Palatine Emergency Management Agency

It has been several years since we have required any new training to be an active Palatine EMA volunteer. However, FEMA has put out a new training that I believe is extremely important for all of our volunteers to have. The subject matter of dealing with different types of people is important for not only paid staff but also volunteers. So to that end, PEMA is announcing a new required course to go along with IS 100 and IS 700 for all volunteers. This course, FEMA IS-20.12 - Diversity Awareness Course 2012, is available online at FEMA's Independent Study Program (ISP) website (http://training.fema.gov/IS/).

PEMA is offering this training at our February 2012 Quarterly Training next

Just a quick reminder that you should only be wearing your EMA bright yellow or team vets and jackets when you are working a special event or a real incident. If you need to go into a restaurant or other similar business, please leave the equipment in your vehicle. The reason for this is that the public may misconstrue that you are attempting to garner special favors because of who you are and who you are associated with. I doubt that this is a real problem, but people's perceptions are a reality. I can speak from experience that this was the case when I was a police officer. We are a great group with a solid reputation and I don't want someone unfamiliar with us making disparaging misguided accusations.
 
Thanks for Your Understanding,
Tom Smith