GEMA/HS Dispatch June 2017 Edition | Page 19

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.”