(Clarinda) -- Jill Harvey describes her first three months as Page County's emergency management coordinator as "eye opening."
Harvey succeeded Kris Grebert in the position in late October. A 1994 University of Nebraska-Kearney graduate, Harvey served as the Deputy Emergency Management Director in Phelps County, Nebraska for almost seven years, and filled in as the director before coming to Page County. Speaking on KMA's "Morning Line" program Friday morning, Harvey says there are differences between Nebraska and Iowa in terms of emergency management.
"In Nebraska, we are under a board of supervisors or commissioners, a county board," said Harvey. "Here, with the EM (emergency management) commission, that's been a little bit different, working with. I still have a lot of people I need to meet, but so far, the people I've worked with have been great. They've been very supportive of me in answering questions, and just hoping we can figure things out as we go."
Even with her experience, Harvey says the new job necessitated taking special training sessions over the past few months.
"Some of the NIMS courses--which is the National Instant Management System--which is how everyone nationwide responds to a disaster," she said, "it kind of helps put responders on the same page, so that we can go to a different area, and you just kind of understand the span of control, or how that works, who's in charge of what. I did attend a liaison officer training in Nebraska at the end of November. That was a very informative training. That kind of helps deal with how you work with the different kind of agencies that can be on the scene."
And, Harvey joined Shenandoah Medical Center, Shenandoah Fire Department and other agencies in the hospital's emergency drill in early November. She hopes to hold similar exercises in the future, in order to prepare first responders for the real thing.
"The one thing that comes out all the time, I think, is the more we can exercise and practice together with all the different branches that come together with an event," said Harvey, "the better we are when the real thing happens. I've gotten to respond a couple of times to a couple different fires and events around the area. I am so excited to work with these departments. They've included me, they've welcomed me, and I look forward to growing that relationship, and just making a better response overall for everyone."
Harvey adds a storm spotter class is planned in March. Further information will be released in the near future. You can hear the full interview with Jill Harvey here"
