Emergency Management as a Career Option
For many, Emergency Management is shrouded in mystery. Emergency Management is a career option with a Homeland Security AAS Degree. For all intents and purposes, Emergency Management is very similar to when a child suffers an injury.
| Injured Child | Injured Community (Disaster) |
|---|---|
| When a child gets a wound, the child puts his hand or a towel over the wound to temporarily slow the bleeding. | When a community suffers a disaster, the Emergency Manager/911 System deploys its local resources. The local resources are only going to ‘slow the bleeding’ and are temporary. |
| The child immediately summons Mom. Mom says “everything will be alright” and puts a bandage on the wound. | The Local Emergency Manager immediately summons the County Emergency Manager. The County Emergency Manager says “everything will be alright” and applies County support that will last a little longer. |
| Mom calls for Dad to go to the pharmacy to get better equipment to help with the child’s injury. This is bigger and better, but not always enough. | The County Emergency Manager calls for the Governor to get the State’s better equipment. This is bigger and better, but not always enough. |
| If the injury is bad enough, the final place to turn to is a hospital. Dad makes the decision to go to the hospital Emergency Room. The ER has the resources to fix almost everything. | If the disaster is bad enough, the final place to turn to is the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Governor makes the decision to go to FEMA. FEMA has the resources and funding to fix almost everything. |
| The injured child is now in the hands of the Hospital and all their resources. | The local disaster is now in the hands of the Federal Government and all their resources are available, even the monies, to pay for recovery. |
| The child cannot live forever at the hospital. Once the wound is healed enough, the child is discharged back to happily playing at home. Mom was right, “everything will be alright.” | FEMA cannot stay in the community forever. Once the disaster is recovered, the Federal, State and County government methodically withdraw and the local community is back to normal. The County Emergency Manager was right, “everything will be alright.” |
That is a very happy story and a functional system, but imagine the tragedy that would have unfolded if the child didn’t know how to summon Mom. The local Emergency Manager (child) must be prepared in advance to call for the County (Mom), otherwise the rest of the chain of recovery will not occur. That is why a local Emergency Manager is needed and must be in place and prepared before disaster strikes.