Start this spring: Online Emergency Management classes
03/23/2011
Edmonds College offers online classes this spring in Emergency Management including
Disaster Psychology, Emergency Direction and Control, and Emergency Management Regulations.
The instructors are emergency management and business continuity professionals. For
more information about the Emergency Management degree, call 425.640.1877 or go to
www.edmonds.edu/emergency. To register for spring classes, call 425.640.1459 or go
to www.edmonds.edu/getstarted.
The online classes run April 4-June 17. Take a class or earn a two-year Emergency Management and Business Continuity degree. A certificate in Emergency Management can also be completed in as few as six quarters (18 months). All classes are offered online.
The college’s program provides training in the phases of Emergency Management from preparedness and planning, prevention and mitigation of emergency situations, and response to and recovery from disasters for those who are responsible for emergency preparedness. It teaches the skills to help organizations prepare emergency and business continuity plans, comply with the National Preparedness Directive, the National Response Framework, and other regulations, as they respond to emergencies, disasters, and other interruptions to the flow of business. It’s essential training for first responders, volunteers, business operations management, safety professionals, and stakeholders of an entity.
“Emergency management skills are needed at every level from the individual citizen, local community, county, state, federal, tribal government agencies, and by education, health care, nonprofit, and corporate employers. To be effective, there is a need for solid planning, training, and exercising a plan written in the preparedness phase of emergency management, ” said Lark Stewart, Director of Edmonds College’s Emergency Management program.
Stewart has more than 10 years experience in emergency management and 18 years experience in disaster response. She is a master trainer for FEMA, and occasionally travels with a team to facilitate FEMA courses. Edmonds College’s Emergency Management program is on FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute Higher Education College List.
In June, the college will host a FEMA workshop “Multi-Hazard Emergency Planning for Higher Education,” to provide planning strategies to better protect lives, property, and operations at institutions of higher education. It will be attended by employees responsible for emergency operations planning at area colleges. The workshop is full.
The college hosts a training academy for the King County Search and Rescue Association April 30-May 1 and May 14-15.
Stewart is the advisor for the college’s Campus Emergency Response and Recovery Organization and the student International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) club.
Edmonds College also has a Community Emergency Response Team program, which helps train people to be better prepared to respond to emergency situations in their communities, as part of FEMA’s Citizen Corps.