For Immediate Release                                                           CONTACT: David Chauvin

November 30, 2006 (516) 869-7794

TOWN CONDUCTS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SEMINAR

LOCAL OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS REVERSE 311 TECHNOLOGY,

THE NATIONAL INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (NIMS) AND

EMERGENCY POINTS OF DISTRIBUTION (PODS)

Port Washington, NY – North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman joins today with the Town’s Division of Emergency Management, Department of Information Technology, Office of Inter-municipal Coordination, Nassau County Office of Emergency Management, and the Nassau County Department of Health to conduct a seminar with local village and special district officials to discuss the need for coordination among all municipal corporations in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.

“Every level of government has a responsibility to prepare for a possible natural or man-made emergency,” Kaiman said. “The county and town have been working to coordinate their efforts, and we are now attempting to involve the myriad municipal corporations in the Town in the process.”

The purpose of having PODs is to have 10-12 zones of approximately 20,000 people at specific, well-positioned locations available to provide prophylactic medications, vaccinations and other items to the general public in the event of a public health emergency.

The Reverse 311 System is used to inform residents of POD locations, and also to provide municipalities within the Town with helpful information, specific to that area, during a public emergency.

NIMS is the emergency management model established by the federal government that must be adhered to in order for governments to be eligible for federal funding.

“Specifically, the Town wants local municipalities to become aware of its Reverse 311 technology, the requirement that all municipalities adhere to the National Incident Management System and the need to establish Points of Distribution in both the incorporated and unincorporated areas of the Town,” added Kaiman.

Participating in the conference are Supervisor Kaiman; Nassau County Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Eileen Scanlon; Nassau County Emergency Preparedness Planner Robert Walles; Kevin O’Hara from the Nassau County Department of Health, representatives from the Town’s Division of Emergency Management, Office of Intergovernmental Coordination and Department of Information Technology.