to the Gulf Region in response to Hurricane Katrina. Results from this report are being used to increase emergency preparedness for people with disabilities across the country and in new legislation currently before the U.S. Congress. At the request of the City of New Orleans, Ms. Styron was also deployed to the Emergency Operations Center to assist in managing issues surrounding special needs populations. She is a member of the FEMA Congressional Liaison Cadre Deployment Team and American Red Cross Reserve Corps.
In the summer of 2005 Ms. Styron testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration regarding the emergency plans on Capitol Hill as they related to special needs populations. In March 2006 she provided testimony to the FCC Katrina Investigation Panel on communications access for the disabled population during Hurricane Katrina, and is frequently called on to testify or brief Members of Congress on special needs preparedness issues. Ms. Styron serves as a member of the: Interagency Coordination Council Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities National Citizen Corps Council Subcommittee, Emergency Alerts National Advisory Board, West Virginia University Project Safe EVAC Advisory Board, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Emergency Preparedness Task Force, the International Association of Emergency Managers Special Needs Committee, and was recently appointed to the International Codes Council Disability Task Force, the American National Standards Institute Homeland Security Steering Committee, the Serve DC Advisory Board, and the National Fire Protection Association Disability Task Force. She serves on many disability preparedness-related task forces and working groups. She is an advisor to the American Red Cross, FEMA, DHS, DOD, and emergency managers at the state and local government levels.
Ms. Styron has extensive experience in all-hazards emergency management, emergency medical services, and implementation of long-range strategic planning. She participates in the preparedness and planning efforts undertaken across the country and coordinates the development of standard operational procedures, performance measures, protocols, and implementation and administration of programs related to emergency preparedness, continuity of operations, preparedness for people with disabilities, and other substantive mission-oriented programs. In 1991, she began developing disaster-related plans for training, exercises, and operational procedures, and conducted studies related to emergency preparedness for Local, State, and Federal agencies. As a first responder, Ms. Styron worked with personnel from hospitals, assisted living centers, and nursing homes to provide appropriate access to the 9-1-1 system, as well as basic emergency preparedness information for these facilities and for their residents.
After September 11, 2001, she relocated to Washington, DC where she has been actively engaged in the preparedness planning for the National Capital Region, as well as performing high-level program activities at agencies such as the U.S. Senate Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness, Executive Office of the President/Office of Administration, U.S. Library of Congress Office of Emergency Management; World Bank; U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; Department of Defense Director of Research and Engineering; United States Fire Administration; Miami-Dade Urban Area Security Initiative; U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Federal Emergency Management Agency – U.S. Fire Administration; and City of New York Fire Department.
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Michael M. Weston
Mr. Weston is typically described as the “spirit
and conscience” of any organization that he has been a part of, and
has been creating and directing programs across the expanse of Human
Services for the past thirty years. His accomplishments have been
varied and diverse. He has been responsible for piloting a statewide
initiative to enhance the quality of care in Florida nursing homes
by expanding community involvement. He has created and directed
numerous community based initiatives, and is the former and founding
Director of Disaster Planning and Operations for the state’s
Department of Elder Affairs. He currently serves as a Disaster
Consultant to the US Administration on Aging (AOA) and in that
capacity has been tasked by the Department of Homeland Security as
the Federal Coordinating Officer over recent presidential declared
disaster events. Most recently he deployed to the Gulf Coast region
as the Director of Field Operations for AOA during hurricanes
Katrina and Rita.
As President of Servision, Inc. he has invented,
patented and is producing the WESTCOT, the only affordable
completely portable folding hospital-type bed in the world. Other
products include the Special Needs Picture Board which readily
facilitates communication with victims in times of disaster. With a
commitment to continuous product improvement the Servision line of
products are already being utilized throughout the United States.
Currently, marketing efforts for worldwide expansion are underway
through an alliance with EMS Innovations.
Evidence of Mr. Weston’s impact ranges from
programs targeted to decrease infant mortality to the implementation
of a National Demonstration Project, which dispatched and
coordinated 24-hour emergency in-home services for the frail elderly
at the onset of crisis. As Hurricane Andrew approached Miami-Dade
County, Mr. Weston then Director of Clinical Services for the
Channeling Project (the nations’ oldest and largest nursing home
diversion project) activated and fully implemented their disaster
plan over 72 hours before landfall occurred. Then, as the lead Red
Cross volunteer at Dade County’s Emergency Operations Center he
coordinated and broadcast what history recorded as the largest
civilian evacuation ever undertaken at the time.
Mr. Weston is recognized as one of the nation’s
foremost experts on Special Needs populations. He has chaired the
Disaster Services Committee for the American National Red Cross,
serves on the Statewide Human Research Subject Review Board and has
made numerous presentations at the national and international level.
He holds a Master of Science Degree in Human Services and is
constantly utilized as a consultant and educator.
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