Furman's 911 plans

Following the tragic events of September 11, a common question on campus was: What is Furman's emergency preparedness plan?

The university has two teams designed to mobilize in the event of a crisis, the Emergency Management Team (EMT) and the Crisis Response Team (CRT).

Although the groups overlap in membership, the EMT functions as a planning group and is chaired by Bernie Stanton, environmental health officer. The CRT, an ad hoc group, is event-driven and pulls together both the people and resources necessary to respond to a particular crisis. The CRT is facilitated and normally activated by Bob Miller, Director of Public Safety, although any member of the core CRT has the authority to call the group together.

Members of the CRT include representatives from Public Safety, Housing, Marketing and Public Relations, Student Affairs and Facilities Services. Since September 11 the CRT has met twice, with discussions including plans for handling communication between students and their parents in the event of an emergency.

"Last school year, the EMT sponsored a planning exercise for the core CRT," says Wendy Libby, vice president for business affairs. "University staff, together with representatives from the fire department, police department, hospital system and more, met to walk through a mock dormitory fire emergency with loss of life."

According to Libby, that system was a great help in organizing response when student Robert Meythaler died from an accidental fall last year.

The EMT leadership is currently discussing plans for Furman's response to severe disruptions in service (i.e., electric, water, natural gas, heating oil, communications, etc.).

"We will be looking at how to adequately provide emergency food and shelter for our students should such massive disruptions occur," Libby says. "Our goal would be to offer such services for a limited period of time until the students can return home or the necessary emergency services are picked up by county, state and federal agencies."

To learn more about the EMT and the CMT, contact Bernie Stanton or Bob Miller.

- Aynoka Bender