WELCOME

1. WELCOME TO THE PIMA COUNTY RACES REFRESHER TRAINING MEETING

2. RACES Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service PURPOSE RACES is a group of Amateur radio Operators that are organized to provide back up emergency communications between the Emergency Responders, the Pima County Emergency Management Personnel, and the Area Hospitals. This capability is very important when an incident occurs that causes numerous casualties.

3. Pima County Health Dept Dave Lennox – Senior Coordinator Chief Radio Officer Chuck Michels KB7RFI EOC Operations Ron Walther W7AI Communications Manager Tom Long N7HOR Net Operations (And Net Roster) 2M Marvin Stafford HF Bill Stanger N2MZ Hospital Operations Owen Watson AK7AR Members All trained professional communicators Web Master Home Unit Group Bill Hickey AB7AA Stan Hamnett KE7VKQ - RACES ORGANIZATION -

4. HOSPITAL OPERATIONS HOSPITAL VOICE COMMUNICATIONS HOSPITAL DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS (Existing & Future) • TOAD/WARRIOR OPERATIONS INCIDENT SITE OPERATION SESSION PLAN HAS 5 TOPICS • OEM/EOC OPERATIONS • RF NET COMMUNICATIONS OPERATION • HOME OPERATION

5. EOC OPERATIONS IN ADDITION!! ALL PERSONNEL WILL BECOME FAMILIAR WITH • The Incident Command System (ICS) Using the Internet Independent Study Programs (IS-100,200 and IS-700,800) http://training.fema.gov:80/IS/NIMS.asp • Emergency Communication Resource Descriptions • (EMCOMM) • Amateur Radio Communications Team “ARCT” • System Resource Guide Descriptions www.emcomm.org/ARCT/

6. EOC OPERATIONS • Pima County RACES provides back-up emergency • communications support for the southern half of the state. • Activation is accomplished by a “call-out” • (Individually, or by Communicator or SIREN) • - Secure Integrated Response Emergency Notification – • - When authorized by the OEM coordinator on duty. - • All radios have been pre-programmed with specific • frequencies in specific channels. We use channel • numbers when specifying usage. • Channel assignments will be directed by the EOC. • Check-in will always be VHF Channel 1 (147.30 )

7. EOC OPERATIONS THE EOC HAS 7 RADIOS ON LINE 1) ICOM 2820 Dual Band used for Van and Hospital Communications. 2) ICOM 2820 Dual Band used for Van and Hospital Communications. 3) YEASU Model 2200 2M used for digital packet State Wide. 4) Commercial GE 10 Channel for Pima County Health and State EOC (DRN) 5) Kenwood 2000 Hf used for Van and State Wide Communications. 6) Motorola 800 Mhz used to communicate with the State EOC. 7) EF Johnson Pima County 800 Mhz for OEM

8. Counties supported by Pima County OEM Cochise, Santa Cruz & Yuma The only other medical facility available: Sierra Vista Regional Health Center EOC OPERATIONS Pima County has 9 Hospitals that interact with the Office of Emergency Management. UMC, Northwest O.V., Northwest Tucson, TMC, Tucson Heart, St Joe, V/A. St Mary’s & Kino.

9. EOC OPERATIONS HOSPITAL CALL OUT SEQUENCE OEM Coordinator Initiates Group Page. The coordinator forwards instructions to staff. and executes an automatic system if required. The Hospital Call Out Staff calls Hospital Team Leaders. Team Leaders call operating personnel and report back status to Call Out Staff.

10. EOC OPERATIONS When a Hospital “Call-out” has occurred, and operators are in route to their assignments, contact the EOC on VHF Ch 1 (147.30). Upon arrival at the hospital, set up the equipment, and check in to the EOC on VHF Ch 1 (147.30). Tactical calls will be used, with the insertion of your own call sign at the conclusion of that series of transmissions. The Hospital and Van Operations training Section will expand on the use of tactical call signs.

11. EOC OPERATIONS PIMA COUNTY OEM HAS 5 VEHICLES The OEM Mini Van The OEM Pick-up Truck The Mobile OEM Command Vehicle (Suburban) The RACES Communications Trailer (Warrior) State Interoperability Communication Van (Toad 2)

12. OUR NEWEST ADDITION A 2005 CHEVROLET SUBURBAN

17. Next Training Topic Hospital Operations RACES Hospital Training OWEN WATSON AK7AR

18. Pima County R.A.C.E.S. Website URL http://www.pcraces.org/ Write this down for future reference. The website is your primary source for all Pima County R.A.C.E.S. activities.

19. Hospital Classroom Training The hospital training module contains six units and should take about thirty minutes to complete. • General operating procedures • Hospital Operator Teams • Event logs • Operations manual • Questions and answers • Message forms

20. Training Questions Question #1: You are sitting at your radio station monitoring traffic not intended for you. A security officer comes up and tells you that the hospital may be contaminated and you are to exit the facility now. You should: a. Wait until the frequency is clear of other traffic, then contact Net Control and advise them of the situation and that you are vacating the premises. b. Tell security you can’t leave until you have been officially advised to do so by Net Control and that you will try and contact them for instructions. c. Tell security you are headed for the door now, get up and exit the facility. d. Contact Net Control and advise them of Securities instructions to you and request permission to leave. Once Net Control advises its Ok to leave, do a normal equipment shutdown and then exit the hospital.

21. Question #2: A hospital staff member comes to your station and asks you to send a request to another hospital for some much needed ER supplies. He/she then verbally tells you what they want in the message. You should: a. Pay special attention to the message information as its given to you so you can remember what to say on the radio and not make any mistakes or have to go back and ask them while you’re sending the message.. b. Write down the message as it’s given to you. Re-read it to the staff member to check for errors or omissions. Get the staff members name for message form. c. Tell the staff member that you are there only to receive patient information from the Incident Site and pass it on to the hospital administration and that you are not allowed to transmit supply requests. d. Tell the staff member that he/she will have to write-out the message on your routine traffic message form; being sure to fill-in all the blanks and then they will have to have the hospital Emergency Coordinator authorize the message by signing the form.

22. Question #3: You have been called-out as a hospital operator. You are now driving to the hospital. You should: a. Do nothing other than drive carefully to avoid an accident as you’re needed at the hospital as an operator, not as a patient. b. Try and contact Net Control on the RACES 147.300 MHz repeater and let them know you are enroute to XXXX hospital with an ETA of XXXX. c. Try and contact the Communications Van at the Incident site on the RACES repeater and let them know you are enroute and will call them again when you arrive in the parking lot. d. Don’t worry about contacting anyone until you have all the equipment setup at the hospital or have relieved the current operators. Now call Net Control and let them know you are ready.

23. Question #4: • A hospital “Lock Down” is: • a. Security locks all entrance doors so no one can get in when they • (security) determine the hospital has reached or exceeded the Fire • Department Maximum Occupancy Limits. • b. Security shuts down all the elevators for other than critical • patient transport. • c. All entrances and exits are locked and will only be opened to allow • patients, doctors, technicians and nurses to enter or exit. • d. All entrance/exit doors are locked and no one gets in or out.

24. Question #5: Four hospital staff people are sitting at a nearby table discussing the incident, patient status, supply needs etc. You may: a. Go over to the table since they are close enough for you to still hear any calls on the radio. This way you’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on. b. Go over to the table and sit down, but don’t make any comments unless asked to do so. This way you’re handy should they need to send a message via your station. c. If you hear them say they need to request supplies from another hospital, go over to the table and offer to help with filling out the message form since you can do it quicker and its easier to read your own handwriting. d. Stay at your station and don’t interfere with hospital staff functions or be nosey. Their business is not your business.

25. Question #6: A reporter has been hanging around the hospital emergency command center where you are located (most hospitals) and talking to various hospital personnel. The reporter now comes to your station and starts asking questions. You should: a. Answer all their questions accurately without adding any personal touches. If you don’t know the answer, tell the reporter so and direct him/her to the Emergency Coordinator b. Tell them politely that you are not authorized to give out any information and direct them to the Hospital PIO or Hospital Emergency Coordinator. c. Try to promote Amateur Radio’s value to the reporter. Tell them all about how many stations are in operation, their location and their mission. d. As the hospital staff is very busy dealing with the emergency and really don’t have time to be answering questions from a reporter, be as informative as you can without releasing any patient information. After all, you are there for communications.

26. Question #7 There are two operators at your station and message traffic is nil. A staff member comes over and asks if you can help unload a supply truck that just arrived and will only take a few minutes and the boxes are not heavy. This is an emergency situation and you are there to help anyway possible. True False

27. Question #8: My Primary Mission as a RACES hospital operator is to: a. Provide communications to or from the hospital emergency staff, EOC, communications van and other hospitals. b. Provide only patient number and injury code(s) as received from the incident site to hospital administrative personnel and not process any other message requests unless instructed to do so by Net Control. c. In addition to initial patient information handling, keep EOC and the incident site communications apprised of time transported patients arrived and further to advise EOC of any patients released by the emergency room.

28. Question #9: You are sitting at your radio and the hospital emergency coordinator comes over and advises the incident is over and they are closing down the command center where you are located. You are asked by the coordinator to shutdown and depart the facility soon as possible. You should: a. Advise the coordinator you will notify Net Control of his/her instructions and will then proceed with shutdown and equipment storage b. As this is the Hospital Emergency Coordinator and is in charge of the Command Center at the hospital, immediately comply with their instructions. You can call Net Control from your vehicle when you are done. c. Immediately comply with the Coordinators request, put the equipment in the storage container(s) and go home. d. Do nothing until you are advised by Net Control, the Chief Radio Officer or the RACES Hospital Manager to secure your station.

29. Question #10: Good Emergency Communications require that before I press the PTT button, I: a. Give thought to what I want to say and how to pass the information clearly. b. Be precise and to the point without a lot of redundant information. c. Don’t be wordy or use a lot of acronyms that may be misunderstood. d. All the above.

30. Hospital Teams Northwest Oro Valley Northwest Tucson St. Joseph's Hospital St Mary’s Hospital Tucson Medical Center University Medical Cntr. Univ. Physicians @ Kino Veterans Hospital It is planned that each hospital will have a primary “Team” of Operators consisting of a Team Leader, Asst. Leader and six additional operators. We are required to plan for 72 hour continuous operation at each hospital. Using six operators, we can have two operators working each 8 hour shift. The extra two operators are needed to assure that a minimum of six operators are always available for any real incident.

31. Date: ________ Name: _________________________________ Callsign: ___________ Email: ___________________________ Home Phone: _____________ Cell Phone: ______________ Pager #: _______________ Disclaimer in this area. Primary LocationSecondary Location _____ Comm Van _____ Toad/Warrior _____ EOC (County Bldg) _____ EOC (County Bldg) _____ Home Unit Operator _____ Home Unit Operator _____ Northwest Hosp. - Oro Valley _____ Northwest Hosp. - Oro Valley _____ Northwest Hosp. - Tucson _____ Northwest Hosp. - Tucson _____ St. Joseph’s Hospital _____ St. Josephs Hospital _____ St. Mary’s Hospital _____ St. Mary’s Hospital _____ Tucson Heart Hospital _____ Tucson Heart _____ Tucson Medical Center _____ Tucson Medical Center _____ University Medical Center _____ University Medical Center _____ University Physicians @ Kino _____ University Physicians @ Kino _____ Veterans Hospital _____ Veterans Hospital RACES Assignment Preference Form

32. Message Forms R.A.C.E.S. Hospital Program Message Form TO BE USED FOR OTHER THAN CASUALTY INFORMATION TRAFFIC 09/22/0413:52J.Q Ham22 DATE TIME NAME MSG. # MESSAGE FROM: ________________________________________ MESSAGE TO: ________________________________________ MESSAGE TEXT: ____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________

33. Patient Form Date: ________________ Message #: ______ R.A.C.E.S. Patient Transportation Information

34. DateLocal Operator Name/Callsign Time InLocal Time OutLocal Operator Comments Operator Work Log________________Hospital

35. Date Equip Name Describe Problem First NameCallsign DateRepaired ByWhom Equipment Service and Repair Log ________________Hospital Name

36. Hospital Operations Manual This manual “Shall” remain with the R.A.C.E.S. Radio Equipment at all times. It may be updated, replaced or removed “ONLY” by a R.A.C.E.S. Staff Member

37. Hospital Operators Chain of Command Dave Lennox - Pima County OEMHS Coordinator Chuck Michels KB7RFI - RACES Chief Radio Officer Owen Watson AK7AR - RACES Hospital Manager Hospital Team Leader and/or Asst. Leader For the record, “all instructions” received directly from any of the above named staff positions are to be followed. Individual names may change. With few exceptions, all instructions and requests will be issued thru Net Control which is located in the Emergency Operations Center. Net Control is in charge of the Net and its operation. Hospital operators will receive Patient Injury and Transport Information directly from the Incident Site operators via the Communications Van. To call Net Control, say: “Net Control, this is <hospital name>”. Do Not Use Your Callsign. When you have made what you consider to be your last transmission, sign off as follows: “hospital name - your callsign “.

38. Are There Any Questions?

39. Congratulations You have completed the Classroom portion of your Hospital Training. You need to participate in at least three monthly hospital check-ins to get comfortable with the facilities, the equipment and to work with your Team Leader and other team members. Your Team Leader may from time to time schedule additional on-site training. Hospital monthly on-site check-ins are conducted the third (3rd) Saturday of each month following the weekly 1:00 P.M. 2 meter net.

40. Net Schedule Every SundayState RACES Radio Check-in's. 3.990.0 MHz (80M), 7:30 A.M. Every SaturdayPima County RACES Radio Check-in's. 3.995.0 MHz (80M), 6:30 A.M. Every WednesdayRACES Staff Meeting 8:00 A.M. Meets Meets in this conference room. Every SaturdayRACES Member Radio Check-ins. 147.300 MHz (2M) PL 110.9, 1:00 P.M. QuarterlyHospital Station Check-ins. 147.300 MHz (2M), PL 110.9, Approx. 1:15 P.M. (Follows the Member Check-in Net)