s as key ingredient in preparedness
topics from healthcare
response to the Orlando
Pulse Nightclub tragedy
to an overview of the
Georgia Department
of Natural Resources
Environmental Protection
Division.
Aaron Shoemaker,
co-founder of nonprofit
All Hands On, is now in
his fifth year of speaking
and interpreting at the
summit. His presentation
taught attendees
how to consider the
deaf community
when planning for a
disaster, as well as the
importance of doing so.
Attendees learned the letters of the American Sign Language alphabet during a training session
“We really like the
presented by All Hands On during the EMAG summit.
partnership with EMAG
culture and also to engage,” said
one of these counties and meet
mostly because it gives us
Shoemaker. “How long would
with these EMA directors? … We
an opportunity to talk about deaf
can be emissaries for the deaf to
issues, to talk about deafness, deaf it take us to go around to each
the emergency managers
and do it in a way that is
productive, do it in a way
that is constructive.”
Three days full of
networking, exhibits,
sessions and speeches
serve as a testament to the
community created through
EMAG.
“Partnership is what makes
us good at emergency
preparedness,” said Don
Graham, co-chair of
the EMAG conference
committee and president of
EMAG. “If we didn’t have
our partners, I don’t think
that we could handle it all
on our own. When there’s a
Staff from the National Weather Service Peachtree City, vendors and other state and local part-
disaster that hits, we always
ners shared information during the three-day EMAG Conference in Savannah.
reach out for help.”