Service History

We were contacted by this group who had previously scheduled us for their 2020 Health Fair which was canceled due to the pandemic. This year they conducted the Health Fair by Zoom. There were many presenters with various topics, such as Drugs and Other Bad Ideas, Preventing Disease, Healthy Living, Sexual Health, Hygiene, and Mental Health. Each one of us introduced ourselves and our dogs, then spoke about HOPE's mission and the deployments and events in which we have participated. Susan Johansen and Julie Bereckis lent their expertise as canine trainers and spoke about how a dog gets to be a HOPE Crisis dog.

This was a virtual tabletop exercise involving approximately twenty-five emergency response agencies from the State of Michigan. The exercise involved a response to catastrophic flooding across the state. It was presented in three modules: Recovery Transition, Intermediate Recovery, and Long Term Recovery. Each participating agency discussed how they could be involved in each recovery phase. HOPE's mission was shared and our deployment protocol discussed. There were three HOPE teams that were present and prepared to do a virtual visit.

This course was SA-133-Liasion 1: Understanding Emergency Management & Whole Community. It was an 8 hour course. It is the official training of The Salvation Army which resembled the FEMA-100 course which we all have taken.

This was the quarterly meeting for MOVOAD. The meeting was held virtually. Due to the severe cold weather in our area MO Emergency Management talked about Operational Weather Survival which includes warming and cooling thresholds. They also talked about the Rolling Power Outages. Emergency Management was arranging a conversation with EVERGY Energy. 2021 National VOAD meeting will be held May 18-20, 2021. The conference was to be held in St Louis, MO but it will now be held virtually. MOVOAD will host the a conference in 2021. We now have 58 members and there were 46 members that participated in the virtual meeting.

January 2021 meetings I have attended on behalf of HOPE AACR:

Tuesday, 1/05/2021....6-7:30 p.m.........American Red Cross........this group meets once/month to discuss monthly ARC fire and health support responses and updates to local area members. ARC across the country have implemented multiple trainings and support meetings virtually to update their new reponse protocols. Updates are also provided from the SW MT COAD, the Shelterin Task Force, and AHAD meetings (All Hazards, All Discipline - primarily consisting of 1st Responders). I provide an update on a subcommittee within SW MT COAD called, Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Care. Mental Health meets monthly, so I share what is happening within our local area. Emotional (HOPE AACR) and Spiritual Care are not meeting regularly.

Thursday, 1/07/2021....9:30 - 10:30 a.m.......Mental Health Subcommittee within SW MT COAD. This group meets monthly with 12-15 local providers who provide monthly updates as to how their respective programs are functioning within the community, what they are seeing a need for in their areas of support, as well as their respective resource needs may be going forward. This group's work provides mental health counseling and emergency behavioral health support to those in need.

Tuesday, 1/12/2021.......9:30-10:30 a.m.......Mass Care Committee meeting/SW MT COAD. This meeting covers updates from 4 main committees: ***Feeding (Gallatin Food Bank and Salvation Army),
***Sheltering (ARC...which is in a "stand down" mode at this point,
***Child-Care (updates with providers through Child Care Connections (0-5 years) and Y.M.C.A (updates include child care of emergency providers and teacher's children's needs).
***Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Care...again, I offer up an update from the monthly Mental Health meeting. The Emotional and Spiritual Care are not meeting regularly.......I do offer updates on the HOPE dogs ... IF THEY ARE UTILIZED during a given month (none Dec/Jan to date)

Wednesday, 1/20/2021......SW Montana COAD.....did NOT meet this month to give some respite to all the organizations normally attending.

Thursday, 1/21/2020.......3-3:30 p.m.......Montana VOAD hosted a briefing to allow for updates from MT COADs and various other organizations that had news to share. Most of the news shared had to due with various communities across the state of Montana working on COVID Vaccination responses as most are winding down Phase 1a AND GEARING UP FOR PHASE 1b.

Meeting was primarily updates.
HOPE update: We are cautiously resuming some activity. I mentioned 2 Bridger Canyon fire and 2 Gallatin County Victim Services deployments.
Health Dept: will conduct a CASPER (Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response) survey with 112 households, to be repeated at 6 months.
Public Works: they are keeping separate crews so hopefully covid will not take all workers out.
Emergency Management: they have been active for 9 months.. Early strong leadership from governor provided time to organize.
Summer tourist season was not the vector anticipated. Social gatherings in small areas continue to be high risk.
We are presently at maximum risk level with possibility contact tracing will not be able to keep up.
State: has organized nursing support teams to be assigned where needed.. National Guard is helping with testing and tracing.
LEPC: working on THIRA(Threat and Hazard Identification &Risk Management) annual report to state. Very comprehensive.

We were invited to give a short presentation for the 5DMRC (5th District Medical Response Coalition) newly formed Behavioral Health Emergency Preparedness group. This was just the second time the group met and we were the first featured agency-specific presentation. Our presentation was requested to be 15 minutes long and so I adapted former presentations Nick Meier has given to that time limit. About 12 individuals from the counties located in southwest Michigan were on the Microsoft Teams video-conference call.

A virtual MARC drill was used to familiarize participants to what a COVID era MARC could look like. The drill was modeled on the virtual MARC used in the flood response in the Midland/Saginaw (MI) area this past summer. Key agencies reported their services (Red Cross, Salvation Army, Senior Services, etc) with complimentary agencies being allowed to announce service updates (which I did on behalf of HOPE).

My meeting with Chief Balcaen and Deputy Chief Lewis was the culmination of a number of months of research, and contacts with potential agencies. I am HOPEful this meeting will be the start of a working relationship with Brandon Police Services which will lead to us eventually having dogs eligible for and successful in a HOPE workshop. See attached report for details.

We have been having COVA Steering Committee meetings since February. This one they changed the call-in to a Zoom meeting. So I put Sarah's picture in for mine. Someone said "Oh there's a dog". Then everyone said with excitement "It's Sarah!"' They were so excited. I usually attend these meetings with Sarah, so they have greatly missed her. I know the picture of her brought great joy. The conference will be virtual this year, which is sad for HOPE.

Team Sunny received an invitation by Rick Winters, Director of the 5DMRC, to join the first meeting of the 5th medical district's outreach to behavioral health managers around the 9 counties in southwest Michigan that comprise the 5th medical district. Fifteen participants were on the call. The meeting was meant to help acquaint behavioral health leaders in southwest Michigan to the efforts and resources of the medical response coalition. This was mainly an information building meeting and it was a great opportunity to spread the word about HOPE and how we may assist behavioral health.

A HOPE member received call from law enforcement officer who had recently lost his dog and was inquiring about buying a Chesapeake retriever from the member's kennel. During the conversation the member offered to provide a virtual visit with her HOPE dog in response to the magnitude of the grief expressed by the officer.

I was invited by Casey Ford, to be interviewed on his radio show, Coffee with Casey. The interview took place at The Galley Coffee Company in Munising, Michigan. We touched on a number of topics related to HOPE Animal Assisted Crisis Response.

This is a camp we have visited on their opening day for the last two years. We have always been warmly welcomed by them and they were delighted to know we could visit this year through Zoom. Phone calls and emails ahead of time provided us with the details we needed for this new type of visit. The Director of the camp was very good at having each one of us talk about our dogs and the training they go through. He was also very good at encouraging the kids to ask questions. He kept the visit lively and fun.

AUGUST MEETINGS (approx. 4 hours in total)on behalf of SW Montana COAD (activated March of 2020 in response to COVID 19 with our tri-county area). Each of these meetings that I have either attended and/or been in some leadership level was done so on behalf of our communities experiencing this unprecedented crisis (while representing HOPE AACR...a member of SW MT COAD and MT VOAD.

Aug. 11th and Aug. 25th....9:30 -10:30 a.m......Mass Care Committee.....reporting the status for subcommittees for: FEEDING, CHILD CARE, SHELTERING, and MENTAL HEALTH, EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL CARE. This Committee is meeting twice a month.

Aug. 13th... 9:30-10:30 a.m......Mental Health "Team meeting (a part of the Mental Health, Emotional and Spirtual Care subcommittee. This "team" meets once a month to update "TEAM" members as to the status of M.H. services being requested for support. This Team is currently meeting once a month.

Aug. 19th....1-2:00 p.m........SW MT COAD monthly meeting........to update member organizations (about 35 currently) of COVID 19 responses to community needs requested primarily with the areas of Mental Health, Child Care, and Financial support. Discussions went on to include issues around the 2020 Fire Season and Montana's status as well as our tri-county area. The SW MT COAD meets once a month.

First monthly meeting of the KCRC since the COVID-19 disaster response. Meeting occurred virtually via Zoom, with over 45 participants, and involved various agency updates, local COVID-19 response debrief, and future plans. Future plans have strong potential of involving HOPE in more tangible ways.

A special COVID virtual meeting was held with an agenda to assess how well Park County is meeting Phase I and Phase I diectives and guidance in key areas.
* Individual compliance. Locals/visitors
*Businesses
*School/youth activities
*Social organizations

Most of discussion was from business owners and Chamber of Commerce. In the face of rising numbers they all felt very strongly that to keep businesses open, they need backup on mask wearing and other issues. They almost begged for this from either local health departments or the state. This would relieve business operators from the burden of pushback by employees and customers. Explicit signage to be posted was suggested also.
A focus on bars and restaurants was seen to be necessary in particular. Dr Desnick stated said meetings with these businesses will take place soon.
No other issues were discussed
COVID testing Sunday July 12 at Park High School and again in August prior to school opening.

Mental Health Team meeting (we are meeting once a month at this point) - Various members provided updates of their services and how things have been going over the past 4 weeks: some are providing limited number of 'in-person' counseling sessions, and all are still providing services via virtual meeting/sessions.

The Help Center's report data includes calls showing increased use of alcohol (up 85%), drugs (100%), eating disorders (300%), gambling (100%), anxiety driven concerns (30%). There are also on-going concerns with employment, financial, and housing/shelter/utilities insecurities.

Child care/well-being is an area of great concern amongst many supportive agencies across our COAD and County! Child safety, working families need for child care, and additional unmet needs were discussed. There is a state wide meeting on July 14th at 1:00 p.m. that will be discussion these areas. Some of the committee members will be attending.

As a representative of HOPE AACR, I attended and/or facilitated the following multiple meetings within SWMT COAD which remains activated by Gallatin County's Emergency Management since mid-March, 2020 for the COVID 19 crisis.

June 9th....Mass Care Committee meeting is now getting together once a month for updates from the four subcommittees overseeing Food, Child Care, Sheltering, and Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Care (which I facilitate).
June 9th and June 16th....Communication Committee meeting is scaling down to once a month. There are only two pending Press Releases.
June 10th...Spiritual Care met to finalize response protocols 3 Area Chaplains will now be offering. Our 211/Help Center be handling this resource within their Data Base system much like they do for Mental and Emotional Health requests. This group is now meeting once a month.
June 11th and June 18th...Mental Health meets weekly to offer all representatives of organizations working in this area to update this subcommittee a chance to learn and support the needs within our counties of folks dealing behavorial mental health needs. This group is at a point where they will just meet once a month going forward for the summer.

June 17th....SWMT COAD held their general monthly meeting. June's meeting agenda primarily focused on COAD's COVID 19 "Lessons Learned" from mid-March through mid-June. Most of the comments were POSITIVE reflections of the growth, strength, collaboration, communication, coordination
and cooperation the now 40+organizations have experienced over the past 3 months.

The month of June is noticeably lighter in terms of committee/subcommittee meetings. Some of SWMT COAD organizations are stepping back from weekly meetings to 1-2/month. We are seeing an uptick in the number of COVID 19 cases within our state and county, over that same period of time, not surprising with Montana's opening. We are now in Phase 2 of our state/county opening. Our county has experienced about a dozen positive cases since mid-May.

I participated in two meetings, the Communications Committee (June 2) and the Mental Health Subcommittee (June 4).

The Communications Committee discussed 2-3 Press Releases (dealing with COVID 19 coping skills and summer programs/child care over the next three months). They also discussed changing the meeting scheduled to every other week....next meeting (Zoom) will be June 16th at 1:00 p.m.

The Mental Health Subcommittee - met to update members on current status of various programs...Behavioral Urgent Care Center, Community Health Partners, MSU, Help Center, Thrive, HOPE AACR. The Communications Committee also updated us on the status of remaining Mental Health topic's planned for Press Release and/or Guest Column in local newspaper. The last part of our meeting was devoted to discussion questions of how our organizations are coping (staff, patients, delivery models) as our communities are shifting gears and re-opening businesses. We also took about 5 minutes on what our own "coping skills" are looking like.

I worked another 3-4 hours on committee work, phone calls, and state-wide emails all associated with SWMT COAD outside of actual meetings.

Tuesday, May 26th ... Mass Care Committee of SWMT COAD meet every other week to update all members of latest status subcommittee work.
*** Feeding...Gallatin Valley Food Bank continues to offer pre-bagged food to 50-80 families/week. Salvation Army continues to supply daily sack lunches to community and homeless staying in hotel until end of May. S.A. is also partnering with LDS Church in distribuing personal hygiene products through mid-June.
***Sheltering...Amercian Red Cross update - Hotel where area homeless population has been staying is on a lease with an option to buy. HRCD is working to find a local area church in providing a few daytime hours for homeless to use for personal hygiene use (showering). The new Warming Center located on Wheat Drive is on schedule to open August 1. Salvation Army continues to seek bids for improvements to available space in their facililty should a need for sheltering in our community arise (funding is needed for further work).
***Child Care....for essential workers continues through mid-June. No new families are being added. Have 3 classrooms operating at this time for K-8.
For 0-6 age kiddos....Gallatin Co. is preparing expansion plans for child care in general, however most facilities are wanting to take it slow. Park County is having meetings M-W-F mornings as they continue to try and meet needs in that county.
***Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Care....M.H. continues to meet every week, Press Releases for May's Mental Health declaration have been released (3 or 4) and the last will be out soon. Bozeman School District is wrapping up their school year remotely (by June 10) and dedicating alot of time to possible Fall school scenarios involving the new year. MSU is running a short summer school program remotely.
***Spiritual Care...close to providing 3-4 Area Chaplains to respond to clients calling into Help Center for faith based concerns.
***HOPE AACR....HOPE Canine Teams are available for virtual visits (I gave this new experimental program the name, "HOPE For a Smile") to area meetings and/or summer programs.
CONCERNS within the County.....HELP CENTER stats...83% increase in substance abuse and addictions, 72% in loneliness, 29% in relationships, 18% in mental health, 22% increase in emotional health, 24% in suicidal ideation...attempts at suicide are steady (all stats are based on increases since this time last year).........YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK opening on Montana borders is scheduled for June 1. .....CHILD CARE this summer is exacerbated by liability concerns with COVID 19 presence.

Thursday, May 28th....Mental Health subcommittee meeting.......many of the above topics were discussed in more detail.

I attended two meetings this week.
On May 19 from 1P - 2P
On ZOOM with YCOAD, Yellowstone-COAD
Nothing new from two weeks ago. On of the members from Riverstone Health advise they now have a COVIS-19 testing van.

On May 21 from 4P - 5P
Used conference call for State of Montana, MT-VOAD.
This meeting is every Thursday afternoon as it stands now.
The state has started testing. Flooding is another problem in Missoula and very severe WX on the eastern part of the state.
MT and WY are the two lowest states with with active COVid-19 cases in the US.

May 19th....Communications Committee (a part of SWMT COAD) continues to work on Press Releases covering various mental health topics petinent to community awareness of current trends and resources available. Future topics of interest were discussed for the month of June (such as those concerning child care needs, elder care support, etc.). We met for an hour.

May 20th....SWMT COAD held its monthly meeting (1.5 hours)...where all committees and subcommittees could update the greater COAD group in this monthly meeting. Such topics updates included information covering Mass Care's subcommittees of: (most pertinent to HOPE AACR)
***Sheltering (the homeless/primary group in need), Food (Salvational Army's feeding of those for breakfast and lunch meals (over 100/day)
***Gallatin Valley Food Bank's efforts to meet the needs of those coming in for pre-boxed grocery items 50-80 families/day)
***Child Care for 0-6 age group and K-8...for essential care workers....phasing out ~mid-June when school districts are out for the summer
***Mental Health, Emotional, and Spiritual Care....Mary Martin updated on each topic....of particular NOTE* "HOPE for a Smile!" launching and now available for first 10-15 minutes of any virtual meetings going forward. Also consider offering to summer programs and state wide COAD/VOAD mtgs.

May 21st....Mental Health subcommittee meeting (an hour)...updating members of information and data points covering the last week. Again, I invited those attending this call about the virtual visits ("HOPE For a Smile" that are now available for early part of virtual meetings) Contact Mary Martin via email/phone.

LEPC met today for first time since March 12 for its normal bimonthly meeting time......but this time mostly by phone. Greg Coleman, Dr Desnick and a few significant others were in person.
The mist memorable takeaway for me was again hearing about the efficient and timely County coordination, Relevant organizations, including Yellowstone National Park, began meeting and planning in January. By mid March a fully staffed Incident Command System was in place and continues to function. The closing of YNP has been a significant factor in flattening the curve of Covid19 in Park County.
Montana ranks second in controlling Covid19 numbers, just behind Alaska.

Dr. Desnick, the lead medical advisor, spoke to the fact that the county will be experiencing an uptake in visitors, particularly as YNP opens. She and the health department will utilize this change for an opportunity to conduct a pilot study on resurgence of the disease with more liberal openness. She also assured a questioner that contact tracing continues and says it’s been very effective.

Chamber of Commerce: working with local businesses and YNP to coordinate phased openings.
4th of July Parade will be virtual.

COAD: Very busy! Providing support, largely mental health and child care needs.

County School Supervisor: Cooke City School only one in County to resume.

Forest Service: They are hiring as normal for summer season.

One participant voiced concern that while Park County and Livingston plan carefully to minimize disease spread, Big Timber, 25 miles away in adjacent county, will go ahead and hold all community events. Greg Coleman and Dr. Desnick will check into this.

Attendance and participation in meetings for the Week of May 11-15:

Tuesday, May 12....Mass Care meeting (9:30-10:30 a.m.) Review and update of work from past two weeks ....the four subcommittees reported out for:
a. Sheltering - ARC =updating on the homeless and preparations for flood/fire seasons ahead
b. Feeding = Salvation Army still providing meals and GVFB serving 30-50 households/daily....Headwaters and Big Sky still VERY BUSY
c. Child Care = 16 children in K-8...room for 9 more (essential worker families)...working on what C.C. will look like during summer months...alot of family stress over continued home education of children and now summer coming on and lack of child care availability
d. Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Care - telehealth is going well, Boz. Behavioral U.Center seeing 2-3/day, 211 hearing alot of frustration and stress in their calls. Spiritual Care is getting close to having 3-4 Area Chaplains taking on faith based needs through 211

Tuesday, May 12....Communications Committee.....primarily working on 3-4 Press Releases around May being declared "Mental Health Month"

Wednesday, May 13th....Spiritual Care ....working through logistics of how Area Chaplains will soon be set up to take faith based questions/concerns through Help Center and 211

Thursday, May 13.....MTVOAD special topic on Mental Health and Spiritual Care........Mary provided input as to what is happening in our SWMT COAD in these two areas. Grants funds for COVID 19 support was shared by Ian Thigpen along with resources being provided by SAMSHA

Thursday, May 13.....Mental Health "Team" subcommittee... updates from various organizations within our 3 counties of support being provided, upcoming training for SWMT COAD organizations through a training called, "Resiliency Project" and discussion on the Mental Health Press Releases that are coming out soon.

Chandler Rotary has been a great supporter of HOPE and made another generous contribution recently. They invited us to present to their group as a follow up to sending a check. Sharon and Abby did a great job providing information and pictures of our AZ team. The group was very engaged and I received a call after the meeting saying how much they enjoyed it. HOPE has participated in their fundraiser golf event in past years and looks forward to another one next February. It was a great opportunity to thank them for their generosity, at least virtually!

Here are the various Committee and Subcommittee meetings I attended for the week of May 4-8, 2020 on behalf of SWMT COAD (as a HOPE AACR member).

Tuesday, May 5th
1 hour.....Communications Committee met from 1-2:00 p.m. (work in this area is currently focusing on May being Mental Health month and the press releases being planned for release throughout the month.
1.5 hours.....American Red Cross....for SW Montana met from 5:30-7:00 p.m. (I was asked to update the ARC Team regarding our COVID 19 response work within the Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Care subcommittee.

Wednesday, May 6th
1 hour.......Panel Discussion "Where is GOD in a Pandemic?" led by the Gallatin Valley Interfaith Association.....I attended as the Team Lead of the Spiritual Care Team within SWMT COAD.

Thursday, May 7th
1 hour.......Mental Health Team ... 9:30-10:30 a.m. (a subcommittee within SWMTCOAD/Mass Care Committee....led by Mary Martin) This "Team's work will continue throughout the coming months as they continue to forcus on supporting our three counties Mental and Emotional support during the health crisis. They are also collaborating with the Communications Committee on the Mental Health press releases during the month of May.

Here are the various Committee and Subcommittee meetings I attended for the week of April 27 - May 1, 2020 on behalf of SWMT COAD (as a HOPE AACR member).

1 hour....Mass Care Committee met Tuesday, April 28 (9:30-10:30 a.m.)
1 hour.....Communications Committee met Tuesday, April 28 (1-2:00 p.m.)
1 hour.....Spiritual Care Team (a subcommittee within SWMTCOAD/Mass Care .... led by Mary Martin) met Wednesday, April 29 (3-4:00 p.m.)
1 hour......Mental Health Team (a subcommittee within SWMTCOAD/Mass Care Committee....led by Mary Martin) Thursday, April 30 (9:30-10:30 a.m.)
1 hour......National VOAD webinar....on "Mental Health Needs and Opportunities/COVID 19"
30 minutes....planning meeting with Susan Spanjol for the Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Care teams (subcommittee under Mass Care)

All of these meetings were conducted via ZOOM links and were collectively updating members in the various committees, what each organization had seen over the past week, discussing future committee responses on behalf of our communities experiencing the COVID 19 pandemic. IF HOPE members have any questions, please direct to Mary Martin (Lm22martin@hotmail.com)

This is a weekly conference call so agencies can find out how other agencies are doing during the virus. We also discuss what services are available from agencies.

Today's Mental Health Team (a subcommittee of SW MT COAD) included a surprise guest - Nancy Dodd and her canine HOPE AACR partner, Yuki via the meeting app/Zoom! They were introduced at the beginning of the meeting. Attendees were invited to keep Yuki's presence -as a visual in the center of their screens - through out the meeting. One member in attendance commented on 'how many faces broke into smiles' during Yuki and Nancy's introduction.

The introduction period (which is designed to welcome new folks on these weekly calls) lasted about ten minutes, at which point the meeting continued until 10:30 a.m. Nancy was not sure whether she and Yuki would remain on the call, however they actually made it all the way through.

Thank you Nancy and Yuki for this virtual visit to our meeting!

Montana HOPE Teams will meet on a separate virtual meeting at 6:00 p.m. to discuss and debrief whether future virtual visits may even be considered.

This is the portion of the minutes that covered my report to the COAD membership during today's monthly meeting:
Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Care, Mary Martin:
 Western Montana Mental Health was able to create a behavioral health
urgent care center
 Soft opening this week
 CHP has increased outreach to community at large and is providing both
short and long term mental health support
 MSU Counseling is providing services to all students and providing specific
support to COVID positive students
 Also helping staff with any students they see having issues on virtual
classes
 Group is working closely with 211
 Triaging requests and connecting to providers throughout town
 Rep from Bozeman School District is collaborating with mental health team
and providing them with info on helping families who need access to
technology to participate in schools
 Vital discussion on Child Abuse and Neglect Awareness month
 Concerned about teachers not having eyes on students and they are
working on it
 Spiritual Side
 Working with 3-4 area chaplains who are willing to offer their
support
 Collaborating with 211
 If someone is having a spiritual or faith crisis, 211 will connect them
with one of the partnered chaplains
 Also working with GV Interfaith Alliance
 Emotional Care
 HOPE AACR looking at ways to connect virtually (THIS IS MY HOPE THAT WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO WORK ON THIS...I have a request in to those above me as to who I should visit with....but haven't heard back as yet.)

The Mass Care Subcommittee meets weeks via Zoom. During that time each of the subcommittees updates committee members of what has transpired over the past week. I reported on behalf of the Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Care Subcommittee.

That subcommittee has two working TEAMS....the Mental Health Team which updated on community emergency services for those experiencing low, medium and HIGH level M.H. issues, the Bozeman School District impacts, how the Help Center/211 has experienced a high volume of anxiety drivien calls for support, Montana State University's support of staff and students working on-line, etc. The Spiritual Care Team will have its first meeting on April 22nd. We are close to having 3-4 Area Chaplains available for handling "need requests" for faith/spiritual support. For further details: Please contact Mary Martin.

This is a weekly conference call so agencies can find out how other agencies are doing during the virus. We also discuss what services are available from agencies.

This is the weekly meeting of the Mental Health Team which is a subcommittee of the Mass Care which in turn falls with the SWMT COAD. We had approximately 17-18 folks attending representing at least 15 various agencies and organizations across Gallatin County.

Updates from the Mental Health Community included local information of homemade masks being made for the various COAD committee folks who work with the general public, and that Salvation Army is to be used only for ordering surgical masks for essential workers and providers.

Community Health Providers are expanding their outreach to the community at large, MSU Counseling and Psychological Services are providing support for students who have tested positive and/or are quarantining themselves. They are also supporting staff who are identifying students who are struggling with on-line remote learning.

Concerns over public school students/families who do not have access to tools for on-line learning within the district...how to support, provide equipment etc. That also led to an indepth discussion on how the BSDistrict is dealing with the lack of teacher oversight with each of their classroom students and inability to monitor child abuse.

Mary Martin brought up an interest in setting up a small group interested in discussing how to use HOPE dogs in a remote environment to offer emotional support, what that would look like and to whom would we perhaps serve?

Our next meeting will be Thursday, April 16th at 9:30 a.m.

Monthly Meeting Minutes

April 7, 2020 – 5:30 to 7:00 PM

JC Billion, Cottonwood and Fallon, Jeep Building

Attendees:

Bill Racicot

Carl Nichols

Cindy Bender

Louise Weldon

Jim Weldon

Kris Nichols

Mary Martin

Kat McBee Linda Racicot Robin Cory Val Utley Shellie Creveling Kerri Strasheim Syd Brosten Joanne Brosten Karl Mahn Janine Mahn

New Protocol: Shellie reviewed the latest protocol for sheltering and mask usage. More open mic meetings will be held.

COAD Meeting – Louise summarized the last COAD meeting. At that time, they were engaging child care for essential workers. The Donation team was beginning to fundraise. The Food Bank was operational but not accepting physical donations.

Linda updated the team on the latest Mass Sheltering activities. Child care is being done in 2 locations – one for K-8 with 10 children and one for 0-6 with 12 children. More families are in need of the child care as the Pandemic continues. Sheltering is focusing on the homeless since the Warming Center is closed for evening use. They are still open 10-2 daily for hygiene needs. The GVFB is using a drive-up service to supply families, and is asking for cash donations. Salvation Army is serving breakfast from 9-10 daily and has sack lunches available. They are also supplying meals for the EOC.

Cindy Bender reported that Urban Kitchen will supply free meals for anyone who needs one.

Mary reported on the activities of the newly formed Mental, Emotional and Spiritual committee. They have split into two groups to be more efficient. The community of mental health professionals have come together quickly. 211 is acting as triage. An Urgent Care facility for mental health needs is developing, with more details to come. The Spiritual Care team is not coming together as quickly, understandably with this being a traditional busy week for many religions. Mary also reported that the Hope dogs have to stand down with the concerns of social distancing.

AHAD Medical Emergency Committee: Robin attended the meeting, and it focused on ambulance services and how they should respond.

Park County LEPC meeting: Kris reported that Park Co has brought in the resources needed for this Pandemic. They’re looking at the Livingston armory should they need a facility for sheltering/isolation, etc.

Sheltering: Louise reported that there is not much activity at this point. Ernie was expecting a call from the fairgrounds.

Memorial Day Parade: Linda reported that we will be in the parade with the car and the ERV should the parade still be held. Please mark your calendars and walk or ride in one of the vehicles.

Partnerships with Hotels: Joanne has reached out to hotels in our 3 county area. Many managers are not available, but most hotels would be willing to work with us in a sheltering capacity. Many are booked for the summer.

Responses: Robin has had some calls for medical services.

COAD meeting April 15 at 1:00 - Virtual – Kris and Linda

Please sign up on DCSOps for your turn as the lead for fire responses.

Please make an appointment for blood donation if you are able.

Please take any classes you need to advance or that you’re interested. Please become a supervisor – Linda has the classes you need.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, May 5, 2020 5:30 to 7:00 pm at either Billion Conference Room or Zoom

9:30-10:15...COVID 19 Mass Care Committee meeting (via Zoom)...discussing updates to Sheltering, Food, Child Care, and the Mental Health and Spiritual Care Teams. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, April 14th at 9:30 a.m.

1-2:00 p.m....COVID 19 Communication Committee meeting (via Zoom)...discussing the recent "press release and fact sheet" to local news sources. They were covered well. We then discussed future press releases and how to prioritize their importance as well as how often to submit them. Relevency of the topic seemed to answer the last question. Congratulations to Jess Ulmen, Buffalo Restoration, who is directly responsible for updating the SWMT COAD Facebook page, as well as getting Twitter and Instagram up and running.

3-4:10 p.m......National VOAD Webinar.......I attended this on the off chance that I would pick up something during this update from the presenters and it seemed to be a possible continuing education possibility for our teams. Presenters included: David Burk, from Team Rubicon; Kevin King from Mennoite Disaster Services: Brad Work from the American Red Cross; Patrick Crawfort from Feeding American, and Anthony Pluchino from St. Vincent DePaul.

Lee (Colorado RD) sent it out indicating the webinar's schedule and link to listen in. I took notes and will submit them as documentation....to Gala Goodwin (RMR Co-RD/Montana) for her consideration.

8-8:45 a.m….Mass Care Committee mtg. where each of the committees shared updates on Sheltering, Food, Child Care, and Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Care work over the past week. I shared how the latter subcommittee has been divided into two teams (Mental Health/Emotional and Spiritual Care), both reporting to me either in a weekly mtg. or by email. OUR NEXT MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY, APRIL 7 AT 9:30 a.m. via a Zoom link provided by CCC.

9:30-10:30 a.m. – Mental Health Team mtg. This TEAM is really functioning well and collectively members are bringing their own professional suggestions/updates to each meeting, those discussed and updates are indicating that this TEAM has the beginning of a strong infrastructure for mental health needs for both our 1st Response folks as well as our community. Area providers are more organized and on board with efforts to work with the general public as well. Michael Foust requested a need for surgical masks and goggles…Mary referred him to Rick Larson, Salvation Army. 211/Help Center is continuing to triage calls for mental help support and Michael Foust and his colleagues are just about ready to open a “behavioral health urgent care center” facility for a few folks deemed AT HIGH RISK. There will also be a virtual assessment capability for folks needing a strong support response.
OUR NEXT MEETING WILL BE THURSDAY, APRIL 9 AT 9:30 a.m. via a Zoom link provided by the Help Center.

MTVOAD is meeting regularly on Thursday afternoons. Today's meeting is a bit unusual in that it is scheduled for two hours. I was only able to stay through the first hour.

Ian led today's multi-agency meeting going through a set of slides which I didn't have access to due to my not having the app on my computer for this teleconference call. I used the telephone call-in number. DES and DHHPS both started off the meeting with their state wide reports. Then the rest of the meeting was a set of reports (some using the slides provided earlier to Ian, so that they could be displayed) by the active COADs, the Montana Tribal Nations, and Individual agency reports/questions. There was also an opportunity to address the "NEEDS REQUESTs" around the state.

I was asked directly to share an update for the "Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Care" subcommittee I am leading within our own SWMT COAD work for COVID 19.

This conference call is LED by Kristin Horn using a Zoom link with the following broad points covered:
**** Food subcommittee...Salvation Army continues to offering sack breakfasts and lunches to those in need....Firehouse Subs are brought in daily to feed Response personnel at Gallatin County Coordination Center Su-Sat....the Gallatin Food Bank continues to provide pre=bagged non-perishable food bags as a curb-side service. They are looking for more volunteers to work that service.
**** Sheltering subcommittee...Linda Racicot with American Red Cross reminded everyone that the warming shelter has closed.... local motels and the Gallatin Fairgrounds/buildings are not welcoming the homeless at this time. However, Mountain View Care Home, Gallatin Valley Care Home and MSU are all in the initial contact and discussion phase as to whether those facilities might be an answer for the homeless. Daily personal hygiene care at the Warming Center is ending March 31.
****Childcare subcommittee...led by Kristin Horn (CCC for 0-6 ages) and Sarah Lutiger (YMCA for grades K-8) reported that the safest care is within the family unit, however if parents are unable to care for their children when working...parents must contact Kevin Larsen to go through a vetting process. Child Care is provided at the Gathering Place and Head Start facilities for 0-6 and YMCA for K-8th starting March 30th. Kristing/CCC is working hard to establish child care options within Park County.
****Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Care subcommittee led by Mary Martin. This group is working on establishing contacts within two primary areas: Mental Health and Spiritual Care. They are building resources to triage mental health support requests as the COVID 19 crisis continues to build. The Spiritual care side is in need of additional resources to get this opportunity up and ready in the event that need requests for spiritual comfort and care come in.

MTVOAD has been activated for the COVID 19 crisis as of March 18. They continue to conduct weekly meetings to update and share current practices with its membership. Some highlights to the March 26th meeting include:
***updates from DES, DPHHS, and four Montana COADS (Missoula, Ravalli, SWMT COAD (Park, Gallatin, Madison) and Elkhorn (Lewis and Clark) were shared. Each COAD seems to share similar needs, work load, and commitment to county's needs.
***Help Great Falls is a group of Faith Based organizations working on creating a new COAD group for that area. They will speak at next week's meeting.
***Sitreps (Situational Reports) on the state level needed some clarification and how they are utilized with all 56 counties in Montana.
***MTVOAD new slate of officers were approved during this meeting: Gerald Auch - President/Team Rubicon President....Abbra Firman - Vice-President/American Red Cross.....Meghan Holton - Secretary/Montana Legal Services Assoc. and Dick Deschamps - Member at Large/Lutheran Services.

***a new Subcommittee LEAD for Donation Management was approved: Lori Waddell who will oversee the financial and physical donations coming in during a disaster.

The Communications Committee is one of many with the SW MT COAD that is working on building COVID 19 messaging that will soon be going out on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Rachel Allen leads this group and as a diverse group of folks savvy with the jargon and experience in social media areas.

There is NOW a functioning SWMT COAD website up and running although still relatively new will need to build content to bring back folks who are looking for information being made available about COAD's services.

How to manage and message these areas is a huge endeavor that this meeting began to explore. This committee is looking for more folks savvy with this area! For myself, I am more or less on this committee to maintain an awareness of working within COAD as many of the current participants are not familiar with the workings of COAD/VOADs.

This committee will continue to meet weekly.

'We are anticipating an increase in mental health emergencies. The Sheriff's department is reporting increased rates of attempted and completed suicides. The Mental Health side of this subcommittee wants to establish a collaborative approach to working towards agile, flexible care that appropriately addresses the needs of the community during this unique time."

The HELP Center has an on-line Mental Health Directory (Bright App) containing a database of local counselors for referrals.

HELP Center/211...serves 13 Montana counties where folks can call 211 of visit www.montana211.org to access information about resources.

Michael Faust informed those attending how community M.H. partners are working towards creating a behavioral health "urgent care" that diverts individuals with mental health concerns out of the E.R. at the local hospital.

Michael, Christina will work with Johanna (Bozeman School District) to follow-up with collaboration with the BSD.

Mary will continue as the leadership for this subcommittee along with Michael (WMMH) and Christina (HELP Center/211) in an effort to NOT duplicate efforts with other organizations.

Meetings will be recurring weekly using the Zoom application/link provided by the Help Center/211.

The Mass Care Committee operates as a part of the SW MT COAD organization. Within that committee are 4 teams: shelter, food, child care, and mental health, emotional and spiritual care. HOPE AACR falls in the last "team" of the Mass Care committee.

Each of the four teams had an opportunity to discuss, share, and collaborate with other committee members how each is gearing up for the very real need our community is going to need going forward.

Folks will be able to call 211 with requests for needs as well as the Gallatin County Coordination Center is trying to create a daily Liaison Person that answers "need requests" being called in. Most of the latter at this point are from essential workers at this point.

General overview of individual topics discussed:
1. Sheltering...ARC will continue to respond to disasters outside of the scope of COVID 19 (such things as house fires and possible flooding issues in the Spring), but will NOT be able to set up Shelters for COVID 19 patients as ARC personnel are not trained on the health ramifications.
2. Food...Both the Salvation Army and Gallatin Valley Food Bank are already providing (sack lunches/breakfasts - SA) and Food Bank is handing out pre-bagged non-perishable items to those driving through their parking lot (they have gone from about 64 requests to over 85 requests for bags of food/day).
3. Child Care.....Child Care Connections will be providing care for children ages 0-6 for essential workers and United Way is working on child care for K-8th grade in two facilities (YMCA and Hope Lutheran Church). There is a current need request for over 200 children starting March 23.
4. Mental Health, Emotional, and Spiritual Care .... is just getting off the ground. Mary Martin has agreed (for the time being) to Lead that Team. She will report back next week as to what resources are currently being geared up for Essential Working folks and the general community. A "tidal wave" of needs in just around the corner for this one!

I attended the SW MT COAD teleconference meeting held on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 to represent our organization. Although we are all well aware that our HOPE Canine Teams have been asked to "stand down" at this point in the COVID 19 emergency, I felt it was important to represent HOPE as a valued member for two reasons:
1. I hoped to have an opportunity to directly address to fellow agencies/organizations the reasons for us to "stand down" at this point.
2. And, I believe we have to take this an opportunity for everyone to know that we are still vested in this disaster! We can offer time and support where needed, until such time as we are able to work once again! I want First Responders and community organizations to remember us as a group committed to helping others.

Thus, I have accepted (at least temporarily) to lead the Mental Health, Emotional and Spiritual Team as it is abundantly clear that this segment of our Mass Care Committee (one of many committees within SW MT COAD) is in need of support. This is the Team that HOPE AACR naturally fits within the scope of Mass Care.

If you wish a copy of the minutes, I would be happy to email you the full report. If not, here is an overview:
1. A summary of what Emergency Managers (Greg Coleman from Park County, Patrick Lonergan and Kevin Larsen from Gallatin, and Joe Brumell from Madison County are recognizing and recommending to COAD.
2. Updates on current response efforts being implemented by groups such as 211/Help Center, Greater Gallatin United Way, Child Care Connections, Gallatin Food Bank.
3. Volunteer Management through "VolunteerMT.org" rather than an in-person Volunteer Reception Center
4. Mass Care updates: particularly recognizing the frustration of having to close the Warming Center for our homeless population, what Salvation Army is doing for sack lunches and soon light breakfast food being made available, and the need of child care for working parents especially essential workers.

These are some of the broad topics covered. Please let me know if you have any questions.
2.

The focus of this monthly meeting was Covid19. Attendance was at least three times more than usual. The format was round table with introductions and three questions for discussion. 1. What is your organization’s level of preparedness 2. What do you need to improve and 3. What are our community’s priorities. When it was my turn, I said being a new HOPE member I did not know at this time how we would respond to this kind of crisis. I then said what I personally was doing to not be a vector.
Organizations present included some of the following in addition to concerned citizens:
Livingston Health Care. EOC, Forest service, City and county schools, Health Dept, Chamber of Commerce
Community Health Partners
Food Bank
ARC
sheriff

Trouper was the official greeter and did a great job warming the room!

Through contacts made by Susan Johansen and Connie Peterson a year ago at The Whole Community Training Summit, we were invited to speak at this event. The person in charge already knew of the HOPE dogs from an EMA conference she had attended. She warmly welcomed us and shared the story of Pickles, another HOPE dog she encountered at the EMA conference. Team Leader gave a presentation about HOPE dogs in this area and about our availability. After the presentation we circulated the room and let the dogs work their magic. This symposium had an attendance of 100 people: school personnel, EMA staff and School Resource Officers, so we were able to make a lot of contacts. We displayed our HOPE trifold and HOPE banner and passed out our fact sheets. One very worthwhile suggestion was made by HOPE indicating we could provide needed comfort after school Safety drills when both students and staff experience stress and anxiety. This was well received.

This was the First Annual Mental Health Day for the students in the Pickford Schools. There were numerous other mental health organizations present and this gave us a chance to educate those on the mission of HOPE and the role of our dogs in a crisis or disaster. We staged in one corner of the gym, out of the entry/exit traffic path. A HOPE display table was set up nearby. Over the course of the day, we interacted with three groups of students: K-5, Middle School, and High School. About 500 in all. All interactions were very positive and it gave us a great opportunity to educate the school staff and we now are part of their crisis response plan.

Trouper helped all of us stay calm and release tension during a rather intense meeting. He provided comic relief as well as comfort.

HOPE Animal Assisted Crisis Response (HOPE) was invited to this one day event sponsored by West End Suicide Prevention. There were approximately 36 agencies/groups represented at this event. Marquette County K9 and Superiorland Pet Partners were the other two organizations that had animals. Approximately 200 people attended the event.

This visit with the Department of Defense was primarily to introduce ourselves to the DoD coordinators and get a better understanding of how HOPE could be beneficial to them in future events.

This is the semi-annual meeting of the NMAC. The NMAC is a consortium of public and private agencies concerned with environmental event planning and response in Northern Michigan and the Eastern Upper Peninsula. HOPE is a member. There were multiple presentations dealing with the following issues: High frequency radar's use for wave prediction, lake level and coastal changes impacting the Great Lakes, a QR chart application for emergency response management, geographic response strategies, in situ burn test results, and Michigan traffic crash facts.

HOPE's role in the NMAC is that of responding to incident command posts, dispatch centers, and shelters. HOPE had the opportunity to interact with a wide variety of representatives from the agencies in the region.

This organization works with domestic violence and family advocacy centers to help victims. Pam was invited due to her (and Hope’s) involvement with the courts and has made many contacts. Counselors, family advocacy groups, court and police representatives were among the attendees. Several women told emotional stories of their DV experience and how they survived through the help of Winged Hope. We had a number of people ask about HOPE AACR and showed interest in our activities.

Gave presentation on how CISM would benefit from using HOPE AACR canines.

We visited this Dispatch Center mostly to introduce ourselves. We experienced an overwhelming acceptance by the directors as well as the dispatchers. We look forward to this being the first of many visits which will include all three different shifts. There is a real need for providing comfort to the dispatchers. We all know there is a high suicide rate among police officers as well as firefighters. What we didn’t know is there is also a high suicide rate in dispatchers too. In fact, we met a dispatcher who recently became head of a Peer Support Group which will address this issue. She was extremely interested in HOPE and looks forward to working with us.

This was one of four regularly scheduled meetings throughout the year. Many organizations from Northeastern Illinois participate in these and it is a great way to advertise HOPE’s mission. We made it clear that we are available throughout the entire state and can draw upon other regions if needed. Because of our presence, HOPE was invited to attend a Mass Casualty Drill in the city of Chicago on May 27.

Meeting agenda included approving bylaws, new executive committee briefing, presentation by ASU professor and Maricopa County DEM new plans for mass fatality events. It was useful and informative.

More info will be coming regarding National VOAD Conference in Phoenix May 18-22.

I will also be posting information for the PALO Verde Exercise to be held in March.

Bella and I were invited to witness Governor Gretchen Whitmer sign the new Michigan State Service Plan.

We helped form the new Michigan State Service Plan by participating in the Volunteer Michigan Listening Tour, representing HOPE Animal Assisted Crisis Response.

This was a HOPE AACR presentation to the Better Homes Club in Butler, MO. It was held in our church. I was able to take my tri-fold and handouts 2 days before the presentation and that made it easier to get inside with Mia.

Trouper greeted the COAD members as they arrived and brought many smiles.

Thanks to Laura Fruci, Minnesota State Coordinator, contacts were made between Minnesota FBI Victim Services Division and Illinois FBI Victim Services Division. We were invited to give a presentation about HOPE. We did this as well as listened to their presentation about FBI response to victims of terrorism and mass violence. We made sure to bring along HOPE brochures as well as the informational sheets. HOPE was very well received and we were assured we would be contacted by them. Many, many contacts of other Agencies were suggested. They also asked if they could share the HOPE video with their contacts.

Layla and i have been regularly attending this meeting since August in an effort to educate our community emergency services about HOPE . We have been well received and have in particular, made informal contact with Yellowstone Park, Livingston Health Care, local Red Cross, Park County Fire Department, and law enforcement attendees among others. The other side of attending these meetings is I’m learning a lot about my community.
This group is working hard at developing an EOP Base Plan.....an Emergency Operations Plan. Much of the meeting discussion pertains to this topic. Also grant proposals to Homeland Security for 2019 and 2020 were discussed.

I was contacted by Sharon Cayor to give a presentation to the Seabrook Rotary Club. We arrived to a packed room of about 75-80 Rotarians. They had heard that the HOPE dogs would be there, and an interesting presentation would be given. I spoke on HOPE history, our mission and then went into some of the highlights of deployments I've been on and some other meaningful CGC deployments.

DSISD Mental Task Force meets quarterly to discuss and develop ways to improve our community by collaboration among governmental, nonprofit, private agencies and individuals. Discussion and action plans are developed to address issues and problems within our community and create solutions. This is a good forum to network with agencies and demonstrate the nature of our work and the quality of our teams. This task force was formed a year ago. Charles and I have been regular participants. We received comments about how well behaved Charles is and how he would be helpful in a variety of situations.

Trouper and I visited Bristol Fire Department, Osolo Township Fire Department, Concord Township Fire Department, and the 9-1-1 Dispatch Center to bring Christmas cheer. We were warmly received by all, including the families of the firemen who were present. Trouper received the warmest reception and the most attention at the dispatch center. They were clearly the loneliest and most excited to have some puppy love to brighten their holiday.

Gallatin County's AHAD group meets every other month (although the October meeting was cancelled due to a shooting crisis unfolding that morning). Many of our local fire, police and county sheriff personnel were on site investigating and controlling the scene.

Today's AHAD meeting covered the following areas:
1. Introductions
2. Minutes approved from the August 15th meeting.
3. Topics presented, discussed and/or simply updated the status of included
*****the new EMS Committee feels it would be better served under the "umbrella" of AHAD rather than the Gallatin Fire Council. AHAD approved.
*****the summer 2020 full scale exercise coordinator was not present today......so this area of discussion was "tabled" until the next meeting
*****Trainings:...Kevin Lauer, E.M. is now overseeing county and state wide trainings that are available to our folks and will find areas of training that are requested by response folks within the county (there are currently 12 on the schedule for 2020. From my perspective they are all more appropriate for first responding folks....not our HOPE AACR folks.
............NIMS Training Compliance handout was shared......these are required courses for three levels of leadership. The first level include "All Responders" need ICS 100, 200, IS 700 and IS 800. Some of these clearly work for us! There are two additional higher level trainings expected of those in greater response/leadership roles.
*****Patrick reminded the group of the three Annexes under review of the county's Emergency Response Plan. Please get back to him on those if you have any recommendations.
*****2020 Homeland Security Grants applications will be due in March 2020. Patrick opened the "floor" to a discussion of which groups are considering applying for grants. Gallatin County is allowed to submit three and they have to been reviewed and approved by AHAD. A brief introduction to two were discussed: #1 will likely come from the Big Sky Fire Dept. who is seeking funds to support new and additional I.T. equipment to bring about better E.O.C. needs during "high alert" events in an around their area....such as high ranking federal leadership traveling south of Bozeman to Yellowstone Park which involves a need for such equipment in the BIg Sky area. #2 was for Gallatin County Sheriff response to intermediately level responses in the Bozeman area. Due to increased population our county's budget is too tight to cover such needs. We can cover small 1-2 day events and the Federal Government will support nationally declared events, but the middle of the road events....does not currently have a significant budget to cover.

The next AHAD meeting will be held...Thursday, February 20, 2020.

We've been attending these bimonthly meetings since meeting the coordinator, Adam Castle, at a Michigan VOAD meeting in Grand Rapids in September. The KCRC is a growing multi-agency group (similar to a VOAD/COAD but with government entities being represented as well). The group has been very open and welcoming to HOPE dogs. As an organization, HOPE was asked to sign on as a member agency for 2020. The commitment is modest and will allow greater exposure for HOPE, including being listed on the website: https://gryphon.org/services/community-initiatives/kalamazoo-county-response-consortium/. We were also specifically asked by Mike Corfman, Director of the Kalamazoo County Office of Emergency Management, to take part in a May 14 drill at the Kalamazoo Airport; this will be an opportunity for other HOPE teams as well.

Here are the basic areas covered in today's meeting:
1. Welcome and introduction of both First Response and COAD agencies' representatives that were attending.
2. Minutes to the November 20, 2019 were approved.
3. New Business - Patrick Lonergan, Gallatin County Emergency Manager, passed around copies of Annex M: Resource & Donations Management to be reviewed by COAD members. This "Annex" is under annual review and Patrick requested that we respond by early January if we have any suggestions or recommendations for changes.
4. The rest of the meeting was devoted to discussing "Lessons Learned" at last month's Table Top Exercise. Everyone had a chance to share their review to the group. Basic areas noted were:
******improving on a clearer chain of communication and command as the event unfolds
******define COAD leadership and conveyance of information (from top-down and then back up to leadership as the event. The Incident Commander is only going to want to talk to "COAD leader"....NOT individuals from various responding organizations.
******donations of both physical and financial will be handles separately
******some discussion was recognizing that home prepared "food" offering were likely going to come in from the community, regardless of how community news is broadcasted to "Not Do So"........so need to discuss how best to handle those types of donations needs further discussion

OVERALL Concensus of the TTex: A good place to start particularly in the initial "call to action" sent by county First Response and the first few hours of this particular disaster unfolded. Our next one needs to have more depth and more of our organizations in attendance on the day of the drill!

There were about a dozen people attending today's meeting.

Our next meeting will be held at the Gallatin County Coordination Center (at the Fairgrounds in Bozeman) on Wednesday, January 15, 2020.

Overview of the County of Orange and Operational Area Volunteer and Donation Management Annex. The Annex outlines the use of affiliated & spontaneous volunteers and donations management during disasters.

Trustee may be the most popular Executive Committee member, judging by the fact that he received the most greetings and attention throughout the meeting. Dogs are such great room-warmers and ice-breakers, and several commented that they felt like their interaction with Trustee helped them to de-stress. I'm grateful he can attend these meetings and that the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce is willing to allow him to be at their facility.

This was the second mental health awareness event at the high school that HOPE teams have participated in. Our teams have deployed to the high school for three student deaths in the past five years and this event is designed to help students with coping skills. Our teams staged in the media center along with several other mental health and well being agencies. Groups of students came in each class hour and interacted with the dogs and got information from the agencies represented.

We also had the opportunity to interact with students and staff who were affected by the prior student deaths and we were able to gauge their recovery to those events. Universally, they were appreciative of our past visits.

ARC meeting Dec. 3

Tonight's meeting covered:
1. Introductions
2. Luis Islas, Regional Philanthropy Officer for ARC, and represents the Idaho and Montana Region. Luis recently moved to Livingston, Montana from the Boise, ID area and is in the process of introducing himself to local ARC members, outlining the purpose of his recent move from Idaho to Montana, and how he is "charged" with the re-connecting with at least 39 large scale Montana donors (those who annually gift ARC with $2500/year or more. Montana's fundraising averages around $1.6 million/year and Idaho $2.75 million/year.
3. Linda walked us all through the new procedures in signing up for Disaster Action Team responses. (This is NOT something we do as HOPE AACR members. This involves ARC volunteers signing up for monthly availability dates they can be "on call" for disasters within our local communities that are served by this group.
4. Kris Nichols (ARC volunteer) reported on meetings she had attended last month including the TTex with the SW MT COAD group and the LEPC meeting in Park County last month.
5. Ernie Lytle updated us on "Sheltering" issues within our counties.
6. Bill and Jim updated us on a recent "Smoke Alarm" install involving a 'new of its kind' "Bedshaker alarm"....only available to clients that are deaf and unable to hear a regular smoke alarm.
7. Linda and Allison updated us on last month's West Yellowstone fire that displaced four families.
8. Misc. discussion points included brief updates on: contact information with SACKS (a local 2nd hand store in our area), December's Christmas gathering at Linda and Bill Racicot's home on the 13th, and various meetings yet to be attended by ARC folks this month.

Today was my first day of attendance (on behalf of HOPE AACR) for this sub-committee, Mass Care, of the SW MT COAD.

The purpose of this meeting was to debrief a recent Table Top Exercise conducted at the last SW MT COAD meeting on November 20, 2019. Other organizations attending included: Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Gallatin Valley YMCA, Child Care Connections, and Gallatin Food Bank.

Kristin Horn (CCC) is the committee chairperson and she conducted today's meeting. Kristin called the meeting to order and:
1. verified each organization attending today of receipt of the Gallatin County's Notification system activated on Nov. 19th regarding the TTex
2. Kristin reviewed what the TTex scenario was
3. She then asked what each of us would have to consider about our own safety, well being, and family needs prior to us being able to respond to a crisis.
4. Once that was done we began to debrief the resource availability of each organization, and what/how we might each respond through the "chain of command" that we are trying to build within the entire SWMT COAD and they in turn with Incident Command Structure of the disaster.
5. Questions that still need to be ironed out include: How will Gallatin County's 211 will be involved and how we as a group work with them?
6. Action Items include: updating Kristin with HOPE AACR's local area contact info as well as our current RD's contact information.
7. Their next meeting will be in two months: February 11, 2020 at Child Care Connections

This is a repeat event for HOPE teams. We had an information table set up in the gymnasium. Students were brought in by groups throughout the day. They spent approx. 7 minutes at each station. The dogs were a big hit with the students, staff and other participants. Approximately 343 students were seen.

HOPE was invited to provide a presentation to a graduate level counseling skills class. To quote the professor:
"My clinical mental health counseling students meet with clients primarily in a hospital, private practice, and mental health centers. So, for the most part, they will not be meeting with clients after a disaster at the site of a disaster. Instead, they will meet with clients later following the crisis... I think that it will be very informative to learn what you all do and how dogs can be used in crisis situations. So, hearing your stories will be excellent. "
We met in class, prepared with our HOPE Banner and Tri-Fold. Terri Rafter opened presenting about HOPE, we each told meaningful stories about events/deployments, a robust Q & A session followed and we concluded with lots of student/dog interactions at the end.

SW MT COAD meeting included the following major points:
1. Welcome, introductions of individuals attending and their respective organizations, and October meeting minutes approved.
2. New Business: Table Top Exercise (conducted by Patrick Lonergan (Gallatin County E.M.) and Austin Troth (Civil Air Patrol officer)
a. Scenario was read: a strong winter storm blew into area the middle of June creating extensive damages throughout the city and surrounding
counties, 2 feet of heavy wet snow and significant temperature changes resulting in loss of power, downed trees, damages incurred area
wide with buildings, businesses, and homes, schools closed, etc....within 4 days temperatures moderated causing significant flooding ....
b. All attending agencies were asked if their representatives had received urgent "preparedness" messaging (email, phone, and text) sent out by
County E.M. 24 hours prior ........Mary acknowledged the system worked for HOPE AACR (as did each agency...a few problems were noted.
c. Agencies were asked to meet within the 4 major response areas: Mass Care (this is the one HOPE AACR fits best under), Community Recovery
(physical), Emergency Response, and Donations. We were tasked to discuss what each agency could offer with needed resources as the
disaster unfolded. Those responses were then discussed and multiple questions were brought before in entire group.
d. Multiple agencies were not in attendance today which did make it difficult to have a full response evaluation during the discussion phase.
e. We actually ran out of time with the above discussion...so ran over with the debriefing segment of the exercise. The group did find the TTex
helpful as a starting point.......more of this is needed.
3. Our next SW MT COAD meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 18th at 1:00 p.m.
4. Today's meeting was adjourned at 2:45 p.m.

This was a four day conference sponsored by Red Cross. The purpose was to bring together the disaster response community to share our experiences and connect with others facing similar challenges, to spark new ideas and seek inspiration. The conference consisted of a series of training modules including, but not limited to, Crisis Response, ICS, Gender identity, Disaster Spiritual Care, Shelter Fundamentals, CPR, Disaster Cycle Services.

HOPE Animal Assisted Crisis Response was asked to participate in two panel discussions: What We Do During a Disaster and Community Partnerships: Benefit of Working Together

Katherine noticed a recent article in the Livingston newspaper about a grant given to a group called L’Esprit . They will partner-with the Livingston Schools to provide crisis response. Todd Wester is the School District coordinator and contact for this planned partnership, as well as several others he mentioned. It was decided to contact him and make a presentation. Mary gave a very thorough presentation, accompanied by Katherine and Layla. He was also given a folder with brochures and pertinent iHOPE information. Todd was very receptive and interested in working with HOPE in the future. He may want another presentation to the group of people he works with. He said he would be in touch and Katherine will follow up with a phone.
Mary and Katherine both felt a very good connection was made.

This is a two day conference held in Billings. Layla and I attended the first day. There were over 200 participants. We were constantly greeted with much enthusiasm and gratitude. Harry has been attending this conference with a poster for several years but it was the first time a team could also be present. He felt it made a huge difference in interest and interaction. Once again reminding us of the power of a dog’s presence. We also showed the HOPE video which really consolidated our message!
So many people not only wanted to meet and greet Layla, but wanted to share stories and photos of their dogs.
As a fun sideline, Layla and I were invited to get in the helicopter (it wasn’t moving). Something new for us.

American Red Cross (Gallatin, Park, and Madison Counties) Meeting Minutes
November 6, 2019 – 5:30 to 7:00 PM
JC Billion, Cottonwood and Fallon, Jeep Building

Attendees:
Louise Weldon, Jim Weldon, Bill Racicot, Linda Racicot, Carl Nichols, Robin Cory, Ernie Lytle, Kerri Strasheim, Mandy deGignac, Kris Nichols, and Katherine McBee (on the phone)
Guests: Mary Martin, Sarah Beams and Dax (representing HOPE AACR)
Introductions were made welcoming the new volunteers: Martin Coleman, Cindy Bender (on the phone), Allison Rezak, an Karl and Janine Mahn

New Newsletter: Linda reviewed highlights of the new newsletter that comes on a quarterly basis.

CPR training: A blended class will be done, with the classroom part completed after the DAT meeting on Jan. 7.

COAD Meeting – Kris reported that the Committee is continuing to refine the process. Looking into whether LEPC should be combined with COAD. Tabletop exercises will be done in the future.

Sheltering Update – Louise and Ernie have had difficulty in contacting BHS. Kris and Janine noted that the armories have been remediated of lead, making them available for sheltering.

Rotary Fall Fix Up Festival - Ernie: 6 residents were assisted with smoke alarms. Some of the project managers were not aware that we were coming, and did not inform the residents.

Bed Shaker Alarm: Bill brought the bed shaker alarm and showed how it worked.

Signature Smoke Alarm Event in Belgrade and Bozeman: The event will take place on May 1 and 2. Kerri will contact the Fire Department to get their partnership and find out locales that are issues for them.

Fire Responses: – There were three fires in the area this month. Linda gave a brief synopsis on the situations. No major issues were identified with any of the fires. There was also a fire in W. Yellowstone today involving four families. Linda will take lead, and be assisted by Louise, Allison and Bill. Mary from HOPE AACR mentioned that HOPE dog teams are available for support during these fire calls, at which Linda said she would check with the West Yellowstone family contact person about that opportunity.***
During the winter (Nov 1 to March 31), should there be no hotels available, the Warming Center has agreed to shelter fire clients. Call 406.587.4188 to make arrangements at any time. Kris will contact HRDC in Livingston to see if the same arrangement can be made there. Martin will follow up with Sacks and Good Will for discounts for our clients.

SALVATION ARMY THRIFT STORE HAS CLOSED.

Holiday Parties – The annual potluck party will be at Linda’s house on December 8 at 5:00. The annual Red Cross appreciation dinner will be January 11 (this is a change) at Fork and Spoon.

Next meeting updates:
1. COAD meeting Nov 20 at 1:00 at Gallatin Co Emergency Building on Tamarack – Kris will attend
2. Park Co LEPC meeting at 11:00 on Nov 14 at City County Complex – Community Room – Kris will attend
3. Next ARC Meeting: Tuesday, December 3, 2019, 5:30 to 7:00 pm at the Billion Conference Room

*** The West Yellowstone families displaced by a community fire, declined the need for HOPE canines at this time.

Extremely informative meeting with several different speakers. We heard from an FBI special victims agent who is stationed in Phoenix. We learned that there 80 agents placed throughout the country who are trained to depoly to active shooter scenarios. We also learned about the Phoenix Royal Palms Baptist Church Food service and were able to explore their traveling kitchen which can accommodate up to 500 meals. If a real disaster occurs, their onsite kitchen can serve up to 5,000 meals which can be shipped out to the area in need. There is also an incredible website up produced by the Red Cross, with organizations that may be of help in a disaster. Here's how it works: Go to https://RedCrossDisasterResources.auntbertha.com and enter your zip code. If you are in Phoenix, you will find 1,913 free or reduced cost programs. Filter by category or other factors to find the program you need. Formation of Maricopa County COAD was also celebrated.

We also discussed formative preparations for hosting the National VOAD conference here in Phoenix the week of May 18, 2020

Everyone loved the dogs. I introduced our new members and explained that we now have two teams in Flagstaff.

Trustee is making quite a few friends on the Elkhart County COAD Executive Committee. He definitely brings a more relaxed and joyful presence into the meetings.

This was the 2nd year HOPE K9 teams were invited to this Back to School Health Fair sponsored by Assembly man, Marc Berman. A table in the shade was furnished. There were plenty of nearby grassy areas for Molly to potty.
Multiple agencies were represented.
Attendance was modest. Molly interactions (community members and staff) numbered about 30-40. The overall experience was very pleasant. Molly was widely appreciated by all.

This was our 2nd interaction with the multi-agency emergency preparedness group known as the Kalamazoo County Response Consortium. Several of the same individuals we met at the first meeting (table top exercise) were present and warmly welcomed us once again. The objective of this meeting was to work on a community list of service providers in the event we would need to quickly and efficiently organize around a crisis. HOPE AACR MWR will be included on the list (I will reach out to Nick to confirm what information should be included).

The meeting occurred at the United Way offices in Kalamazoo, and the majority of staff here already knew us from a trauma conference last May. Once word spread that we were in the building, several additional faces began popping in and out of the Consortium meeting to say "hi" to Sunny. Following the meeting we walked through the rest of the offices to do more visiting.

Daisy and I were asked to present at a Working Dog Session of the Fresh Coast Film Festival Family Event sponsored by Peter White Library. Other guests were Nitro the bomb sniffing police dog and a sled dog.

I was able to present information about HOPE and what it takes to become a HOPE dog. Many people were familiar with HOPE through Superior Health Foundation and meeting dogs at the Gala.

Trustee and I were invited to attend the 4-H Fair After Action Meeting as a way of brightening the atmosphere and bringing a more positive feeling into the room. Trustee was greeted enthusiastically by the Elkhart County EMA staff and some of the Fire Department personnel. Trustee remained very calm and quiet during the meeting and was appreciated by many in attendance.

The Washington County MN Emergency Manager (EM) did a virtual introduction to connect me with Lauren Schmitz and Lisa Smith, both FBI-Mpls Victim Specialists (referred to here as the FBI-VS). The EM has worked with both HOPE & FBI on Family Assistance Planning and believed that it was important that we be connected prior to any mass casualty incident. The FBI-VS agreed and were very interested in learning more about HOPE and how we would be able to assist them. The FBI-VS currently has only two comfort-type dogs available for use nationally. It's difficult for two dogs to support the entire United States, so the Mpls FBI-VS was eager to learn about HOPE and the availability of the teams not only in MN but nationally. They feel it's important to have several dogs available for a mass casualty incident.

I shared HOPE's mission, training, policy and procedures with them. I also discussed the differences between HOPE and other available groups. They shared that it's very important to them that all dogs & handlers be screened and undergo regular background checks. I gave them each a folder containing the following information: My HOPE Letter of Certification, HOPE's Certificate of Insurance, a HOPE brochure, and the MWR Information Sheet, along with a Frequently Asked Question Sheet, which details our level of training. I also included a 9x11 Regional Map (to highlight HOPE's national availability of teams) and several HOPE endorsement letters. The support HOPE offers and HOPE's screening, training and professionalism are what they are looking for and they plan to share our information.

We also discussed how we would contact each other if there is an incident, and plans are to work together in the future. In order to prepare us to support them, Lauren & Lisa offered to meet again with all the MN teams (Teams Gioia, Ivy & Winston) to detail exactly how they set-up an assistance center and work during an incident. I agreed that it would be valuable training and will make arrangements with them and the other teams.

Trustee and Christine were warmly welcomed to the Indiana State VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) meeting. The meeting took place at Five Points Indiana Department of Homeland Security in Indianapolis. The IDHS staff extended amazing hospitality to all of us as we enjoyed a lovely lunch and a nice meeting venue.

Trustee brought many smiles before and after the meeting and did well socializing with those present. Christine was asked to give a brief impromptu report on HOPE AACR during the meeting. Several asked for more information following the meeting and were provided with HOPE AACR handouts.

Afterwards, Dave with IDHS offered to take those interested on a complete tour of the facility. Christine and Trustee enjoyed the guided tour of some very state-of-the-art emergency vehicles and learning about MREs (meals ready to eat) and other state resources stored and ready for dispersal in the aftermath of a disaster.

All in all, it was an excellent experience!

MWR HOPE teams were invited to observe and take part in an annual deployment of Michigan's 5th District Medical Response Coalition's rapid hospital system. The exercise involved approximately two dozen volunteers, primarily from local medical facilities, and was aimed at demonstrating the capacities of an impromptu inflatable medical center. The volunteers met in a parking lot of Kalamazoo Valley Community College in Kalamazoo, MI to learn their roles and participate in the exercise. HOPE teams arrived when the tents and accompanying equipment were being unloaded and observed the entire set-up, which occurred much more swiftly than the organizers planned (49 minutes vs the 2 hour projection). We were then invited to tour the facility and listen to the debriefing. We were warmly welcomed and many of the participants were interested in learning more about HOPE and how we could compliment their efforts in the event of an actual large scale medical emergency. This was an excellent networking opportunity. We mingled for quite some time within the interior of the medical unit and then were invited to dine with the other participants in a catered lunch.

Following the Michigan VOAD meeting last month, we were invited by Adam Castle, Gryphon Place Resource Specialist and Preparedness Coordinator, to join the Kalamazoo County Response Consortium. This is a multiagency group made up of government and non-profit representatives from around the community. It has been meeting regularly for the past year and a half, following a significant flooding situation in Kalamazoo in early 2017. Today's meeting was the group's first table top exercise and was meant to help everyone think through existing and available resources during a mock crisis (tornado). The meeting was held at the Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Department, Office of Emergency Management, specifically in the space that would become an Emergency Operations Center in an actual emergency. Twenty-eight individuals representing 17 agencies took part. Many good connections were made and important information was shared about what various agencies could provide in the case of a natural disaster like a tornado. Everyone was very receptive to HOPE teams taking part in future exercises and if the need arose, deployment.

Regions Hospital is a full-service Hospital and Level 1 Trauma Center that covers MN and western WI. They make a monthly training video for EMTs, Fire & Police Depts., etc, that are focused on disseminating new & current information in their fields and information about other available services. They distribute the training videos to about 34 area agencies via YouTube. Lauren learned about HOPE at the 3M EMT Picnic we attended on 9.18.19. She supports our mission and wanted to create awareness of HOPE with the other agencies. This is a great vehicle to do so and we conveyed our gratitude for the opportunity. She will share the video with HOPE when it is completed.

The filming occurred at the Cottage Grove MN Fire Station. The Fire Chief was there, along with several EMTs who were attending a training session that day, so the dogs were filmed getting & giving lots of love. The Fire Chief intends to share HOPE's information with the Safety Director of the South Washington County School District. We provided him several copies of the MWR information sheet and HOPE brochures.

This is the 3rd year that HOPE was invited to participate in this Event. A table was shared with the San Mateo County Peninsula Humane Society (a sponsor of their Pet Assisted Therapy Program). The usual disaster response agencies were also present. The Event was attended by both the public as well as the employees of the San Mateo Emergency Services.
This was a low stress, outdoor event that was enjoyable for both Molly and the many attendees who interacted with her.

The meeting was called to order at: 5:30 p.m.
Attendees included: Louise Weldon, Jim Weldon, Bill Racicot, Carl Nichols, Mary Martin, Linda Racicot, Ernie Lytle, Kerri Strasheim, Robin Cory, Valerie Utley, and Kris Nichols.

New Business:
1. SW MT COAD meeting - Linda reported that the meeting centered around notification of the various organizations. This process resulted in some changes to the committees. More work will be done on this in November.

2. Belgrade Fall Festival Parade – Ernie drove the Traverse in the parade with 3 walkers passing out candy. Mandy, Bill and Linda were the walkers.

3. Sheltering Update – Louise and Ernie need to get in touch with Todd at the BHS to complete the changes in usable space.

4. Rotary Fall Fix Up Festival - Ernie: 11 clients will partake in the event. Date is October 5. Meet at 8:00 at the office at 300 N. Willson.

5. Signature Smoke Alarm Event in Belgrade and Bozeman – It was agreed that May 1 and 2 would be our dates for the event.

6. Deployment – Robin relayed her experience of deployment in South Carolina for Hurricane Dorian.

7. Belgrade Fire – Kerri, Carl and Ernie reported on the fire involving an RV and a mobile home. One of the issues they encountered was that this happened on a football weekend, and there were no hotel rooms available from Livingston to Three Forks. One room was located eventually. Alternatives to hotels will have to be examined.

8. There was also a fire in Big Sky, but the family declined ARC’s assistance.

9. Holiday Parties – The annual potluck party will be at Linda’s house on December 8. The annual Red Cross appreciation dinner will be January 10, and it is desired that we have it at Fork and Spoon.

10. Future meetings/events:
..........COAD meeting in Livingston on Oct. 16 – Kris
..........AHAD meeting on Oct. 17 – Kerri

11. SALVATION ARMY THRIFT STORE (in Bozeman) HAS CLOSED. So don't refer clients to that location.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, November 5, 2019, 5:30 to 7:00 pm at the Billion Conference Roo

Many local government, service, religious, and volunteer agencies meet quarterly. The purpose of this task force is to develop through collaboration policies and actions to improve services to the community.

HOPE was contacted about bringing the dogs to this Suicide Prevention Event. It was held outdoors on a Sunday afternoon with several other agencies present. Many contacts were made and HOPE business cards were passed out. We were the only dogs present and we were very well received. All age groups were there from young children to teenagers to parents. A 5K was part of the event and we walked with our dogs alongside the other participants.

We were invited to attend this annual event for the City of Chandler. This is the fourth year we've attended. One year we were even honored to be introduced on stage with seven teams in attendance. At the event we heard about several programs and shelters that are taking pets and sheltering and fostering them for DV victims until they are able to get beack on their feet. We also learned that the laws are beginning to recognise that pets are often the first to be abused or threatened to be abused or killed in a DV situation as leverage to keep victims from leaving their abuser. We also heard testimony from an abuser who was close to death before leaving her situation and her bulldog's behavior had been molded through the abuser's violence to turn against her and become agressive to help her abuser increase his control over her. We also were honored to hear the fabulous Chandler HS Barbershop Choir perform. We were able to network at this event where we met the Chandler Chief of Police, Sam Duggan, who was very receptive to our cause. When I was telling him about our organization, I pre-empted the conversation with "I know you now have your facility dog, Annie, that your training for special victims...." He interupted and said, "But Annie is just one dog! I'm going to make sure the right people get this information and you will be getting a call."

HOPE was invited to the first annual Front Range Emergency Management Conference on the campus of University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS), to address inter agency networking, preparedness, and to present speakers on related topics and incident evaluations. Attendees were from regional and local law enforcement, military, fire and EMS, communications, Humane Society, CERT, VOAD, etc. Because of previous deployments and contacts with these agencies, our HOPE dogs were often recognized and even called by name. Remarks heard were "Wow, you're going to be the most popular booth here!" "I was hoping the HOPE dogs would be here." During meeting breaks in a common area outside the conference hall, we interacted with many students as well and one young woman said she was so happy to pet Kara because she had a test in half an hour. As the business of the conference began we moved to an assigned table on the floor of the hall with each table holding ten seats. Our four dogs rested quietly, occasionally nudging a neighbor's hand for petting and attendees didn't seem at all concerned about having to step over/around them. It was clear their quiet presence was welcomed.

This was a fairly large conference and UCCS did a wonderful job of organizing, accommodating and feeding attendees and vendors such as HOPE. It was logistically challenging on a busy campus with parking and space limitations. Although we arrived on time at 6:45 there was no one there to hand out parking permits and give directions to the Hall as we'd been told. Our TL wasn't able to arrive till lunch time but our four teams worked well together finding resources and spelling each other for bathroom breaks and getting food/coffee. Since we overheard plans for holding this conference next year, it'll be good to have a TL from the outset. One glitch that I still am confused about is that as Vendors we were told to arrive at 6:45 to enable being set up by 7:15, which of course we did. However, nothing much happened until attendees arrived after 8 AM for a meeting start time of 9 AM, leaving us with nearly an hour of dead time.

This was a two day event. It was great for Nancy and YUKI to drive over from Bozeman and spend Thursday with me. We had about 80 people in attendance each day. The Conference had local and state officials to make presentations each day.

Nicole Emity heard our HOPE presentation given by Sally Farley earlier this month and she wanted us to present directly to KISD PD. KISD is a very large school district just outside the Houston city limits. We were asked to talk with the PD officers during their morning meeting before going on duty in the schools. The meeting was attended by approximately 60 officers who were very attentive and asked great questions. I talked for approximately 15 minutes so I gave them the main points of HOPE AACR training and how our teams are specifically trained and prepared for crisis and disaster situations. The officers understood the need for this additional training rather than the level of training and experience of therapy dog teams.
After our presentation, we were asked to wait in the lobby so they could continue their patrol meeting and still be available to meet with officers as they exited the meeting. Many of the officers took a copy of our handout as well as dog trading cards and thanked us for what our organization does. It was very moving for us to hear them thank us. We were also given documentation of the KISD evacuation plan for all of the schools in the district so we would be prepared should they need to call on us in the future. The documentation gave information of the evacuation plan already in place for the district for each school stating where students would be evacuated to based on which school was involved. KISD is very prepared for an on campus crisis or disaster. The school district was also very impressed that all our teams have criminal background checks so no time is wasted at the time of a crisis or disaster.

This annual event has been staffed by HOPE K9 teams for many years, beginning with Jeannie Eagan & Annie. The list of participating agencies is enormous, representing every conceivable organization that might be even peripherally associated with a disaster. All of the familiar ones were present in abundance (Red Cross, Cal-OES, Cal-Fire, local Sheriff and Police Departments, and several CERT groups).

Given we had a single K-9 team available, it was decided our impact and exposure would be maximized by actively circulating both inside and outside the venue rather than being tied to a table. As such, Molly was appreciated by innumerable disaster-related personnel and lay attendees (at least 100). HOPE pamphlets and Molly trading cards were freely distributed.

In short, the HOPE-flag was well represented.

As Vice-Chair of the MI-VOAD, Nick Meier invited Angie & Sunny and Christine & Trustee to represent HOPE Animal-Assisted Crisis Response at the Michigan VOAD meeting in Grand Rapids. The dogs were welcomed warmly and enjoyed interaction with meeting attendees throughout the 2 1/2 hour meeting and complimentary lunch that followed. We were thanked by the MI-VOAD Chairperson for bringing the dogs and enjoyed learning more about how state VOADs work and what services they offer the community.

This was the quarterly meeting of MI-VOAD held at the World Renew Disaster Services Headquarters in Grand Rapids, MI. It was attended by numerous voluntary agencies as well as representatives of the Michigan State Police Homeland Security Division. It is an opportunity to share information among the members. Elections were discussed and amendments to bylaws proposed. HOPE has a new team in the area, Angie Moe and Sunny, that was introduced to the group. In addition, Christine Schaubert and Trustee were introduced. Christine is the new Chair of the Elkhart (IN) COAD and used this meeting as an opportunity to interact with MI VOAD since Elkhart County borders MI.

SW MT COAD meeting (Bozeman) - Wednesday, September, 18, 2019:

The meeting was called to order by Susan Spanjol (SW MT COAD Coordinator) at 1:00 p.m.

Agency Representatives introduced themselves and the organization they represent.

Minutes to the July 17, 2019 were approved.

NEW BUSINESS:
Discussion on our COAD's response protocol: This topic generated a positive discussion towards creating a flow chart for COAD's response, ie: an Incident Commander in charge of the emergency response within one of our counties will contact COAD leadership to initiate COAD services. The discussion led to defining various areas that COAD agency resources may best fall under....the four areas below represent the type of work/services each agency provides. Further discussion will follow at our November meeting.
Mass Care
Animal rescue
emergency worker's child care options
distribution
mental/emotional/spiritual (this is the category HOPE AACR fits into)
human sheltering
food and feeding
Community Resources
repairs and fencing
clean up
debris removal
transportation
Emergency responses
medical care
radio communication
sand bagging
chain sawing
Search and Rescue
hauling trailers
transportation
Donations
Financial
management
fundraising
distribution
Physical
warehouses
water
clothing
building materials
cleaning supplies

Each representative was asked to update the resource matrix chart (what each COAD agency provides in services/resources) and contact information for each organization.
Austin from Civil Air Patrol will help Susan with the necessary updates needed on the chart.
HOPE AACR's contact is Mary Martin at this point.
Susan reminded the attendees that the Vice-President and a Treasurer positions remain open and need to be filled.
Susan also mentioned that 'Heart of the Valley' has PET Planning Kits for disaster preparedness that are free to the public as long as they last. Contact HV if you are interested.

Next Meeting: October 16, 2019 in Livingston and Greg Coleman will be our host. He mentioned that food will be offered.? The meeting will be from 1:00-2:30 p.m.

Today's meeting was adjourned at 2:30 p.m.

Trustee brought many smiles to everyone present at the meeting. This was Trustee's first official HOPE activity as a newly certified HOPE AACR dog and he had a great time. Staff from the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce popped into the meeting room when they saw the dog and enjoyed interacting with Trustee as well.

This was Christine's first official meeting as Chairperson, and Trustee served as a great room-warmer and ice-breaker. The mood of the meeting was definitely more relaxed and light-hearted because a dog was there.

To promote emergency awareness, Lewis and Clark County and the Elkhorn Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) collaborated on Saturday to host a free family emergency preparedness fair at the Lewis and Clark Fairgrounds. The event was scheduled to coincide with September being National Preparedness Month. Saturday’s event featured more than 30 vendors teaching attendees about how to prepare for disasters. This was a good networking event for us and I was able to reach out to a number of other organizations and individuals about our work.

The event was held at the Walmart in Holland, MI. The goal of the Prepare Fair was to educate the public on how to prepare for emergencies, meet local first responders, and explore emergency response vehicles. We arrived and set our table and tri-fold up under a nice tent that Susan brought. It was a windy day out and we were unable to set out any other materials. Many other agencies were present such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, several areas of Michigan State Police, FEMA, local firefighters and other first responders, even a medical helicopter flew in. Well over 100 visitors were present to experience this event; it was quite difficult to determine how many were there due to our location and other booths present. The dogs were quite popular, as usual, and did very well, even with the helicopter landing and taking off. There were other working dogs present but we were set up at a nice distance from them. Those that stopped by were every interested in what we did and several may have been interested in becoming future Hopefulls; cards were handed out to those.

We were asked to provide HOPE-K9 teams to this Yellow Ribbon Event in San Jose, CA for soon-to-be deployed Coastguard men and women. Since this coincided with HOPE's National meeting, I was the only NorCal team available.

On arriving at the facility at 11AM, the Guards men and women were in breakout sessions. Consequently, Molly and I were led to a "quiet room" set aside for the children. Accompanied by a childcare attendant, 6 children at a time were brought into the room, sat around Molly (who was on a down), and proceeded to thoroughly enjoy petting and interacting with her. Each, of course, received, a Molly "playing card." After an hour of this (involving 20 children) we then went to the exit thru which all of the families departed for lunch, Molly again on a sit/down/stay was (no surprise) enjoyed by another 30 or so attendees.

We were invited to attend and make a short presentation on HOPE AACR at the Park County Local Emergency Planning Committee.

This was the monthly meeting of the 5th District Medical Response Coalition [5DMRC], which covers several counties in southwest Michigan. Roughly 60 individuals were present (with around an additional 10 on livestream), representing various medical personnel, first responders, and mental health practitioners. The meeting was held at the Western Michigan Homer Stryker School of Medicine in downtown Kalamazoo. Nick and Julia Meier presented to this group last March and several of the coalition members expressed interest in HOPE at that time. The welcome was equally warm this time around. Rick Winters, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for the 5DMRC, introduced us at the start of the meeting and indicated that he'd like us to present at an upcoming meeting as a refresher of what HOPE can offer. Rick has also offered an open invitation to any canine teams and team leaders who would like to attend their "rapid hospital system deployment" open house on Tuesday, Oct. 8. More details to come.

* Guest Speakers
1. Diane Wright, Disaster Administration,Executive Director. She presented FY19 and projected FY20 data. She reviewed selected
objectives, targets and outcomes in several areas . She was pleased with the results.
ARC territories have recently been realigned. Montana and Idaho are a district within the Pacific region.
Improved communication between Blood Services and Humanitarian Services have made for smoother partnership.
2. Wendy McGrew, Regional Volunteer Services Officer. ARC needs transportation drivers to get blood from draw locations to banks
3. Shellie Creveling, Disaster Program Manager for Western Montana. Introduced herself and explained her new job role.
A signature event, “Sound the Alarm”, is planned for April in Bozeman/Belgrade area to give out smoke alarms. No details yet

*Rotary Fall Fix Up Festival. October 5

*Phone call from ARC member deployed to Charleston was received.

This was Christine and Trouper's first State Level Exercise. Participants included individuals from IDHS (Indiana Department of Homeland Security), FEMA, IN-VOAD, and American Red Cross, along with almost 40 Emergency Management Directors from four Indiana districts. The drill centered around developing a plan for the relocation of individuals affected by a radiological event that impacts Roseland, Ind., a town in St. Joseph County.

Trouper and Christine's primary role was to travel between the EOC (Emergency Operations Center) and IMT (Incident Management Team) and alleviate the stress of those actively participating in the drill. Trouper brought many smiles and received lots of petting!

In the EOC Hot Wash, Trouper was mentioned as one of the positive elements of the exercise. Christine and Trouper also were thanked by and received positive feedback from an IDHS staff member who said that from 9 am on, all he heard were positive comments about a dog being present.

A lot of interest was shown in learning more about HOPE AACR and Team Trouper had many opportunities to promote HOPE's mission and answer questions about HOPE AACR throughout the day.

It was an honor for Team Trouper to represent HOPE AACR at this state level exercise.

We were asked to greet Harris County Commissioners at the Victim Assistance Office as they visited for a presentation of the services provided and a tour of the office. They were reported to have been impressed with HOPE's services to this program. While greeting the visitors in the lobby of the Victim Assistance Office, we met several people from the Juvenile Probation Office. They asked about our program and expressed interest in possible visits to juveniles and staff at their office .

Christine and Trouper attended the first COAD executive committee meeting for the newly formed Elkhart County COAD. The purpose of the meeting was to elect executive officers to lead the COAD. Trouper was warmly welcomed by all and everyone took the opportunity to pet and interact with him following the meeting. Just seconds into petting Trouper, one attendee remarked, "I just felt my blood pressure drop 10 points!" I was nominated and elected chair of the Elkhart County COAD.

Multidisciplinary response to active shooter at Forest Park School K-12. HOPE Team deployed in the family reunification center.

The Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program is a Department of Defense-wide effort to promote the well-being of Reserve members, their families and communities, by connecting them with resources throughout the deployment cycle. These families are either preparing for or reintegrating after a deployment.

We were requested to attend to have our dogs help promote the well-being of these families. HOPE had attended some of these events in Florida and MSgt Santiago wanted to have them in San Antonio, TX.

As soon as we arrived on Friday at 1400 hrs, we were interacting with all kinds of hotel patrons, staff and military personnel.

On Saturday morning, we attended the briefing at 0730 hrs and then set up our table. We had 2 teams setting up the table, and 2 teams interacting with people. We were quite busy, being placed right at the entrance to most of the events. Since it was Cowboy day, we ran downstairs and bought 4 tiny sombreros for the dogs to wear. They were a hit!!! During the classes, we interacted with other booth participants/vendors, so we were constantly busy. We interacted with approximately 400 people. We left about 1700 hrs to head up to our rooms for a little R&R before heading to dinner.

The next day (Sunday), we headed to our table and before we even got there, people were stopping to pet the dogs and ask about them. We remained at our table until 1200 hrs when the event concluded. We probably interacted with another 200 people. We left San Antonio around 1300 hrs to head back to Houston. Total R/T mileage was 468 miles.

Team Trouper was invited to attend the first official Elkhart County COAD Meeting, which was held at the United Way of Elkhart. Organizational details were discussed and a complimentary lunch was provided. Team Trouper volunteered to be part of the executive committee and will be working alongside of the other committee members to finalize the organizational details of this newly-formed COAD.

Director Tobey singled Trouper out as one of the communities greatest assets in the emotional recovery of those affected by crises and disaster and publicly welcomed Team Trouper as new members.

Trouper brought many smiles and was very well received. He did well at ignoring the tasty food on the tables and stayed focused on interacting with the people.

This was a registration and drop-off for a week-long camp where children who have had cancer spend a week at a downtown Chicago hotel.

HOPE Teams are present to welcome and support these children as they get ready to be away from their parents for one week. We also were there to support the parents who are dropping off their children.

The Chaplain with Riverside County Fire has asked us to attend this event. They partnered with the local Boys and Girls Club and others in the community to host this event where they gave away close to 1000 backpacks stuffed with school supplies to families in need. The goal was to have a "Books and Puppies/Dogs" Booth to underscore literacy. 875 guests attended we gave out over 300 + books. We were advised that we would have a canopy, chairs, water for dogs and rubber mat for dogs. Spoke with POC day before to confirm and also check about parking and entrance to event (which they set space aside for us). Unfortunately, we were not provided a canopy and our assigned spot was under a tree which at the current moment did provide shade cover, but by the event time we would be located in full sun. We requested to be moved to a different location and the only one available was again a temporarily shaded spot. As this was the only other option provided we set up there and figured we would move as necessary. Bari had brought a large mat that was helpful and Constance had a cooling mat for Kelda. We were given 3 large boxes of books and told to set them up however we liked. There were no volunteers assigned to our station for set up of books, crowd control or distribution of books which fell to team lead. Once the event started we were swamped. There were several families that brought their dogs to the event as well, which was another challenge. Bari and Constance did a fabulous job engaging the children and Kelda and Star provided the incentives for reading.

We were invited to this event as the official greeters to the attendees. The 2 dogs were quite a hit, brightening the wait time as attendees waited in lines for registration and dinner. We made many good contacts, introducing HOPE!

Team Trouper attended their first Indiana District 2 meeting this morning with about 64 people in attendance. Trouper welcomed people as they arrived to the meeting and continued to bring smiles throughout our time at the Christo's Banquet Hall in Plymouth, IN. Trouper's presence was warmly received and Christine was able to share HOPE's mission with several people in attendance.

After the meeting, Director Tobey invited Team Trouper to attend the next COAD meeting on Monday, August 12, 2019. It was a positive experience over all and brought HOPE AACR to the attention of more people in Emergency Management Services.

Written reports on COAD meeting. Shelter in Helena read and discussed. Only 1 person showed up.
Mary said CISM training is offered by Civil Air Patrol if wanted.
Shelter update was given re Bozeman High School. Still waiting on paper work.
Currently there are 8 fires in Montana, mostly small and/or contained. No threatened properties.

Mary introduced Katherine and Carol with their team members Layla and Maggie. She said there are 8 teams in Montana ready to work, although there may be two dog retirees this year.
Mary reiterated to contact her if teams are needed.
The MOU with Red Cross and HOPE should be signed and effective by Sept.
Katherine will be provided with Park Co ARC contact names.

Madison Counties. Katherine will be supplied with Park Co contacts.

HOPE was invited by Westminster to participate in National Night Out, an event that is family oriented to promote goodwill between families in the community and the Police Dept. We interacted with many lovely families who were all delighted to get lots of doggie love. Many took pictures with our pups. It was an enjoyable evening for all the participants and attendees and the HOPE dogs of course were a big hit. They had a very good turn out with a steady stream of visitors. I would say probably a few hundred people attended over the time frame of 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

HOPE AACR was presented to the Superintendent and Director of Academic Services at River Falls School District for their Emergency Response Program. Bill and Julie Powell along with Winston provided information about HOPE AACR and it was very well received. They were extremely impressed with the training and professionalism that HOPE AACR provides.

HOPE teams were invited to present on dog bite prevention to 4 groups of 20 children (3/4th grade). We demonstrated how to read a dog's body language, how to correctly approach a dog (strange or known), and what to do if they are alone when a threatening dog approaches them. Because of the energy levels present in our groups, we were prepared to involve them in the presentation both physically and verbally. We had a photo board depicting several images of good and bad signs and coloring pages.

HOPE AACR was invited to this meeting to further educate Fort Bend County OEM's of the services we offer. We were invited to this meeting by Lachlan Mullen, PIO. We met Lachlan at the Texas Emergency Management Conference in San Antonio in May and he wanted us to detail what our organization does for first responders and victims during crisis and disasters.
The meeting was attended by approximately 40 members from emergency management across Fort Bend County. We were very well received and everyone expressed they understood much better how crisis response teams were specially trained and prepared for crisis and disaster situations. We also met with Wesley Wittig, Executive Assistant District Attorney Fort Bend County. DA Wittig advised me that the trial for the shooter defendant, involved in the Santa Fe High School shooting last year, was being moved to Fort Bend County and he invited our teams to once again support the victims, school administrators, prosecutors and families during this trial process. The trial is currently set for January or February 2020. We will have teams attending each and every day we are invited to help.
Many officers stayed after the meeting to discuss further how our teams have been used in the past and how we can help in crisis situations. The discussions were detailed and very informative. Everyone seemed pleased to know they had HOPE AACR as a resource to help when needed. I handed out many of my business cards and brochures. I also met with Lisa LaDue with Americares and we discussed how our HOPE AACR teams could work with their mental health professionals during crisis and disasters. We made plans to meet and discuss this in more detail.

This yearly event was put on by our local health department. They brought in a main speaker who was Dr. Menes. He is an ER doctor who was working the night of the Mandalay Bay shooting in Las Vegas. Not only did he share his story of working that night, but he shared a lot of incite in to prepping for an MCI.

Other speakers included Steve Keck for our local Coast Guard base. He educated us on Active Shooter situations and what we can do if ever confronted in a situation of that nature. We also heard from the FBI on Human Trafficking (The task force that Raven and I sit on for the victims advocacy) and also Smart 911 from our Central Dispatcher Missy Robbins.

Overall it was a super informative day and I am very glad I was able to be in attendance.

Nick and I gave a joint power point presentation on HOPE AACR. Director Tobey asked many engaging questions before, during, and after the presentation and showed a high level of interest in having HOPE Teams participate in future training drills and crisis response.

HOPE AACR Teams have been invited by Director Tobey to participate in an upcoming Emergency Drill at Fulton County Airport on Thursday, August 29, 2019.

Director Tobey also invited Trouper and me to attend the next local COAD meeting in Plymouth, IN on August 8, 2019.

This strategic meeting with Director Tobey may have been a groundbreaking event for HOPE AACR in Elkhart County and we are excited to see what opportunities will be available as a result.

After our meeting with Director Tobey, we were asked to visit the Elkhart Dispatch center where we were warmly received by all the staff. The dogs worked their magic bringing smiles and brightening the day of everyone who interacted with them.

The Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting occurred the late afternoon 7/28. An urgent request from a representative of the Bay Area Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team requested HOPE teams to be available to AMR ambulance crews and first responders that evening. (A separate Event report covering this time has already been submitted by Jennifer Rose, which covered her and Christi Bragg's and their K9's involvement).

The same CISM representative requested HOPE participation for the morning of 7/30 to meet with the staff of the school attended by the 13-year-old student fatality of this shooting. Molly and I attended this 2-hour meeting at the Charter School (ACE). She had an enormous settling effect on the entire group of 15.

The next request for HOPE participation was made by Community Solutions, a nonprofit community agency affiliated with Santa Clara County’s local VOAD (CADRE) emotional and spiritual care team, to attend 2 simultaneously occurring community emotional support meetings on the evening of 7/31. Four HOPE K9 teams and 2 TLs responded to this, allowing us to staff both venues by evenly dividing our resources.
At both venues we encountered another AAT group called Love on a Leash. Our TL’s explained to the leadership of these groups that due to our insurance requirements, HOPE dogs were not allowed to be in proximity to other AAT dog-teams or work closely side by side. An agreement was reached to divide the room in half allowing for a buffer zone between the 2 K9 groups, not ideal, but under the circumstances felt to be acceptable. Note: One of the Love on a Leash volunteers was also a member of the Board of Directors for Community Solutions. A number of the AAT members expressed interest in learning more about HOPE and TL shared business cards and a brochure for further info.
The experiences were similar at both sites. This included a presentation by a lead counselor to the entire group of attendees followed by smaller breakout sessions of groups of 8-10 individuals, composed of a mix of the affected community as well as mental health professionals of various stripes.
All of the HOPE members circulated throughout the crowd before and after the gatherings. During the breakouts, dogs either moved among the smaller groupings of participants or were positioned in the center of the circle of chairs allowing the participants to interact with the dogs whenever needed for comfort and focus. As usual, the dogs did an amazing job; the comfort they brought was abundantly clear.

Hope AACR was invited to attend this exploratory meeting so that we can become acquainted with other emergency organizations in Maricopa County and establish a relationship with organizations for future crisis response events. This was an introductory meeting where different levels of management spoke and offered ideas about forming this new COAD. Topics discussed included the following:
*Why do we need this in Maricopa County
*Bylaws (examples from other organizations shared)
*Membership - who? types? levels?
*Leadership - board position by individual or organization
*Goals - timeline for creation of COAD (suggested date of May 2020)
*Action items and next meeting

Nick gave a 45 minute power point presentation followed by Q & A for Superintendent Tahara and Mickey Wagner,
Director of Elementary Education. Our audience was receptive and asked questions that expressed interest in including HOPE AACR Teams in their crisis response plan.

Teams provided friendly visits, comfort and encouragement for campers. Camp Quality provides a variety of activities such as swimming, archery, crafts and more for kids who have been diagnosed with cancer so they can be kids for the week. Kids visited with the dogs while on their way to and from activities in a shady area and dogs provided comfort during a remembrance service on the second day. Photos are posted on Camp Quality's Facebook page.

Nick gave a 30 minute slide show presentation on HOPE Animal Assisted Crisis Response before the Goshen Community Schools Superintendent and seven other faculty members.

This presentation was given following a presentation by a Goshen Community School Counselor promoting the use of a therapy dog in her work as a school counselor. She is currently in process of training a puppy for that purpose and is seeking approval from the school to proceed with her plan. The current policy prohibits all dogs, except service dogs, from entering the schools.

Our presentation served as a reinforcement to the proven benefit of therapy dogs in the school setting and provided the faculty with helpful insight into how they might make provision for qualified therapy dog team and crisis response teams.

Yellow Ribbon Event welcomes National Guard members and their families who have either deployed or are about to deploy.

Bi monthly visits to the CSPD For support.

Oakland (along with Sacramento) are the most frequent areas for "Trespasser Strikes" (train vs. pedestrian or car) almost always resulting in one or more fatalities. As a result, Amtrak employees experience recurrent exposures to these incidents. Consequently, their Employee Assistance Program (EAC) manager requested HOPE dog teams to meet with both their on-site employees as well as train crews checking in and out of the crew base during a mid-day appreciation lunch.

Kathy Felix and Cody, and Molly and I circulated inside and outside of the crew base interacting with the managers, base employees, and train engineers, conductors, and other on-train staff. The reception was enthusiastic and warm.

The estimated number of interactions was 30-40.

The Southeast Texas Emergency Relief Fund partnered with local resource providers, state and federal agencies and other organizations to host this free housing resources fair to help families on their road to recovery from Hurricane Harvey. The fair was open to all residents of Jefferson County and the surrounding areas. At this fair, they were able to sign up for case management services, get advice from free legal services, meet with disaster recovery nonprofits, understand various types of loans, get info about housing options and learn about local recovery activities and hurricane preparedness.

There were 448 people in attendance. We had approximately 350-375 contacts with the dogs.

Monthly planning meeting for the 2019 COVA Conference.

I attended the COVOAD Summer Membership meeting. Copper had multiple tooth extractions earlier in the week so he stayed home. Each agency gave an update for the quarter which was very interesting. The Larimer County VOAD had a table top exercise for the last hour of the meeting. We broke into smaller groups and answer various scenario questions. Colorado is also going to submit a proposal to host the National Mass Care Exercise in 2023. It looks very promising that they will be awarded to host the exercise.

We were invited to participate in an outside day camp for teens at an area County Animal Services. The teens were learning about the various roles dogs can assume and how to read canine body language so as to advocate for the dog. Terri gave a brief introduction about HOPE/our mission and the training involved to become a HOPE Team. We each introduced our dog, told a story about how our dog had helped/comforted/encouraged an individual(s) and then explained what our dog's individual stress signals might look like and how we respond when we see those signals. A question & answer session followed. Afterwards we each had our own designated spot where the teens could rotate through and interact with our dogs.

What started out as an alternate date to our previous regional meeting turned into a unique training opportunity. I had inquired into using the OCFA training facility as a meeting site due to our regular site being booked. After a couple weeks of trading emails on where and when to hold the meeting, my POC asked us if we could attend the Girls Empowerment Camp held at the massive OCFA training facility. The free 2-day camp featured six hands-on stations for the campers to gain familiarity and experience with fire service functions. The activity stations included: Ropes and Knots, CPR/First Aid, Aerial Ladder Climb, Confidence Course, Roof Prop and Hose Handling. So our meeting turned into a opportunity to expose our teams to some sites, sounds and smells we might encounter during a wild fire deployment. Our teams did a great job of handling firetruck air horns, chainsaw noise, loud music, firefighter turnouts, boots and gear laid out, ladders being drug around and of course constant interaction with the campers as they navigated through the multitude of stations in firefighter gear. We had an opportunity to meet a greet local Council Members and a State Assembly Member. We also had a great meeting with the Fire Chief. Our POC was unsure of our acceptance, and roll, to the days events. After giving the Chief a brief overview of HOPE and some of the deployments we have been on involving firefighters, he basically gave us free reign of the facility and thanked us for being there. The day was getting a little warm and some of the dogs were "hitting the wall". We decided it was good time to go visit the dispatch center. After visiting the dispatch center, it was decided we would call it a day. Teams left at around 12 noon.

Bi-monthly meeting for Yavapai County Community Organizations Active in Disaster.
Held in Prescott, AZ at the Salvation Army Chapel.
20 members in attendance.
Presentations from AARP, Equine Emergency Evacuation Group, DEMA, and YCOEM.
Bylaws, new committees, future meeting dates and preparedness discussed.
Meeting followed by facility tour and networking Lunch.
Next meeting August 2019

We were asked by Prosecutor Alison Ferrante to present at the 2019 AZ Bar Annual Convention after Marla and I presented to Mesa Municipal Prosecutor and Children's Advocacy Center about our work in the courts in 2018. We gave an hour long presentation about HOPE AACR with some extra focus on some of the cases we served through Phoenix Municipal and Town of Gilbert Courts since 2016. The presentation was very well received by a roomful of about 50 lawyers. Many of the audience stayed well into their lunch hour to interact and take photos with the dogs. Several mentioned that they made the best decsion today by choosing this breakout session to attend. They all had huge smiles on their faces!

Alison Ferrante approached me and said she has more time now that she is just at the Mesa office, so she intends to work on policy so that they can begin utilizing us in the Mesa courts. Another attorney approached me and requested several business cards from me because she works with the Chief of Police in Phoenix and wants them to begin utilizing our organization when needed. She said we shoild expect a phonecall from the Chief.

Another attorney asked Beth and I about how to get involved with her dog and requested our contact information. Her email to us is entitled, "I have a dog who wants to do what Cinder does!" I sent her information on how to begin the process.

Wendy commented: "On the way down the long hallway a couple of the lawyers that watched the HOPE presentation said thank you & great presentation. Also, a lawyer there is also an American flight attendant. She wants to help us when we travel and asked questions about what we are classified as & who we have flown on. I told her the rules of each airline has changed so much recently. She asked for my phone number.
If you have ideas of what we’d like her to do as far as HOPE travel if she calls I will include that. I told her we carry a letter at all times with our HOPE insurance & reason for travel."

This is the second year that HOPE has been invited to be one of approximately 15 other relief and emergency response agency booths held at Memorial Park in the City of Cupertino.
The day was beautiful, the mood was joyous, and the dogs were a giant hit.
Over the day there was 150-200 interactions.

This was an opportunity to meet federal, state and local agencies all sharing safety and emergency preparedness tips and best practices. We were invited back to this event and were told the HOPE dogs were a huge hit from the previous year’s expo. This was an informational event. We displayed our HOPE Banner and passed out brochures and informational sheets. Wonderful contacts were made with the Chicago Police Department and the Chicago Fire Department.

We were asked to bring our dogs to the Red Cross Shelter that had been set up for victims of an apartment fire.There were just of few residents left. The residents had just found out that they will not be able to get back into their apartments for 2 months. They were frustrated and struggling to find affordable housing.
I came on Wednesday evening during dinner time the smiles that Grace brought to the room was cool. The tension in the room dropped. Janice and Lucas went the following evening she was very well received and they all loved Lucas.

We were invited to participate in "Animal Kindness Seminar" at Borland Elementary School grades 3-5. We visited several classrooms to familiarize students with the Mission of HOPE and meet the dogs. There were a total of 16 dogs from various agencies with various roles. This included HOPE, Paradise Rescue, Paws with a Cause, Therapy Dog Organizations, Dog training programs, dog safety and treat bags including our coloring pages for the students. After the classroom visits all the dogs and handlers lined up along the hallways as all the students entered the gym/auditorium for an assembly. Each facet did a presentation during the 45 minute assembly. Gloria spoke about HOPE and the important role of therapy dogs and Bob and Oliver did a stroller and hula hoop trick show that brought down the house.

We were asked to be part of the the Preparedness Fair held at a local middle school. I arrived and Serena, our team leader, had every thing in place we had a booth set up with flyers and our banner. There were other booths set up as well . We networked with some of the other agencies that were there.We visited with the people who came to the fair.
People from the area affected came in to listen to the mayor speak . The red cross had set up a shelter so people could see how it would work and what it would look like during a disaster. The Humane society had set a shelter for animals so the people could see how that would work. They were asked to bring their pets in.
Our dogs were well received all enjoyed their presents and good behavior.

FEMA was conducting this at the Red Cross Chicago Office. The two HOPE teams spoke about the training necessary to be a HOPE dog. We also shared specifics about deployments we had done. The Girl Scouts each came up to the dogs to pet them. Many parents and adults were there and took pictures.

HOPE AACR was requested to participate in the career day at NorthPark Elementary (where we responded 2 years ago following a school shooting). The counselor shared that they have been wanting the HOPE dogs to come back for a visit, but have had some challenges with getting authorization to have the dogs on campus and really wanted us here for this.
Working with the contact was challenging, with lots of changes in plans (reduced number of teams to 2 per shift-from 4) in spite of multiple phone calls and attempts to plan and educate.
Once on campus we did 20 minute presentations in assigned classrooms (discussion about HOPE and time for interacting with the dogs). Students in the upper grades had prepared questions for us! Some classes did not get scheduled to meet with the dogs (some due to allergies, others due to scheduling issues). The school did not plan time for staff to visit with the dogs (despite the suggestion) though many staff found ways to make time to interact with the dog. One teacher came back several times, sharing her story of meeting Daltrey when we deployed after the shooting. She disclosed that she had. Never been much of a dog person,and her husband was anti-pets, but following her interactions with Daltrey they went and adopted a dog the next week. 9I has heard this story from an acquaintance who volunteers t the shelter~but had never met the woman). Several staff brought up their memories of the dogs from the deployment, but interestingly none of the students mentioned the shooting.
When the afternoon teams were leaving, the principal (who was quite endorsed with Bagel) asked them to visit the kindergarteners (who did not get scheduled with the dogs), the teams agreed, despite being hot and tired.

Mid week -burn camp, where family and friends come to visit the camp and campers. Fire trucks, Motorcycle parades, and lots of noise and activity. This was our 9th year. We took time to visit with families as they waited for the campers to arrive, then greeted them as they came. We interacted with approximately 240 people throughout the time. plus the EMS teams, etc.

Normally this would not be a HOPE event, but we had been to this school before due to 3 student deaths by suicide. Students were still in a very vulnerable place and this was a stressful year for them.

We have been attending Burn Camp for 9 years. The last 5 have included registration. Kids throughout the state with any type of burn or burn trauma come for a week of camp and acceptance. For many, it is their first time be away from home or going anywhere since the incident.

Registration helps bridge the bond between camp, new people, etc. As the campers register, they can come and visit, sit with the dogs, tell them stories etc. The staff are also burn victims and many were there as campers remembering how wonderful it was to have the fuzzy greeters.

The Yellow Ribbon Reintegration program is a DoD wide effort to promote the well-being of Reserve members, their families and communities by connecting them with resources through the deployment cycle. These families are either preparing for or reintegrating after a deployment.

This was the seventh statewide DEMA Whole Community Resilience Summit. DEMA coordinates Arizona’s disaster emergency preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation efforts among federal, tribal, state and local governments; non-governmental private and volunteer organizations. We arrived early & mingled with people at tables during registration. They had us seated at different tables for the presentations. Lt. Colonel Ron Strickland, Divisional Secretary for Business, the Salvation Army did the welcome since we used the Salvation Army building for the meeting. Whitney Hensiak, Volunteer Agency & Private Sector Liaison, AZ DEMA than welcomed everyone too. Wendy Smith-Reeve, Director, AZ DEMA-Emergency Mgmt. Division spoke about the role she plays & how DEMA handles emergencies. Maria Pina, Admin Asst.-Human Services Division, Maricopa Association of Governments spoke about how they are gearing up for summer with giving homeless people water, water relief stations & looking for partners to have relief stations and help with efforts during heat. She showed us how to use their website to see relief stations & talked about current need to get information to everyone. Vicki Bond, Public Info. Office-Community Outreach Coordinator, AZ DEMA spoke about her program with sign language & the importance during crisis of helping those with disabilities. She showed a clip of a crisis when they used someone not able to do the sign language correctly to relay pertinent information. It showed how important it is to have qualified & trained sign language teams for emergencies. They had 2 sign language team members at the front table taking turns signing to someone at their table with hearing impairment. We then had a break where we mingled some more with people who were familiar with HOPE & some new friends. Dave Roby, Web EOC administrator, AZ DEMA & Eric Shreve, Senior GIS Analyst, AZ DEMA then showed us how to use their websites to locate fires, potential fires & up to date information pertinent to keep everyone informed.As everyone was released to lunch we found our way out of the building where we visited for awhile before heading home. We estimated there were somewhere in the range of 100 attendees and most being key players in the organizations they represented so it was a great networking opportunity for HOPE.

The VOAD meeting was held right after the AZ DEMA (Dept of Emergency and Military Affairs) Summit meeting in the same location so we had the opportunity to visit with some of those leaving the prior meeting who were not VOAD members. We had two teams at the DEMA meeting earlier in the day. The meeting started with approval of the previous minutes and reviewing financials. We then spent quite a bit of time discussing the problem of sheltering the immigrants crossing the border in Yuma and the areas south of Tucson. Various organizations shared about what they were doing to help in providing sheltering, food and supplies distribution, labor and transportation. All said the shortages from the continual immigration flow put the areas in a crisis situation. We then discussed new disaster technology that was being introduced. The AZ VOAD was selected by the National VOAD to pilot and test a new disaster response tool, Disaster Agencies Response Technology (DART) Volunteer Management module which is a system designed to manage volunteers and other aspects of the disaster cycle that saw serious problems during the 2017 hurricane season. Next discussed was the National VOAD Conference which will be held in Phoenix, the week of May 18 2020. April then reviewed the status of the newly formed committees (Membership, Community, EOC Liaison, 2020 Nat’l Conf., Faith Based, Recovery, Mass Care) and where help was needed. Regional VOAD chair/reps and Whitney Hensiak reviewed what the VOADS were doing around the state.

The California Fire EMS & Disaster Conference (CFED) was held in Palm Desert. I presented a 75 minute workshop on HOPE AACR in the afternoon, and we were asked to have HOPE teams available to greet conference attendees in the morning and throughout the day.

The workshop drew around 30 attendees, several attendees had worked with HOPE before, and shared their experience with the audience. One attendee shared that her daughter is a student at NorthPark Elementary (where hope provided support 2 years ago following a School shooting). She shared that her daughter did not want to return to school, but the dogs motivated her and helped her have a positive experience when school reopened. The attendee (A first responder) expressed her gratitude. There were also several people in attendance who were very interested in possibly becoming HOPE teams.

During the morning keynote sessions there were several emotional topics (TUbbs Fire, military debrief of a rescue in Afghanistan, and human trafficking)- several attendees sought out our teams during the presentation. One team (Carol & Busy) spent a significant amount of time with one person. Our teams received quite a bit of attention throughout the day and we met lots of first responders who were unfamiliar with HOPE, and also saw many old friends.

El Toro High School holds an annual Mental Health Wellness Fair. In addition to HOPE AACR, there were approximately 15 other agencies/groups from Orange County that provide a variety of services to those in need. The event, set up in the quad area of the school, was well organized as students were encouraged to visit the various booths. Each student had a "passport" and was asked to get a check mark on it as they visited the presenters. Interestingly (and not surprising) the 350+ students who came to see our HOPE dogs did not ask for check marks. Instead, they asked for information such as dog breed and what HOPE does as well as how to get involved with therapy work. The students were extremely respectful toward us as well as with one another. A number of the students who had attended the Fair last year remembered Rustee and asked about Henry. Pam and Jan related very well with the students and observed them closely. As a result, Jan noticed a girl with cut marks on her arms (some fresh, some old). This girl spent several minutes petting Sequoia and a student behind her seemed to be comforting her by stroking her hair. Jan shared her concern with the Intervention Counselor. Meanwhile, Pam went to visit the classroom of limited English-speaking students and shared Rustee with them. A number of students shared relevant comments as they petted Rustee and Sequoia: "Oh, my God, you made my day... I am SO happy!" "I love dogs more than people." "This is just what I needed; I wish I could stay here all day." "Of course, I still have Rustee's card from last year; it is a national treasure." "I have never been happier than I am right now!"

I met Sybil when we were on a conference call for a Yavapai County COAD meeting. She was on the call for the Coconino County VOAD, where she is the chair. She contacted me afterwards to learn more about HOPE, the organization and our disaster recovery work. Most of our fire deployments are in northern AZ, in Yavapai and Coconino counties. Sybil is also a therapy dog handler in the Flagstaff area, and knows and works with a number of therapy teams in that area. She and another team in the area have become very interested in applying for HOPE and have indicated they are doing the application paperwork. As a result of discussions with some of the other therapy teams about HOPE, she said there was quite a bit of interest in the organization and asked if we might come up to Flagstaff and do a presentation. A date was decided on at least a month out based on everyone’s schedules. She said 3 teams would be good. We gladly accepted because we need teams in that fire prone area. Two of our senior team members would be up there anyway (second homes) so I would drive up and join them, doing a team presentation. I confirmed with Sybil about a week and a half prior and she said she expected 15-20 people. I drove up for the presentation after responding to a school callout that morning, hitting a pretty bad late May snowstorm on the way up. Diane, Beth and I met at the United Way building where Sybil works and got set up for the presentation. There ended up being only 6 people attending: Sybil and a United Way co-Worker, an intern and an associate with the probation office who I had invited from a separate conversation, an Emergency Manager with the Flagstaff EOC, and one other therapy team. It was good presentation practice and good to meet the Emergency Manager and the other therapy team member, but it was pretty disappointing for us to prepare for and travel to a presentation that had minimal target demographic attendees. Sybil was surprised and apologetic there were so many “no shows”. It was lightly snowing then so that might have had an impact. It was still early enough to drive back most of the way with light despite the light snow, so we decided to head home.

Viewing of The "S" Word film. This was an event sponsored by Alger Communities that Care about suicide prevention.

Mia and I were invited to participate in Career Day at Spring Valley Elementary School which has approximately 300 students plus staff members. I prepared a trifold display for the children and staff to see. In attendance were police , firefighters, paramedics, sheriff deputies, highway patrol, nurses, doctors, a judge, lawyers, and the mounted police (who brought their horses).

This was a City & County family friendly event where children can explore a variety of emergency vehicles, including police cars, fire trucks, ambulance, city plows, water rescue, SWAT, a Lifelink helicopter and much more. It was well attended (@200). HOPE dogs were a popular stop for the children, many of whom had been prompted by their parents to inquire about the role HOPE teams play in an emergency. It was also a good opportunity to refresh the exposure of our dogs to the equipment.

Two high school seniors were doing a presentation for students about the training and care of dogs. I was asked to present the procedure of training for HOPE-AACR. There were questions answered at the end of my presentation. The room was full of 25 juniors and seniors plus 5 staff members, including the principal.

HOPE was invited to attend the Allegan County Vocational Tech CERT (Citizens Emergency Response Training) evaluation. Just over 100 students were evaluated on their first-aid and disaster skills through a mock drill.

Following the drill, groups of 6-10 students were put through a debriefing of the events. HOPE participated in the debriefing providing comfort to students.

Both students and counseling staff greatly appreciated the dogs presence.

The Recovery Conference mission is to strengthen the ongoing recovery movement in our community by focusing on empowering individuals, educating the community and building peer relationships and connections. We were invited in to make a 45 minute presentation.

This event was a meeting to start the process to establish a region 8 MI VOAD coordinator. HOPE AACR was invited in to give a brief presentation of what HOPE is and what we do. Contact was made with every County Emergency Coordinator and Team Rubicon. Brochures with MWR and National HOPE AACR contact information was provided to every person in attendance.

GS requested a presentation so their scouts could complete badge work. Specifically training and differences between service dogs, working comfort and companion dogs. Presentation included some of the training and laws for service dogs vs training and laws for crisis (HOPE) response, search & rescue, K9 officers, etc. We had question and answer time. Pop quiz, then all scout give Charlie great belly rubs. He was a happy boy! The girls, parents and leaders were all very interested and didn't realize all the different types of service and working dogs there were.

Medical drill and presentation plus graduation for current class. This was their largest class with 40 students.

We presented HOPE AACR involvement with local CERTs, our training and experiences. After the presentation, class interacted with Charlie and we handed out our business cards.

Event ran 4/27/19 - 4/29/19. HOPE was specifically invited to participate in this event, just as we had done previously. We were warmly welcomed by the staff in charge of the event and given validated parking passes right in the hotel's lot. So many families and children were present and loved interacting with the dogs. We had a table near other resource providers, but also stood in the doorway where we welcomed attendees.

We were invited to attend FEMA's Take Your Child to Work Day. We did a meet and greet with 100 children and gave a speech about HOPE's mission and what our dogs do. We shared this event with TSA dogs and also with Custom and Border Protection dogs.

One day event where the students came to the dog teams.

This as a school safety conference attended by school personnel and law enforcement agencies. there were many panel discussions as well as tables for vendors where we set up with our HOPE banner, brochures and information sheets. This conference had a very large number of attendees and many breaks were built into the day's agenda. This allowed people to walk around and come over to our table where we were able to make many contacts.

Presentation to area school principals to inform them about HOPE AACR. Used PowerPoint prepared by Regional Director, Nick Meier. Handouts of brochures and information sheets were given to attendees. A deployment had been made last year to one of the schools so some of the principals were aware of our mission. Just prior to the presentation, a request for a deployment was made.

HOPE was invited to participate in the Engadine Consolidated Schools Mental Health Fair. We interacted with 149 students, staff and volunteers. Groups of students (5-7) were at our table for 10 minutes. We gave a brief description of HOPE, our mission statement and the purpose of the crisis dogs.

This was a three-day conference involving all facets of emergency management, There were over 200 workshops including Search and Rescue, Public Health/Medical/EMS/Law Enforcement/Operations/Disaster Recovery.

Interview on local radio talk show to inform the community about HOPE AACR, what the organization is about and how to contact us for requests for deployment or joining our group.

Crime Victims Right's Week Resource fair at Bay College (local community college)to inform students and staff of local agencies that provide services to people affected by crime,employment and volunteer opportunities in Delta County.

This resource fair was a good opportunity to make contacts with Bay College security director and other community members to let them know about HOPE AACR and hopefully be placed on their protocol list. Strong interest was shown by a few community members about joining HOPE.AACR. A staff member asked about HOPE AACR joining in future planned drills.

After we concluded the first day at the resource fair, Keena was contacted by a mother of a that had stopped at our table, The student has autism and college is a super struggle for the student. “He is going through so much and it's affecting him mentally and emotionally. He had to call me today to tell about the super sweet dogs there today. Bella and Charlie. He was so excited. “ “It really made his day, and gave him some happiness.” The student stopped by to get a dog fix again the second day of the fair. This was a successful activity on several levels.

The teams gathered at 7:45 am and met in a classroom near the gym. First responders were interacting with the students selected for the program: the victims, the Grim Reaper, and the Living Dead. When the Grim Reaper went to the classrooms to claim his "victims", Katie and Carol, with their dogs, accompanied him while Laura went to the Counseling Center to meet with students who might need comfort. About 9:30, the participants went to the crash scene in preparation for the assembly. The crash scene included the two crashed cars, a fire engine, and a police car. Shortly thereafter, we heard sirens and paramedics and an ambulance arrived. We heard an on-going dialog among the law enforcement staff and the first responders. The students (juniors and seniors) were very attentive, as were the staff members. We returned to the classroom where the students removed the make-up and prepared for lunch. Early afternoon, the students boarded the bus for the evening Retreat at Camp Ronald McDonald. The HOPE members also drove and settled into the cabin for our overnight stay. Mid-afternoon, team building games and activities were held, followed by dinner. After dinner, the students and staff gathered for a meeting with two law enforcement officers from Riverside County. They talked with the students about the severity of drinking and driving. They spoke realistically about the consequences of DUI incidents and obviously had an impact on the students. Following their presentation, Officer Meyer coordinated a speaker/listener activity. This was followed by a meditative visualization exercise as the students sat in a large circle. As they passed the candle, each student and staff member shared their feelings about the program and what they had gained from the experience. Some of the students became extremely emotional as they shared their feelings with their peers. As this activity ended, Officer Meyer gave the students the assignment of writing a letter to their parents, beginning with the sentence, "Today, I died." The following morning, the group returned to school to participate in the Memorial Service, which was held in the gymnasium. The audience was extremely respectful. Following the showing of the video, the school's Jazz Choir sang a beautiful song and several individuals -- students and adults -- shared various perspectives on the danger of DUI. Following the assembly, numerous students interacted with the dogs. From there, the handlers went to the Counseling Center where we met with more students. The dogs definitely did their jobs, as did the handlers!
Approximate number of interactions: 500.

Workshop with educational information related to Human Trafficking with Timea Nagy in Sault Ste Marie Ontario Canada. First day consisted of educational program and first person experience as a person who had been trafficked. Second day consisted of various organizations role in response to Human Trafficking situation.

Hope AACR teams provided support for attendees during emotional parts of presentation and we were able to share our mission with response agencies and explain the role of Hope in crisis response.

The MNVOAD Annual Conference 2019 included informative speakers, break-out sessions, and tables from various voluntary organizations. HOPE AACR was represented by Bill and Julie Powell and Winston along with Laura Fruci who also coordinated the MNVOAD event. Providing information about HOPE AACR, learning about other organizations, along with gaining connections with the other organizations were the highlights of the conference.

Joined with 2 other Hearts & Paws PP teams to give a presentation to a class of approximately 25 special ed teachers/students. Evening started off with the work and training PP has. Ended with Charlie presentation of HOPE AACR trainings, continuing education and our activities. Students then asked questions and interacted with all 3 pups and handlers.

This event was to let the Victim Assistance office hear what HOPE does and actually meet the dogs in person at their weekly meeting. We, in turn, learned what they do and how they want to use our dogs.

We were contacted by a professor from Wheaton College Graduate School who is teaching a course on Disaster/Trauma Mental Health as part of a Master's Degree in Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership. We were asked to do a presentation on HOPE and what crisis response is. We gave a talk, showed the HOPE video and had a Q&A session. The students asked very pertinent questions especially about what training the HOPE dogs must have. The professor asked us to role play what a deployment might be like so we literally sat down on the floor with the students and the dogs to demonstrate how this would be.

Open house to recruit new teams at Akron Children's Hospital. 25 attendees, 3 reps from area crisis response organizations.

The 13th Annual Harris County CERT Rodeo for regional teams to practice emergency skills.

Mandatory training for military members, accompanied by families, approx. 300 in attendance; 2/8-9, 2019.

HOPE AACR Presentation to the Rotary Club.

Yellow ribbon event

Drill & presentation with CERT new class. Total of 26 students and 20 CERT members present.

Presentation by HOPE team as to Comfort dogs and experiences in times of crisis, etc. Handed out brochures and cards. Assisted with medical triage drill (in a burned out metal building) - very cold! Charlie snuggled with some of the other volunteers while waiting.

Raven and I shared HOPE to the Ladies Auxiliary for our local hospital. There were about 40 women present. After dinner, I shared the story of HOPE, hat our training entails, deployments examples, along with questions from the audience.

HOPE dogs provided friendly visits, comfort and encouragement to attendees. We were well-received.

This was a kick-off welcome for the families and participants in a week-long camp for young children with cancer. My dog, Sweetie, was primarily stationed at the Registration table where we greeted the children and families. Lots of hugs and pets were given and Sweetie's photo cards were distributed.

Yellow ribbon event supporting military families.

2-day event to support Army deployed personnel and families with reintegration into civilian life. All day breakout sessions, events and activities. Visited with soldiers and their families as they went to their areas of interest.

4 1/2 day multi-agency mock disaster drill. Army, Air Force, National Guard, Team Rubicon and Salvation Army in attendance. HOPE supported the Salvation Army and Military Emotional Care Teams. HOPE teams were deployed to the air field, med ops, team Rubicon, shelter set ups and evacuation of nursing homes. Charles & Charlie were nominated for 2 awards: parachute by the Army and service coins by Salvation Army.

Shared HOPE's involvement with CERT, Noblesville shooting and with the upcoming Patrior Drill with SA.

This was a 3-1/2 day event. Teams put in an average working day of 7-8 hours. Camp Corral is a grief camp for children of military personnel who have died in the service to our country. Counselors and staff have all come to rely on HOPE dogs to support grief counseling services. Meant a lot to returning campers to see their well-known friends.

3+ day deployment. Revised program from Operation Purple to Operation Military Support. This was Charlie's 8th year and Andy's 4th year attending. Many campers from prior years still had their pictures and cards.

Annual Burn Camp for youth involved in a fire sponsored by the State of IN Fire Dept. visited with firemen, staff and family members. Then the parade (very noisy) then with the campers.

Take Your Child to Work Day for FEMA Staff

Symposium on community emergency response resources for citizens and emergency responders. Presented on how HOPE can help in the aftermath of crises and disasters.

Medical emergency drill, scenario - tornado came through neighborhood, multiple injuries. CERT class practicing hands on triage and emergency care. HOPE team poses as a victim and observer. I had an injury, but had my pet or "service dog." Assisting teams on how to approach someone with a dog, dog language, safe / not safe, etc. Also person came first. If no other injuries could see if dog hurt. Offered basic first aid for dogs, how to muzzle, bandage, transport.

This event promotes the well-being of Reserve members, their families and communities by connecting them with resources throughout the deployment cycle. these families are either preparing for or reintegrating after a deployment.

Bella and I were available to provide comfort to teachers, parents, students during and after the "Do It for Daniel" Suicide Awareness presentation. There were approximately 350 attendees at the morning presentation. There were approximately 175 attendees at the afternoon presentation and 200 at the evening presentation.

This was a great opportunity to meet dog owners and the public and tell them about HOPE AACR.

This was our semi-annual trip to LSSU to participate in pre-exam stress relief with Counseling Services. We staged in the library and, as always, the dogs were a big hit. We had more students and faculty spend time with the dogs this visit than in any previous visit. It can be atributed to either the campus getting to know the dogs or, perhaps, the increased stress of exams and of the holiday season.

Raven & I presented HOPE information to the Kennel Club Board. There were 7 members in attendance. They were a very receptive group. This was Raven's first time out of the country!

HOPE dogs visited the Salvation Army Radiothon to support our partners. Salvation Army has been a partner on several deployments with recent floods and tornados.

Health fair for 6-12 grades at the Munising High/Middle School.

Supporting our allies at their Turkeyfest fundraiser and sharing information about how SA and HOPE provide comfort in the aftermath of crises and disasters.

We assisted with Class Romeo sign off/graduation exercises and did a formal presentation of HOPE AACR including training, continuing education, call out we have been on as well as those of our companions in other regions. Many kept our information and requested our availability to do a presentation at other functions.

CHN and CHVH had a disaster drill and they needed volunteers at both hospitals to act as patients for a Code Evacuate drill, where we will practice evacuating the hospital. We were in the ER receiving portion where "victims/patients were sent - many allegedly could have service animals with them." We met with Hospital staff, went over what qualifies as a "service" vs working dog, how to approach, expectations, etc. Very well received - many stated they had been at clinic where there had been service dogs attending in a real life evacuation. Interacted with approx 100 individuals.

Disaster readiness drill. Scenario: tornado hit populated area, multiple injuries - with delay on professional help due to size of disaster. CERT teams where mock deployed to assist, assess for a residential location with over 30 people simulating injured or dead. Some situations involved minors. Several CERT teams requested us to help wait at the medical station to keep victims calm while waiting for transport or treatment. Charlie did great, went up and laid next to the individuals and let the know they were going to be helped. At the debriefing, the "victims" commented on how they were not left alone and that charlie and I were there after the initial treatment and assuring them.

This was the first time an emergency preparedness event at Chicago O'Haire Airport was aimed at the traveling public. We were located on a busy corner of a large corridor in Terminal 2 by United Airlines. Tamara strategically placed us so as to attract as many people as possible to the event. Our dogs received constant attention. We were able to connect with FEMA, Red Cross, OEM/Chicago and the Salvation Army. OEM does monthly training and expressed the desire to have HOPE come to do in-service training about the role of Comfort Dogs in a disaster setting. We met many members of the traveling public who had therapy dogs, we were able to pass out quite a few HOPE brochures and explain the mission of HOPE to 100s of people. Event was considered a success.

The Coon Rapids Love My Pet Fair is an event that seeks to present information, resources, and products that contribute to a healthy pet experience. The focus is on resources to help dog owners who may be facing the loss of housing, emergencies or disasters. It was a good opportunity to educate attendees about HOPE and to make agency contacts. One of the exhibitors I connected with was Anoka County's AKC Pet Disaster Relief team, who provide a safe, healthy environment for animals during disasters. I learned that they are one of two AKC Pet Disaster Relief teams in MN. The second team is located near Duluth MN.

In January, HOPE was selected by the Superior Health Foundation to receive a donation to train and deploy teams in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. As of this date, we have received a check for $10,000 and will receive an additional check of $1,200 from sponsorships we generated for the Gala. The annual Gala evening was attended by over 300 people from the UP. Most of those in attendance were corporate executives, physicians, attorneys, accountants and other professionals. This was also an opportunity for SHF to do additional fundraising through silent auctions, drawings, etc. Over $70,000 was raised that evening. HOPE was well represented with 8 members and 4 dogs. The dogs, as usual, were the hit of the evening. Everyone wanted to pet them. during the course of the evening our members were able to share HOPE's mission and we made many new contact and friends. There were two highlights of the evening. The first was a professional video presentation about HOPE and our mission, especially the responses we did in the UP over the last couple of years. The second was the presentation of the check to HOPE for the development and deployment of teams in the UP.

This was a Prepare Fair for emergencies and natural disasters. Many area emergency and crisis responders were in attendance: Michigan State Police, Marquette Township Fire Department, Michigan Homeland Security, Marquette Fire Department, American Red Cross, Marquette County Police Department, Marquette County Emergency Manager, and others. This was outside in a parking lot and we set up the HOPE display in the back of my car under the hatchback lid. We interacted and shared HOPE's mission with many people from the community. One of the most important contacts I made was with the Emergency Manager of Marquette County. We had a great discussion on how HOPE can be of benefit to the county. Approx 125 interactions.

HOPE was asked to come to the Dedication/Memorial for President Pleger on the campus of LSSU. This event is a follow up to a deployment days after his passing. People were very open and welcoming to the teams.

Days on site: July 11-12, 2017. Camp New Day is a week long camp for children whose parents are incarcerated. It is the other charity selected by the Superior Health Foundation to receive a minimum $10,000 donation at their Gala Dinner in September. As such, this was a great opportunity for both charities to work together during a combined event. The dogs made a huge impact on the campers there and tended to lend a feeling of stability for both campers and staff alike. We interacted with 50 campers and staff over two days.

HOPE teams provided comfort and support to family, friends, staff and campers at burn camp.

Provide comfort and support to kids involved with severe burns.

Support to the US Air Force reservists and their families in this reintegration weekend

with training drill for the new CERT member sign off. We assisted and crossed trained as well. Charlie was exposed to fire truck, fire suppression etc. I was an injured person, helped with the 1st aid test sign off and mentor for the class. Charlie showed what comfort dogs do in these situations. All were impressed on how they felt with the dog being present for their sign off, written and action testing.

Multiple jurdictional Mock drill. Team assigned to waiting parents crowd control and waiting students with minor injuries to be transported. The team was very well received, we gave emotional support to the crowd while they wait.