[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish Holds Critical Transportation Exercise

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Tue Apr 21 10:21:25 EDT 2015


St. Bernard Parish Holds Critical Transportation Exercise 

 

On Wednesday, April 15th, St. Bernard Parish Office of Homeland Security and
Emergency Preparedness exercised its Critical Transportation Needs (CTN) and
Special Medical Needs (SMN) programs.  These programs are designed to assist
those in need of transportation during an evacuation and cannot
self-evacuate due to lack of resources, transportation or medical
conditions.   According to Parish President David Peralta, "to be
successful, it takes more than just parish personnel.  Support also comes
from the Governor's Office of Homeland Security, Louisiana State Police,
Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Louisiana
National Guard and Air Guard, United States Coast Guard, Louisiana
Department of Transportation Development (DOTD) American Red Cross, Acadian
Ambulance, St. Bernard Parish Hospital and our local Community Emergency
Response Team (CERT)."  35 personnel participated in this exercise.  During
an actual event this number will increase.

 

For this exercise, our parish buses picked up "evacuees" and brought them to
the Parish Pick-up Point (PPP).  Upon arrival at the PPP they were processed
by the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office and the Air National Guard to insure
that no weapons, alcohol or other contraband was brought in.  "The safety of
our residents and workers is of utmost importance", said President Peralta.

 

The "evacuees" are then registered by the use of the Phoenix Evacuation
Registration System provided by DCFS.  This system maintains accountability
of our evacuees from the time they are registered until they arrive at the
shelter location.  Processing is done by parish personnel with assistance
from DCFS personnel.  Once registered, "evacuees" then report to a waiting
area.  Once all "evacuees" have been processed they are loaded on buses by
DOTD personnel.  The buses that transport our "evacuees" are provided by
DOTD.

 

These exercises are used to identify areas of improvements.  This will help
us to better serve our residents in the future should the need arise.





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