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Contact Infrmation:
Program Name: Windham County (VT) RSVP and Volunteer Connection
Phone: 802-254-7515
Fax: 802-254-7519
Website: www.volunteertoday.org
Program Fast Facts:
Who: Windham County (VT) RSVP and Volunteer Connection
What: Disaster Mitigation at Local Childcare Centers
Where: Windham County, Vermont
Partners: Institute for Business and Home Safety, Windham Regional Commission, American Red Cross-Green Mountain Chapter, Vermont Center for Independent Living, Brattleboro Retreat and Salvation Army, and Vermont Emergency Management.
Achievements:
- Participated in cooperative study consisting of community-based and faith-based organizations to explore areas within the community where volunteers could participate in disaster mitigation projects.
- Performed retrofitting and other mitigation activities at two childcare centers for the purpose of reducing risk to both property and life.
- Surveyed properties for brush fire risk.
- Incorporated public-education component into overall mitigation project in order to encourage family-based disaster preparedness.
Key Words: Partnership, Expertise, Mitigation, Public Education, Dual-Use Benefits, Child Care Centers
Introduction
The Windham County, Vermont RSVP/Volunteer Connection, in cooperation with several local and nationally-based partners, effectively increased the resilience of two local childcare centers by implementing several disaster mitigation retrofits.
Windham County, like the vast majority of counties throughout the United States, is at risk from the damaging consequences of natural and technological hazards. In particular, the county has experienced serious high winds, floods, and winter ice and snow. Additionally, the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, a concern to many residents, is located nearby.
Partnership
The mitigation project began when a focus group of non-profit organizations joined together, as part of a FEMA community- and faith-based organization study, to work on enhancing local disaster preparedness and homeland security. The FEMA study, which served to provide information and coaching to help volunteer groups play effective roles in mitigating disaster risk and its value, guided the locally-based decision making process.
The various Windham County organizations involved in the focus group ultimately decided on a disaster mitigation project that would involve retrofitting two local childcare centers in an effort to make them more disaster resistant. Each partner organization was able to offer individualized assistance, contributing in a way that was consistent with their normal range of activities. Several RSVP volunteers were able to participate, working directly on implementing the actual mitigation measures proposed.
Expertise
One partner, the Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), is a non-profit agency that seeks to “reduce deaths, injuries, property damage, economic losses and human suffering caused by natural disasters,” and is a recognized expert in structural and non-structural retrofits. IBHS, which had actually published a guidebook titled Nonstructural Mitigation for Childcare Centers (see ‘Contact Information’ for more information), provided mitigation expert Jim Russell who traveled to Windham County to help assess the needs of the childcare centers being considered, and determine the best course of action for all partners involved.
Mitigation
Using the IBHS expert assessment, a shopping list of needed supplies was created and all supplies were purchased from a local hardware store. The actual mitigation measures performed included bolting shelves to walls to prevent them from tipping over, installing edging on shelves to resist objects from sliding off, and using Velcro tape to anchor wall-mounted objects so they would not fall down. These mitigation measures, which also included child safety latches childproof stairway gates, provided additional dual-use benefits in that they offered everyday safety in addition to the longer-term disaster reduction.
Public Education
A very simple but effective public education component of the project, which involved sending safety information home with the children, succeeded in extended the reach of this disaster preparedness project beyond the walls of the childcare centers. Additionally, teams learned how to identify and clear dead brush from around the centers to limit the associated fire hazards, though an initial survey concluded that this type of assistance was not necessary.
Dual-Use Benefits
Windham County RSVP was able to build upon long-standing partnerships and develop new partnerships as needed to conduct this project. The retrofits undoubtedly made these two childcare centers safer from the effects of disaster. However, natural disasters were not their only risk - an unbalanced bookcase, for example, can easily tip over onto a child or an adult, resulting in serious injury or death. The simple retrofits conducted by Windham County RSVP and their partners could easily be reproduced in participants homes and elsewhere, thereby increasing both family and community safety and security.
Other Information
Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS): http://www.ibhs.org
Windham Regional Commission: http://www.rpc.windham.vt.us/
Green Mountain Chapter of the American Red Cross: http://www.gmcarc.org/
Vermont Center for Independent Living: http://www.vcil.org/
Brattleboro Retreat: http://www.bratretreat.org/
Salvation Army: http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/
Vermont Emergency Management: http://www.dps.state.vt.us/vem/
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