Tulsa Partners September-October 2009 Newsletter

September has already come and gone and so many exciting things happening with Tulsa Partners Inc. We are truly building a more sustainable Tulsa through our actions and look forward to helping you, your business and our community to help be a more disaster-proof and sustainable place for us all!

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IBHS Open for Business� with the Tulsa Area United Way

Tulsa Partners, collaborating with the Tulsa Area United Way have been providing an 8-week course, that began September 16th, to allow TAUW member agencies a practical way to prepare their business for an emergency situation. The first class was a success, with ten Tulsa Area United Way Agencies in attendance, as well as the Oklahoma Center for Non-Profits, who we hope to work with in the future!

The pilot course will be structured around the online basic course created by IBHS (Institute for Business and Home Safety), supplementing it with volunteer subject matter experts and peer feedback.
TAUW

After this pilot, it is our hope to expand this interactive classroom version of training to other nonprofits. For those who can't wait, there is available training online. Through our work with the Institute for Business and Home Safety� (IBHS) and the Association of Contingency Planners, the DRBC has been using the IBHS Open for Business� training. For more information on this training, go to:

http://www.disastersafety.org/text.asp?id=commlines

There is also business continuity information and training through www.ready.gov/business .

For more information on the DRBC, including presentations at recent conferences around the country, go to www.tulsapartners.org/DRBC/ .

You are invited to the 2009 Tulsa Partners Inc. Annual Meeting!

Tulsa Partners Inc. will be holding our Annual Meeting on Wednesday, October 28th at Ryan's Steakhouse at 21st and Garnett at 11:30 am. Everyone is invited to join us for this event. We will be voting on new Board Members and will have our Annual Report available. NO COST TO ATTEND ANNUAL MEETING, everyone though will pay for their own lunches.

New candidates for our Tulsa Partners Inc. Board include:
David Hall from State Farm Insurance
Andrew Moss from TRC Solutions
Pam Neilsen from the Oklahoma State Insurance Department
Jason Stockinger from Bank of Oklahoma
Captain Brett Bailey from the Tulsa Police Department

Board Members that were appointed during the year and now will be voted upon by the Board include:
Bob Roberts from R.D. Flanagan and Assoc.
Dr. Charles Stewart from Oklahoma Institute for Disaster and Emergency Medicine at OU-Tulsa
Michelle Royal is a Homeland Security Consultant

Re-election:
Neil McNeil retired City of Tulsa Attorney
Mary Ann Summerfield retired City of Tulsa Parks and Recreation Director
Kathy Champion from PSO
Michelle Barnett from URS Corp
Robert Smith from Williams

Brief bio's of all candidates as well as the ballot will be available on the website for you to view soon.

There have been changes to the by-laws of Tulsa Partners Inc. and we will send a press-release out when these changes are available to view online.

Awards normally given at the Fall Annual Meeting will now be given at the Spring Nania Banquet.

4th Friday Green Bag Lunch Series

Our Green Bag lunch series has out-grown our facilities! Previous luncheon discussions have been over "Low Impact Development," "Residential Lighting" and "Indoor Air Quality." We will now be having our lunch series at larger venues so more people can join this exciting series! We look forward to seeing YOU at one soon.

On September 25th at Tulsa Technology Center Lemley Campus, the topic was
"Geothermal Energy".
Instructors from TTC talked about and showed attendees their new geothermal training unit and what it can teach students about geothermal energy. It was a great turn-out and we look forward to seeing you at the next lunch!

October 23, 11:30 am to 1:00 pm
Kendall Whittier Library, 21 South Lewis
"Xeriscaping"
Carl Szafranski with Szafranski and Pugh landscape architects will talk to people about how to use native plants which use minimal water and are appropriate for our local habitat and climate.

"Resilient and Ready" at Tulsa Public Schools and Muscogee Creek Nation

Working with the new Tulsa Public Schools Emergency Manager, Tom O'Malley, we are implementing a new Resilient and Ready program to all 4th graders in the Tulsa Public Schools District.

Save the Children's Kate Dischino is coming to do a Train the Trainer at Tulsa Public Schools as well as the Muscogee Creek nation.

This new training was possible through the REMS grant (Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools), in which Tulsa Partners participated in development for Tulsa Public Schools to implement Resilient and Ready in their schools for years to come.

Pictured to the left is Kate Dischino and Katheleen Whalen from Save the Children with Carissa Lovell.

Language and Culture Bank Update

The Language and Culture Bank steering committee met recently and updated each other on the new and exciting things going on. The Muscogee Creek Nation has become an enthusiastic member of the Language and Culture Bank and Tulsa Partners looks forward to working with them in this capacity.

Language and Culture Bank is working closely with the Tulsa City County Health Department on multi-cultural outreach about the flu.

Language and Culture Bank has been included in two grants:
1) Tulsa Public Schools Readiness in Emergency Management for Schools Grant
2) USCIS Grant to help priority immigrants and refugee groups to become US citizens.

Language and Culture Bank had a booth at Utsav India and the Hispanic Festival. Thanks to our volunteers for manning these booths for Tulsa Partners Inc.

Finally, we thank the OneOK Foundation who provides funding for ASL interpreter services at our meetings. See photo above.

Disaster Management for Long Term Facilities Workshop to be held in November in Tulsa

The 5th Annual Long Term Facilities workshop will be held this year on Thursday, November 19th at the Elks Lodge at 5335 Harvard Street and on December 3rd will also be held in Oklahoma City at the Moore-Norman Technology Center- Penn Campus at 13301 S. Penn Street.

Pictured is Dorya Huser from the Oklahoma State Department of Health, who will be a returning speaker this year in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

EMSA'S TINA WELLS RECEIVES FRIZZELL AWARD

Tina Wells, EMSA Vice President for Marketing and Policy Development, was recognized for her dedicated commitment to keeping the public informed with the 2009 Ben Frizzell Memorial Award. The citation was presented by the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management (OEM) during this week's annual emergency management conference. The award recognizes an individual who provides outstanding service in the area of emergency management public information.
Since she was named to the EMSA post seven years ago, Wells has managed a vast array of duties during times of disaster as well as non-disaster. Recent examples of her ability to communicate during disasters occurred during the 2007 ice storm when Wells provided ongoing information to the public about dangerous health issues including the hazards of carbon monoxide poisoning. Her emergency public information efforts continued during the summer months and now through Wells' efforts EMSA is considered a source of heat information through summer "Heat Alerts." By distributing situation updates with each event, Wells kept not only the public informed but also local and state officials.

In addition to her response work, Wells developed effective communication strategies for preparedness initiatives to include EMSA's injury prevention program known as "Backseat Buddies." She is also largely responsible for bringing EMSA into compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and accountability Act (HIPAA).

"Ms. Wells is a top notch crisis communicator," said OEM Director Albert Ashwood. "We commend her efforts as well as EMSA's commitment to the need for public information during both disaster and non-disaster times."

Wells is a former television producer. She has a bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Texas. Before taking the post at EMSA, she was with St. John Medical Center.

The Ben Frizzell Memorial Award is presented in honor of the late OEM PIO who served the agency from 1995 to 2000.

EMSA and Tulsa Partners Inc. have worked together numerous times in the past and we congratulate Tina on this prestigious award for her outstanding public information work in the field of emergency management!

Upcoming Events with Tulsa Partners

October
23rd- Green Bag Lunch series - Kendall-Whittier Library
28th- Annual Meeting Lunch - Ryan's Steakhouse at 21st and Garnett

November

19th- Tulsa Disaster Management for Long Term Care Facilities Workshop - Elks Lodge

Woody's Web will be Back Next Month!

JoAnn Woody is taking a much needed month off and her column will be back in next month's newsletter! We can't wait to see what she uncovers for the next newsletter!

Your support is always welcome!

If you like what your Tulsa Partners is doing, please consider giving a charitable donation at
www.tulsapartners.org/Donate.

Raise money for Tulsa Partners by searching the internet with GoodSearch.com, or shopping online with GoodShop.com

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