President Rick dinged us to order and led us in the Pledge. Garry led us in prayer. Our guests were early risers Daniel and Laurel Fisher because mom could not sneak out of the house as well as these 2 are going to be able to sneak in past curfew as they get older! Eldon won the $22 BIP which he promptly donated to Polio Plus. Nancy reminded us she will have the boxes for our quarters at the November 4th meeting. These will need to be returned, filled with 40 quarters ($10) for Polio Plus. Jane was fined (again) for being in the paper (again) and we celebrated John and Teresa’s wedding anniversary even if John wasn’t that sure about it. Helio threw in
a happy buck—NO BRACES!! Jane reported that Tuesday night we will plant the bulbs at Goetzes—6PM. The pictures Show the finished product as well as the workers that came to help pot the bulbs and enjoy the fellowship. Jane sent out an e-mail indicating
the status of the bulb sales. Be sure to bring the final sale orders to the meeting Friday!
Tom’s program guest was Mike Jobst, the LaSalle Co. Emergency Management Agency Director.
Mike reviewed the 7 teams of trained volunteers that jump into action when the citizens of LaSalle County need their expert skills &
faithful service to help bring safety to their lives. The 7 volunteer teams that Mike laid out for us include Damage Assessment, Animal Response, Community Emergency Response, Ground Search & Rescue, Medical Reserve Corps, Amateur Radio Operators, and Sky Warn. The Damage Assessment Team consists of 10 township assessors who provide a damage assessment in order to get the IMEA and FEMA information. Flooding and tornados keep them busy. The Animal Response Team consists of 28 Vets, Licensed Vet Technicians & livestock owners. This is the only fully deployable team of its kind in Illinois and one of the few in the entire country! Imagine animals after truck accidents, tornados, floods. The Community Emergency Response Team is the largest of the teams—115 trained to provide assistance to neighbors for up to 72 hours, checking homes, shutting off the gas meters–that type of thing. They are also heavily used for many other disasters—running copy machines, manning the phones, etc. The most active team is the Ground Search & Rescue team. These 27 members will hunt for potential suicide alerts, dementia sufferers, and lost children. They also assist in other counties and are deployed almost once each month. The Medical Reserve Corps has about 20 members, civilians who are active or retired medical personnel. They will assist the medical community or health department when needed. They have not been deployed to date. The Amateur Radio Operators, a team of 43 members, conduct emergency communications and are active in all exercises contacting family members in emergencies. This team has recently been linked into the State Emergency Operations
System. Sky Warn is the weather spotters (currently 20 with room for more!) who are trained ground observers that work from their home and phone in their observations which are then forwarded to the National Weather Service office in Romeoville. Mike encouraged anyone interested to come to their county facility at the Etna Rd. courthouse complex. It is a state of art facility and the county citizens should be proud. He also indicated each team could use more volunteers although some teams are more selective than others (like Animal Control and Medical). Training is mandatory both before joining and once part of a team. Also, all are trained in the Incident Command hierarchy. This is to maintain the highest safety for all, including the unsolicited volunteers who show up to help. Tom pointed out that none of this existed before Mike became the Director and he has built this into a model agency!
