STANDBY: SRT State Emergency Operations Center Deployment

Jun 06 2019

The Oklahoma Office of Emergency Management has requested the deployment of the OKMRC Stress Response Team to its State Emergency Operations Center (the bunker) located in the basement of the Will Rogers Memorial Office building, 2401 N. Lincoln (the capital complex), Oklahoma City. The mission is to review and triage emergency messages from disaster impacted citizens who are inundating the SEOC with requests. More specifically, the SRT member is to review and decide which messages are most urgent, to contact the requesting citizen and determine their level of need, and then to make appropriate referral. In terms of Psychological First Aid the deployed SRT member would be performing Core Action 1: Contact & Engagement, then Core Action 4: Information Gathering, ultimately leading to Core Action 8: Links to Services. The request is unique in that the SRT is being asked to enter into the State Emergency Operations Center and aid state OEM employees who are inundated with the spate of recent and overwhelming number of disasters which are occurring. At present it is determined that ONLY licensed health care (e.g. nurses, EMTs) and licensed behavioral health care (e.g. social workers, licensed professional counselors, psychologists) should volunteer.