WRHSAC announces the availability of the Spontaneous and Unaffiliated Volunteer (SUV) Training Toolkit. This toolkit is designed to provide the resources necessary to effectively plan for and safely operate a volunteer management system based on the Incident Command System (ICS). This planning and training series was developed by Berkshire Regional Planning Commission under guidance and direction from WRHSAC and local response partners. Click here to review the toolkit and related materials.
The Western Region Homeland Security Advisory Council will host a Pediatric Psychological First Aid (PFA) Training on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 at the Hadley Farms Meeting House in Hadley, MA. This training is an initiative of WRHSAC’s Children in Disasters: Keeping Kids Safe project.
Pediatric Psychological First Aid (PFA) is an evidence informed approach for assisting children and adolescents in the aftermath of disasters and terrorism.
This course will be facilitated by members of PFA International, including Dr. Kermit Crawford, Director of the Center for Multicultural Mental Health, Boston; Dr. Shamaila Khan, Director of Behavioral Health Services, Massachusetts Resiliency Center, Boston; and Dr. Russell T. Jones, from Virginia Tech University, a specialist in working with traumatized children.
This training is appropriate for first responders, all school staff especially teachers & nurses, hospital staff, counselors & therapists, day care providers, faith-based members, and others who interact with children, infants through teenagers, on a regular basis.
Handlers and nationally certified comfort dogs from HOPE: Animal Assisted Crisis Response will be attending. WRHSAC is grateful for their participation.
This training is free. A light breakfast and full lunch will be provided. On-site registration begins at 8am. The training will begin promptly at 9am.
We encourage you to register soon as course size is limited to 100. The course is expected to fill quickly. Registration is open to individuals from western Massachusetts. A waitlist will be started once the course if full.
OEMS credits (7 hours) have been approved for all levels of EMT. Nursing CEUs are pending.
This training is full. Thank you for your interest.
The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports on the upcoming large scale UMass / Hampshire MRC shelter exercise. More than 275 people are expected to participate. WRHSAC is providing funds to support the exercise. To read the article click here.
