Introductory Courses

VashonBePrepared 101 is a few hour course taught as needed (i,.e. infrequently) for new or prospective VashonBePrepared volunteers. Topics include a rundown on the risks Vashon faces, who all these various groups are and what role they've taken on, an introduction to many of the groups, and the Vashon Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

It is probably the single best best way to learn about the overall disaster preparedness movement on Vashon and figure out how you can best play a contributing role. Inquire about future courses with an email to volunteer@VashonBePrepared.org. To actually volunteer though, please go to our volunteer page!

Volunteer Onboarding

New volunteers to all of the VashonBePrepared partner organizations should be formally welcomed with the following information. We're far from perfect, but encourage you to help us reach these goals:

  • Notice of your formal job title, job description and lead or captain. Often, the specific position may only get formalized once you and your partner get to know each other and assesss your skills and interest and their needs, but you should always have a point person with which to communicate.
  • Information on the partners methods of communication, whether email lists, subscriptions to Constant Contact, Groups.io, etc.
  • Information on training steps, documentation, and processes to aquaint you to your new position.
  • Guidence to register as a new volunteer at www.VashonEOC.org. Perhaps misnamed, this is a website for ALL VashonBePrepared partners -- not just the Emergency Operations Center! This is the primary source for partner organization information for their volunteers. (Currently much of this is on leadership personal computers or personal cloud storage, but hopefully in time they make it more broadly accessible.)
  • All VashonBePrepared partner volunteers are expected to register, and once manually approved (i.e., hours or days, not minutes), review our internal volunteer onboarding information at www.VashonEOC.org/Welcome. This provides informatino on the following topics:
    • Our various organizations in the coalition
    • Our various websites
    • How we communicate
    • Documentation for our various partners and procedures, including our incident objectives, general wiki, communciation lists, position checklists, and general document library
    • How to apply for Washington State Registered Emergency Worker liability protection
    • Descriptions of our internal processes
    • How to get reimbursed by VashonBePrepared for an approved expense
    • Our general volunteer Expectations, and
    • Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) Resources
  • After a few successful months working with your partner, they will provide you with guidence for applying for Registered Emergency Worker liability protection through the state as detailed here and on VashonEOC.org.

Advanced Training

Disaster management is a profession and there are a huge number of training resources available - for free - to those motivated. The following will lead you to many of those. Unless you are aspiring to this profession though, be forewarned that you'll likely want to set some limits and focus on just those lessons that help you with your chosen volunteer role!

National Emergency Management Training

Washington Training

Regional Disaster Training Links

General Board and Non-Profit Training

Basic VashonBePrepared Volunteer Training

Learn the formal infrastructure and vocabulary

All VashonBePrepared volunteers with any of our partners are expected to take the online ICS-100 (Introduction to the Incident Command System) and ICS-200 (Basic Incident Command System for Initial Response) courses to learn some of the basic vocabulary and process used by emergency personnel nationally.

ICS 700 (NIMS and Introduction) and ICS-800 (National Response Framework, An Introduction) classes are also recommended and focus more on the national systems that guide all emergency operations in the country.

All the above courses are free can be done at home in an hour or two over the Internet. Click on the course names above to launch the course.

Components of the National Incident Management System

Vocabulary & Terms

Partner Specialized Training

CERT

Consider taking the advanced training available from CERT. Our Vashon program is a regional model and the free course is 40 hours long - double the normal national curriculum. Contact CERT to inquire about upcoming courses.

MRC

Medical Reserve Corps volunteers have additional training programs.

ACS

Suggested training & classes for WA radio folk: www.waraces.us/training

EOC

The Vashon EOC conducts monthly training (except December). Team members get monthly email reminders of the upcoming training agenda. The EOC Team page also lists additional independent study courses we suggest for our team.

Additional training opportunities may be available from each of our partner organizations too. Check their web sites and national affiliates for specifics.

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