Overview

The Jackson County Emergency Management Department has undertaken an initiative entitled Operation Full Access.

Operation Full Access

With the assistance of various disability, senior citizen,  social service, faith based and transportation stakeholders from throughout Jackson County and its eleven municipalities the Operation Full Access  initiative GOALS are to:

• Assess the current emergency readiness of the county’s most disaster  vulnerable citizens.

• Review the disaster readiness of the county’s organizations and agencies charged with providing assistance to the county's most disaster vulnerable citizens.

• Convene an Operation Full Access Task Force to analyze the  individual disaster readiness level of the county's residents with disabilities, who are  transportation disadvantaged, who are senior citizens or who speak limited or no English. Upon completing the analysis establish a set of goals and objectives to ensure the county can fully support the disaster planning, response and recovery needs of the population identified above.

• Armed with a strong understanding of the county's strengths and weaknesses as it pertains to preparing the vulnerable population and the various stakeholders for future disasters or emergencies integrate  vulnerable population disaster preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation actions into the county's Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.

Why Operation Full Access? During the various phases of disaster planning, preparedness, response and recovery, certain vulnerable populations are routinely overlooked. Operation Full Access will provide for the total involvement of the county’s vulnerable population stakeholders throughout the process of enhancing their disaster readiness.

Hurricane ADA Tabletop Exercise

On the morning of September 16 2010, 47 organizations representing the county's disabled, transportation disadvantaged, senior citizens and limited or non-English speaking residents participated in a unique tabletop exercise. The purpose of this exercise was to give stakeholder organization an opportunity to assess their readiness level to continue to provide services to their clients in the aftermath of a hurricane as well as to measure the overall preparedness level of the county's most  disaster vulnerable citizens.

Additional information on this exercise can be found below.

Disability Disaster Plan

Disability Disaster Planning Resources - National

Disability Disaster Planning Resources - State

Disability Disaster Planning Resources - Local