Recordings and Past Training/Education Events
February 2025 Lunch and Learn: CBRNE Protocol
Delivered: February 25, 2025
The purpose of this recently updated protocol is to provide guidance on safe, efficient, and effective assessment response and mitigation during an incident involving, or possibly involving a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and/or Explosive (CBRNE) threat.
Seminar Objectives: Awareness level overview of the protocol. Integration of protocol with ESF#10. Steps to take when needing additional resources. Procedure to make suggestions or modifications to the protocol.
Nov '24 Lunch & Learn-- Don't Be Fooled By The Grinch: Holiday Scams
Description: Al Perales of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office will join us to discuss holiday scams and how to keep from getting fooled by knowing:
->What to watch for to recognize tell-tale signs of a scam
->What to do with information you collect about a possible scam attempt, or if you think you may have been a victim of a scam.
->What the current environment in Iowa looks like and what scams are active.
October 2024 Lunch and Learn: Iowa DOJ Victim Assistance Section
Date: October 22, 2024
Description: When responding to the stress of a violent crime, proper training and preparation go a long way. The Iowa Department of Justice offers free training to law enforcement and other first responders, relying on its deep pool of experienced prosecutors and professionals to help you get the most out of investigations, report-writing, and trial preparation. Learn about free programs, services, and survivor-centered trainings offered by the Iowa Department of Justice so you can best assist survivors of crime, and take advantage of statewide resources that are designed to protect victims.
Slides: Click here
September 2024 Lunch & Learn: Family Reunification Heartland AEA
Delivery Date: September 24, 2024
Description: Unexpected termination of school days can be stressful. Rearranging plans for child pickup can leave family and staff with their hands full. A well-trained support staff and effective plan become even more important when there has been an emergency and/or evacuation of students.
Weather related emergencies, power outages, fires, other infrastructure failures, or school violence could all lead to the potential need for parent/guardian - student reunification.
When large scale reunification needs exceed a district's resources, Heartland AEA has the trained staff to respond. Learn more about the plans, methods, and processes employed in such a reunification, and how to activate Heartland AEA during an emergency to work side-by-side with your district's response plans.
Speakers: Stacey Warren, MSW, LISW Social Emotional, Behavior, Mental Health Regional Lead
Chris Pierson, Ph.D., Heartland AEA Regional Director
May 2024 Lunch and Learn: Public Health And Responder Safety
Polk County's Communicable Disease Team talks about resources available in tracking and dealing with communicable diseases, and how responders can share information or receive direction if they come into contact with a patient reporting suspicious symptoms, or an infection like Tuberculosis.
March 2024 Lunch & Learn: School Safety and Threat Reporting
Delivery Date: March 26, 2024
Description:
2024 Annual Partnership Meeting
Delivery Date: January 24, 2023
Description:
Polk County Emergency Management Agency and Polk County 911 Service Board Partnership Meeting Discussion Includes:
- WHO is Emergency Management? WHAT do we do?... and WHY do we do it?
- The past year's significant events, incidents and accomplishments will be highlighted
- A look forward to what the upcoming year may bring for our agency
- The 2024/2025 fiscal year's budget will also be previewed
- .. most importantly: Your feedback, ideas, and recommendations.
The focus of the discussion will be partnership-building through clear understanding of the agency's roles, responsibilities and opportunities. We need your involvement to better understand how we can better serve you and your community or organization.
Recording below, or click here.
A copy of the slides presented can be downloaded here.
November 2023 Lunch and Learn: Extreme Temperature Plan
Delivery Date: November 26, 2023
Description:
An overview of the Polk County Extreme Temperature Plan including: activation criteria, participating agencies and organizations, services available, and where to find information on the plan and available extreme temperature centers. Changes effective for the 2023-24 winter season are highlighted.
Recording: Click Here Technical difficulties prevented audio of the session from being recorded. Polk County Emergency Management Agency has provided a summary video highlighting the session as an alternative.
October 2023 Lunch and Learn: Critical Incident Stress Management
Delivery Date: October 24, 2023
Description:
Everyone is subject to stress. Everyone has their own methods for coping with stress, but we all need help at times. Find out the different types of help out there after an incident, and how to tap into those resources.
Maintaining and improving mental health is a daily journey, and also a critical piece of recovery efforts after a disaster for both responders and communities. Join PCEMA and Len Murray in learning about new efforts and initiatives to providing help and support after incidents.
Recording: Click here
PowerPoint Presentation: Download Here
September 2023 Lunch and Learn: Rapid Needs Assessment
Delivery Date: September 27, 2023
Description:
Damage assessment is a two pronged approach. A rapid needs, windshield assessment is needed in the immediate aftermath of a disaster to determine what has happened and where. It is crucial for efficient allocation of resources. A more detailed, "door-to-door" assessment is needed as well, as information is gathered for potential disaster declarations. Join us as we discuss how we execute these assessments, and what the needs are for each.
Recording: Click here
2023 Annual Partnership Meeting
Delivery Date: February 8, 2023
Description:
Polk County Emergency Management Agency and Polk County 911 Service Board Partnership Meeting Discussion Includes:
- WHO is Emergency Management? WHAT do we do?... and WHY do we do it?
- The past year's significant events, incidents and accomplishments will be highlighted
- A look forward to what the upcoming year may bring for our agency
- The 2023/2024 fiscal year's budget will also be previewed
- .. most importantly: Your feedback, ideas, and recommendations.
The focus of the discussion will be partnership-building through clear understanding of the agency's roles, responsibilities and opportunities. We need your involvement to better understand how we can better serve you and your community or organization.
Recording: 2023 Annual Partnership Meetings
November 2022 Lunch and Learn: Private Sector Involvement in Disaster Response and Recovery
Delivery Date: November 29, 2022
Description: Speaker - Paul Taylor, President, Taylor Strategies, LLC (former FEMA Region 7 Administrator) Many private sector businesses and individuals want to help their communities following a disaster. Learn why it is important to understand how the public sector and private sector can collaborate effectively for more effective disaster response and recovery.
Recording: Click Here
October 2022 Lunch & Learn: Riding the Storm Out with the National Weather Service
Delivery Date: October 26, 2022
Description: The National Weather Service is a trusted partner, committed to keeping the public safe during hazardous weather situations. Learn who they are, the tools and technology that they use, and ways that the public can become more weather aware. Speakers from the NWS Des Moines Office.
Recording: Click Here
September 2022 Lunch and Learn: Reunification
Delivery Date: September 27, 2022
Description: Once an incident's immediate threat or danger has passed, the reunification of families begins. This process has been implemented across the nation and requires specific planning. Learn how the Heartland Area Education Agency (AEA) is supporting schools if there is a crisis. Speakers include: Stacey Warren, Aimee Schuppe, Dustin Gean and Chris Pierson.
Recording: Click Here
August 2022 Lunch and Learn: Active Threat Preparedness (Part II)
Delivery Date: August 30, 2022
Description: Based on the request for more information about active threat, we are offering a follow-on to address active threat planning. During this Lunch and Learn we will discuss the risk and threat analysis process, tools that are available to assist in planning process and best practices when developing you own plans.
Recording: Click Here
July 2022 Lunch and Learn: Active Threat Preparedness
Delivery Date: July 26, 2022
Description:
Active threats can occur anywhere that people gather. They can come in many different shapes and sizes. Learn the signs of those who may be at risk to commit these offenses and how to mitigate the impact to your organization should an event like this occur.
Recording: Click Here
June 2022 Lunch and Learn: Special Event Planning
Delivery Date: June 23, 2022
Description:
Summer is the season for many community events. While most go on without any problems, pre-planning for bad weather, missing persons or other unplanned situations is always time well-spent. Learn from community responders and event planners how they prepare together to ensure the attendees have a safe and enjoyable time. *Note - audio is unavailable for the first portion of the video but the slides are detailed and still valuable. Audio begins approximately halfway in the video.
Recording: Click Here
May 2022 Lunch and Learn: Mental Health Resources
Delivery Date: May 23, 2022
Description:
Let's face it. We've all had a couple of rough years. During Mental Health Awareness Month, this Lunch and Learn will focus on existing teams, resources, and established programs that support the mental health needs of the community, organizations, and individuals.
Recording: Click Here
April 2022 Lunch and Learn: Sniffing Things Out - Search and Rescue Dogs
Delivery Date: April 19, 2022
Description:
For decades law enforcement has relied on certified, mission ready K9s to assist in a variety of scenarios. A detection K9 is one that has been trained to provide an indication in the presence of a particular odor. Properly trained and certified K9 teams can assist in locating missing persons, in recovering human remains, in crime scene identification and they are able to cover large search areas in a short amount of time. Simply put – certified, mission ready detection K9s can do things that cannot be replicated by humans, machines or technology. However, not all K9 teams are created equal and it is critical that law enforcement has a clear understanding of the application of K9 teams and the standard qualifications that should be requested of responding K9 teams. This course will provide law enforcement and responders with the foundations of K9 detection work and best practices in order to most effectively utilize this resource.
Iowa SAR K9 is a small coalition of dedicated, unpaid professional K9 handlers who provide specially trained K9’s to assist any local, county, state or federal law enforcement agency in a variety of events.
Recording: Click Here
March 2022 Lunch and Learn: No Truth Like Ground Truth - Damage Assessments
Delivery Date: March 29, 2022
Description:
Bring your lunch and listen in to those that have “been there, done that”. This one‐hour session will provide insight into the damage assessment process, why it is important, requirements and the decision‐making that is made based on this process. You will hear from several jurisdictions on their experiences, best practices and lessons learned from past Derechos.
Recording: Click Here
February 2022 Lunch and Learn: Win/Win! How to Partner with the Media to Get Your Message Out
Delivery Date: February 23, 2022
Description:
Whether it is developing plans, campaign awareness or during times of crisis, partnering with the media is critical to the protection of the public. Learn from experts who can help you understand best practices, and what to avoid, for the best possible outcomes.
Recording: Click Here