Ice has melted. The weather has warmed. Memories of our snow onslaught on January 22 and 23, 2015 have faded.
Yet, we should remember that the first responders at the town and county levels, as well as Easton Utilities, created conditions for a quick return to normalcy amid our winter’s first blizzard. These unsung men and women deserve our collective applause.
I recently ran into Clay Stamp, director of the Talbot County Department of Emergency Services, and recalled when I first met him as Ocean City braced for a hurricane that fortunately did not hit this coastal resort in August 1993. I was serving then in the Maryland National Guard. He was directing Ocean City’s emergency response.
Clay Stamp is a consummate professional, blessed with extensive experience in emergency management. What he understands is the need for total, unselfish coordination between local and state agencies, including police and fire departments, public utilities, hospitals, non-profits and the Maryland National Guard.
And, of course, a little luck is helpful; unlike portions of the Western Shore, our county escaped snow accumulations of two feet or more and gusty winds.
What the public doesn’t see is the behind-the scenes coordination performed on a 24-hour basis at local and state emergency operations centers. It’s here where an array of agencies entrusted with responding together to a civil emergency, natural or man-made, command and control a complex response system. Communication is absolutely vital; without it, the response turns to mush.
Allow me to elaborate a bit on communication. It doesn’t happen by chance. Training exercises are common throughout the year. In some cases, they are graded by outside evaluators. During these exercises, men and women who normally work and serve in their own particular silos are compelled to coordinate their responses with others, to know well their partners during a seriously disruptive emergency.
Trite as it might sound—and maybe a bit bureaucratic—communication and coordination spell the difference between a first-class response and a defective one. Egos have to play a secondary role in undertaking a critical mission to serve your fellow citizens in an efficient and rapid way. Trying to seize credit for your agency is human but terribly unproductive and wasteful.
As I learned during my military career, constant training is critical to success. While you might not be able to anticipate some crises, you have trained to respond without disabling panic, and with invaluable teamwork.
What the public also doesn’t see or know is that first responders have little or no time to care for their families during an emergency. The families have to take care of themselves, hopefully with support provided by compassionate neighbors. It’s just a fact of life in a public emergency.
At the risk of paying undue praise to the Maryland National Guard, I must recognize that this organization provides an incredible service, using their vehicles to transport patients and doctors to hospitals, delivering medications to people unable to leave their homes and transporting police, particularly in the cities. The Guard is not a Lone Ranger. It operates under the director of professionals like Clay Stamp.
I join many others in Talbot County in commending Stamp, his staff and many others in working together long before an emergency and then executing the training and partnerships to respond rapidly to a natural or man-made crisis. The seamless teamwork during January 22 and 23 and afterwards enabled county residents to resume their normal lives without too lengthy and bothersome an interruption.
I dread the next storm. I find little beauty in snow, though others do. However, I feel confident in our first-responders. They serve us well.
Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. In retirement, Howard serves on the boards of several non-profits on the Eastern Shore, Annapolis and Philadelphia.
Clay Stamp says
Howard is very kind with his words. I want to take this opportunity to thank him for highlighting the efforts of the many people who make up our emergency management system in Talbot County as well as our federal, state, and the private sector partners. These individuals work hard twenty-four hours a day monitoring for developing hazardous situations, testing communications systems and processes, and actually coordinating and bringing resources to bear such as what we witnessed during the Winter Storm last month. In our community it is our 9-1-1 dispatchers and amateur radio volunteers, our emergency medical services and law enforcement personnel, our public health and social services professionals, our roads and other government personnel (who take on emergency management responsibilities), our volunteer firefighters, our Towns, and our farmers, churches, and local businesses all who in times of need step up to address challenges. This emergency management system is well oiled and runs in the background at all times. It brings me great pride and gratitude to be able to work with such wonderful and dedicated people and with such a caring community here in Talbot County, Maryland.