Courtesy: Town of High Level
High Level hosts regional response readiness exercise
When a regional emergency happens, The Town of High Level relies on strong regional partnerships to ensure people receive the assistance they need.
On Wednesday, May 8, many of those regional partners came together to discuss, orient, and demonstrate how those processes work with the assistance of the Canadian Red Cross as part of a Response Readiness Exercise.
Jena Clarke, Director of Community Services, said the event was a great opportunity to learn more about what the Canadian Red Cross offers in terms of services as well as looking at the best ways to partner with them during evacuations and other emergencies. She noted the event also provided a great opportunity to get many of the Town’s regional emergency partners to discuss how the emergency plans work and where they can be improved.
“We couldn’t do what we did last year without all our community and regional partners,” said Clarke. “We’re very fortunate that we all work well together, and we can come together in these times of need for other communities.
“It’s so important to have these discussions to see where everyone is at and what they have to offer.”
“The Canadian Red Cross is committed to providing support upon request to people and communities impacted by an emergency,” said Thu Parmar, vice-president, Alberta and
Northwest Territories, Canadian Red Cross.
“The Red Cross’ participation in the Town of High Level and area table-top exercise will enhance our shared understanding and ability to respond to the needs of people and communities that have experienced an emergency. “
Clarke noted emergency partners may have different perspectives, but they share the same goal of assisting people in a very difficult situation while making them feel welcome and assisting with their needs. In that regard, Clarke says, the Town of High Level benefits from very strong levels of participation regionally.
“It was so great to have all the groups coming together to talk about this,” she said. “We really do come together when it’s an event or evacuation. We’re small but mighty. When we work together, we can really get things done.”
