Jason Zimmerman has been busy to say the least. He is the State Preparedness Assessment Program Manager at the Washington State Emergency Management Division and Director of Strategic Development at Empact Northwest. Jason is currently managing a major preparedness assessment project for the State and a major preparedness assessment project for Belize with more projects to follow. Jason shared the following information about the world changing organization Empact Northwest:
Empact Northwest is an international disaster response and community preparedness nonprofit organization based in Washington State. Our mission is “Train, Prepare, Respond”, which describes our three prong approach to response and preparedness.
Our first prong refers to our ability to respond anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice. Our members are trained, equipped and organized in Disaster Medicine teams, technical rescue, serving the public with Technical rope experts, Swiftwater teams, technical search specialist and canine teams. We respond internationally anywhere a major disaster happens.
Our second prong refers to the community preparedness efforts were engaged in. We help communities at all levels to build capabilities in responding to, mitigating against and recovering from disasters and overwhelming emergencies. We help communities with preparedness assessments, emergency planning and operational coordination and cooperation, Incident Command Systems (ICS), and various fire and rescue training.
Our last prong refers to the training impacts we have on the community. Empact Northwest holds a Rescue Systems 1 school, Rescue Systems 2 school, and a Technical Ropes class every year, available to responders all over the state and country to get trained and certified in various disciplines.
Our latest responses were to the war in Ukraine and the hurricane that hit the coast of Florida. Our work in Ukraine revolved around the refugees that flooded Poland and Wester parts of Ukraine after Russia invaded. Our initial response was a quick assessment to determine what would be needed and to make the connections with local response and other local and international nonprofits. We identified a great need for medical teams to deploy to the numerous shelters that had been set up to receive refugees. For the remainder of the year, our medical teams have worked with refugees to provide all services needed.
We also have an ongoing program in Belize. In parallel to Ukraine, we have been working closely with the Belize National Fire Service to build capacity in Emergency Medical Services, Rescue, and Emergency Dispatching. We have also been working in the community to complete a preparedness assessment. We have implemented the first ever Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) style emergency dispatch system in Belize. A dispatch center was built and brand-new positions were created for women to be dispatchers. In 2023 we begin developing an internationally and nationally deployable Belize Rescue Team, and facilitating community preparedness through emergency planning development and ICS training and political coordination.
If you know anyone who wants to help in areas of emergency preparedness, grants management, project management, or all the above, please contact Jason at jzimmerman@empactnorthwest.org.