When Disaster Strikes: How to Keep Your Organization Afloat

Keynote(s)

• 

  Teri Hawthorne

  Executive Director
  The Arc of Greater Beaumont

This session will highlight the importance of having a realistic and timely disaster preparedness plan in place. When Hurricane Harvey hit, The Arc of Greater Beaumont was thrust into the arena of providing services and support to our members with IDD. This also provided self reflection on our part to realize what gaps we had in our disaster plan. This session will focus on educating attendees on two fronts Internal Office Preparedness and Community Preparedness Support. The session will follow The Arc during the days and weeks that followed the storm. I will be interjecting what worked and what didn't work as I became aware of it during the chaos. This session will also provide an opportunity for attendees to share their experiences and plans with the group. I think it is very important for chapters to see the benefit in communication with other chapters.