UGA staff, students provide cruc
I
By Julia Regeski
n any emergency, being thrown into a room
with hundreds of other people working to keep
a large community safe can be incredibly
challenging; but imagine being in that situation
with only a moment’s notice, ready and willing to help
in any way possible.
For a few members of the Institute for Disaster
Management at the University of Georgia College
of Public Health, that’s exactly what they faced. As
Hurricane Irma moved toward the state, Associate
Director of the Institute Dr. Curt Harris reached out to
the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland
Security Agency to offer their assistance.
The Institute supports faculty, students and staff
as they engage in risk analysis, long-term disaster
planning, and the development of response
capabilities and
disaster management
infrastructure. Bearing
that in mind, Harris
knew that students
and staff alike would
be able to offer the
state help in any way
needed. Despite
the unpredictability
and challenges of
diving head-on into
an evolving disaster,
Harris put the call out to
students and teachers
to pack their bags and
head to Atlanta.
One individual
that responded was
Professor Tawny Waltz. “Our group is very proactive.
If something comes up, we want to jump on it and
give our students as many opportunities as possible.”
Waltz used her unique experience working with
local hospitals to serve in Emergency Support
Function 8: Public Health. “Even though the
Department of Public Health had their own people, a
lot of them don’t work with hospitals directly as much
as Dr. Harris and I do,” said Waltz. “I didn’t realize
how beneficial all these partnerships we developed
in the field were and how we were able to utilize that.
I ended up sitting next to someone who was kind of
new to the state, and when she’d ask me if I know
anyone in a hospital, I was quickly able to direct them
to the right person. I didn’t realize how valuable that
was.”
Waltz worked alongside GEMA/HS Planner
Lizbeth Ortiz, who said that having assistance from
Waltz proved valuable because of her specialized
knowledge. Waltz had experience working with an
online board that helps match patients with functional
needs with facilities that are able to take them in.
“I didn’t know how to use that board,” said Ortiz.
“It was good to have somebody who knew about
it learning, between all the stress, how to help.”
That stress came from an unusual situation that,
unfortunately, was difficult to plan for. In Chatham
County alone, Ortiz
estimates there were
50 residents with
evacuation needs
that couldn’t stay in
a traditional shelter.
ESF-8 had planned
on relocating these
residents further inland
to qualified locations,
but as Hurricane Irma’s
track shifted, those
locations needed to be
evacuated as well.
Despite the new
challenges, the
professionals from
UGA were comfortable
assisting, partly because
they had worked with GEMA/HS prior to Hurricane
Irma in state exercises. “We knew each other, and
that’s a good thing,” said Ortiz. “They already had a
really good understanding of what we do and how to
do it.”
Harris believes most, if not, all of his students have
an understanding of what responding to a hurricane
entails and gives them the opportunity to participate
in actual disasters.
“We know disasters are going to happen. It’s
not a matter of if, but when. Students know we are
“If something
comes up, we want
to jump on it and
give our students as
many opportunities
as possible.”
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