Clearwater Emergency Social Services team held its first regular meeting for 2012 at the TNRD Library meeting room on Wednesday, Jan 11.
Director Cheryl Thomas ran through a brief review of the role of ESS and the code of conduct for the members. The team also discussed training status and opportunities for training.
Team member Grant Gale brought in his “grab and go” bag. These are the bags that team members should take with them when called out to an event. A list of suggested components will be sent out to each team member.
A major discussion centered on the profile of ESS in our community. ESS is the first response team called out any time people are evacuated from their residences due to emergency situations, such as house fires, flood, forest fires, dangerous goods spills, etc. This team deals with the people displaced by the event while other first response groups - fire departments, police, EMS - deal with the events.
ESS will be raising its profile through a number of activities. A display table will be set up at the upcoming Arts Health and Wellness Expo on Saturday, Feb 4. As well, meeting times will be posted on various community calendars such as the Times, District of Clearwater calendar, Facebook, etc.
Regular meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month in the meeting room at the TNRD Library building at 5:00 pm. Each meeting is limited to one hour and will include a short training session on some aspect of ESS operations.
If you wish to learn more about the role of the Provincial Emergency Social Services program and how you can help, contact Cheryl Thomas or Grant Gale.
– Grant Gale