(L - R) - -- Tim Riley, representing U.S. Sen. John Boozman,; Teresa Smith, area coordinator, Ark. Dept. of Emergency Management; Mercy Hospital Facilities Dir. Jack Swaim, COO Brenda Chase and Safety Officer Diane Pate; Garland Co. Dep. Dir. of Emergency Management Bob King; and, NWS Little Rock MIC Renee Fair.
Little Rock Meteorologist-in-Charge Renee Fair presented hospital officials with a recognition letter and special StormReady® signs during a ceremony Dec. 13 at the hospital.
"StormReady encourages communities and facilities like Mercy Hospital to take a proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations and public awareness in partnership with their local National Weather Service office," said Fair.
"Recent weather disasters that have affected hospitals in Joplin, Mo. and the New York City area illustrate the need for hospitals to have robust plans in place to mitigate the effects of severe weather," said John Robinson, warning coordination meteorologist for the Little Rock office. The nationwide community preparedness program uses a grassroots approach to help communities develop plans to handle local severe weather and flooding threats. The program is voluntary and provides communities with clear-cut advice from the local National Weather Service forecast office and state and local emergency managers. The program began in 1999 with seven communities in the Tulsa, Okla. area. Today, there are more than 2,000 StormReady communities.
To be recognized as StormReady, a community must establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center; have more than one way to receive severe weather forecasts and warnings and to alert the public; create a system that monitors local weather conditions; promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars; and, develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises. The recognition expires in three years, after which the hospital will go through a renewal process.
The StormReady program is part of the National Weather Service's working partnership with the International Association of Emergency Managers and the National Emergency Management Association.
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