“I Am Safe” Welfare Messages – Harnessing Community Power to Lighten the Load
If your community communications go down in a disaster, will you or your jurisdictional office be the only option for citizens to send messages to loved ones outside the impacted area about their status? Could you use Amateur Radio operators (hams) to send those messages instead? With today’s Amateur Radio capabilities, those messages can be delivered by text or email.
Learn how to provide that capability to your community or use it as a tool for your own jurisdiction. Co-developed by a team from Radio Relay International, the Seattle Auxiliary Communications Service, Amateur Radio Emergency Service and the Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs, this presentation will cover the process to send “I Am Safe” welfare messages and the tools you need to quickly set up message intake and Amateur Radio sending stations.
About the Presenters
Cindi Barker has been an active member of the Seattle Emergency Communication Hubs since their creation in 2009, She worked at Boeing for 34 years in manufacturing and engineering, and then was able to retire to work as a community volunteer in the West Seattle area where she lives, serving on multiple boards and committees. She first became interested in emergency response as a member of King County Search and Rescue in the mid 1990’s. Her role in the Seattle Hubs is both as a Hub Captain for her own area, and as a Hub Network facilitator, teaching new Hubs, doing outreach and building community preparedness and resilience.
David Wilma is Deputy Director at the Seattle Auxiliary Communications Service part of the Seattle Office of Emergency Management. He has been a licensed Amateur Radio operator since 2014. His work experience includes thirty years in state and federal law enforcement, volunteering in court advocating for foster children, and two terms as a member of the Seattle Office of Professional Accountability Review Board. He has authored books on Pacific Northwest History as well as five works of historical fiction.