Their Finest Hours
On the Front Lines:
UMB Champions of Excellence
Emergency Management Team
Office of Administration and Finance
Mornings start early for the 网红爆料, Baltimore鈥檚 (UMB) Office of Emergency Management (OEM) team. On most days, by the time many employees are starting their telework shifts, the team has already held virtual meetings for 2陆 hours and charted a course of action for the day on how to best meet the University鈥檚 needs during a global pandemic.
鈥淲e start around 6:30 a.m. and usually don鈥檛 end until 8 p.m.,鈥� says Jonathan Bratt, MS, executive director of emergency management. 鈥� I don鈥檛 think anybody signed up for these hours, but there鈥檚 never been a complaint.鈥�
OEM鈥檚 tireless dedication to UMB led to its recognition as a Champion of Excellence, with Dawn M. Rhodes, MBA, chief business and finance officer and vice president, praising the team in her award nomination.
鈥淲ithout their experience and knowledge, it is uncertain how UMB would be handling the pandemic,鈥� Rhodes wrote. 鈥淏eginning with activating the Incident Management Team, OEM鈥檚 efforts to prepare the campus for a COVID-19 response were exceptional. The OEM team put in many long days to ensure that the safety of students, faculty, and staff was a priority.鈥�
The OEM team also includes Christopher Stanton, MS, director of emergency management; Laura Cathcart, PhD, training and exercise program manager; Hayley Markman, MPA, continuity of operations program manager; Carin Morrell, MA, public information officer; and James Chandler, MPA, critical resources and logistics program manager.
鈥淲e鈥檙e very grateful for this award, and it really gives us an opportunity to showcase the value we bring to the University,鈥� said Bratt, who was hired in 2018 as UMB鈥檚 inaugural executive director of emergency management.
When the pandemic began to unfold in February, UMB had in place a renewed Emergency Operations Plan, which had been updated in December 2019 for the first time in a decade. 鈥淲e started engaging it immediately,鈥� Bratt said.
The plan provides a framework for managing emergencies at UMB, but hazard-specific plans, known as 鈥渁nnexes,鈥� designed to support that framework, such as a pandemic plan, were not in place in February.
鈥淲e hadn鈥檛 even gotten to that point yet鈥� when the pandemic hit, Bratt said. 鈥淪o two things are happening in this pandemic. No. 1, while we have the foundational emergency response framework developed, we don鈥檛 yet have any of the annexes built to support some of these things that we鈥檙e doing. We鈥檙e sort of building the airplane as we fly it. The other piece is that no one had prepared for an emergency of this scope and this duration.鈥�
Bratt鈥檚 team focused on establishing the Incident Management Team, a collaboration between UMB and the 网红爆料 Medical System. The team鈥檚 other priority: determining how to draw down on-campus and international operations while ensuring critical research, clinical operations, and education could continue safely. The team also helped to establish Maryland鈥檚 mass testing operations, supports contact tracing efforts, and is focused on supporting vaccine rollout plans to ensure that UMB and the Maryland community have access to the vaccine as soon as possible.
鈥淣one of this would have been as successful without the Office of Emergency Management team. They鈥檙e amazing,鈥� said Bratt, adding that the team tries to adhere to a motto: 鈥淪emper Gumby: Always flexible.鈥�
鈥� Mary Therese Phelan
