Crisis Management Insights
Read up on our emergency preparedness advice for business owners and employees alike.
What Andy’s Cow Patty Palace Taught Me about Community and Resilience.
But Andy’s was much more than a diner. It was a community hub. Locals started their mornings there with coffee and conversation, caught up on town gossip, bartered for goods, and even played poker (where the loser had to drive my sisters and me to school). Growing up in that environment, I came to understand how central small businesses are to the fabric of a community. When my dad was sick or when snowstorms or power outages hit, the diner couldn’t open. That didn’t just mean no income for the day; it left a gap in the community. Regulars missed their routine. Conversations and connections were put on pause. Everyone who relied on Andy felt the ripple effect—not just us, but the butcher who provided our meat, our dairy supplier, and the list goes on.
Your Holiday Safety Briefing
1. Know Your Risks and Create Simple Action Steps
Prepare for the basics:
Fire: Do you know your evacuation route? When was the last time you checked your smoke alarm batteries?
Power Outages: What’s your backup plan if the power goes out halfway through cooking the turkey? (OR do you have a backup pre-cooked turkey somewhere? I can neither confirm nor deny doing this…)
Natural Hazards: My hometown occasionally experiences earthquakes. They’re rare, but when they happen, my family tends to panic like headless turkeys. To prepare, I always review “Drop, Cover, and Hold On.”
Pro Tip: When my nieces and nephews were younger, they loved running through the house to find the best “safe spots” during our earthquake drills. It’s a surprisingly fun pre-dinner activity!
Internet Meltdowns: Slow internet can lead to big meltdowns. Break out the old board games early — it’s a lifesaver.
Critical Training for Active Assailant Response: A Personal Account and The Resiliency Initiative’s Mission
I've spent many years in the emergency management field, designing training programs and responding to every type of hazard imaginable—countless fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, explosions, train derailments, and even cyber hacks and ransomware attacks. Yet, there is one type of incident that cuts deep every time: an active shooter situation. For me, these are the most mentally taxing to manage, especially from the vantage point of being in an Emergency Operations Center, where I often watch the tragedy unfold from a distance, helpless to intervene. The harsh reality is that most active shooter incidents are over in less than five minutes. In those moments, all I can do is hope that the training we provided takes hold, guiding those caught in the crossfire to safety.
Tornado Reality Check: An Emergency Manager's Personal Experience and Preparedness Insights
I have responded to countless disasters of many different types, spent more hours than I have spent sleeping in some version of an emergency operation center or another and even had to use my life safety training, such as CPR, on more than one occasion. I would say that emergency response is part of who I am; even my initials are AED. However, though I have been in this field for half my life, I have always been the helper, NOT the one needing help.