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Welcome to the Western Washington Medical Services Emergency Communications Team

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Please review current announcements appearing below in this section. If there is an ongoing emergency or mobilization, current information and/or instructions will appear on this page.

Next WWMST Training Meeting

Saturday, August 21, 2010

0900-1100

Northwest Hospital

Community Health Education Center

Room 739

Talk-in 146.42 simplex

Hands On – Bring your HT!!

(If you don’t have one, come anyway for some practice)

Tactical Communications & Message Handling

Also a HIPAA Refresher Class

WWMSEC Board Meeting immediately following the Training meeting

1115 –1215

Traffic Alert – the SR520 Floating Bridge will be closed this weekend. If traveling from the eastside to the training meeting, use an alternate route!

Driving Instructions:

• From I-5 take exit 173.

• Turn West on Northgate Way.

• At Meridian Avenue North, turn right (North).

• Take the first left onto 115th Street.

• The main entrance will be on your right.

• Drive around perimeter to NW corner of campus (Easy St?) to Community Health Education Center

• Parking is free on weekends.

EOC to EOC Drill

Saturday, October 30, 2010

WWMST will be participating in the quarterly 5^th Saturday EOC to EOC drill. The drill runs from approximately 9am to Noon.

MST members are encouraged to use this drill as an opportunity to exercise the equipment at their assigned hospitals, make contact with MEDNET on the W7SRZ system, as well as contact local EOCs in your community.

For more information, contact Brian, WB7OML at wb7oml@arrl.net.

More details will be posted as they become available.

Western Washington Medical Services Team Nets

WWMST Weekly Training Net

The weekly MST Training Nets will be held on the W7SRZ Repeater System on all but the first Thursday of the month. All MST members and visitors are encouraged to check in.

VA Hospital, Beacon Hill, Seattle: 146.90- pl103.5

VA Hospital, Beacon Hill, Seattle: 443.550+ pl103.5

Northwest Hospital, Northgate, Seattle: 444.825+ pl103.5 (*currently standalone*)

Tacoma General Hospital, Tacoma: 443.675+ pl103.5

St. Peter Hospital, Olympia: 440.550+ pl103.5

The MST Training Net will be held on the K7MMI system on the first Thursday of each month. The K7MMI system has the following frequencies:

Central repeater (Everett to Olympia) 146.98 - pl107.2

South repeater (Olympia south, coastal region) 147.200 + pl127.3

North repeater (Everett to BC) 147.200 + pl118.8

See www.k7mmi.net for more information on the K7MMI system.

WWMSEC wishes to thank the owner of the K7MMI repeater system for the use of the system.

WWMST HF Training Net

Thursday evenings at 1930H on 3880 kHz

Washington State Emergency Net

MST members with HF are encouraged to check in.

Every Monday at 1830H on 3985 kHz. (alt. 7245 kHz.)

(Winter Months: 1730 at 3985 kHz. or until band conditions improve)

Every Saturday at 0900H 3985 kHz. (alt. 7245 kHz.)

See http://wsen.wastateares.org/schedule.htm for more information.

WWMST Region 5 Training Net

First Monday of each month at 1900H on 145.370- pl136.5

All other Monday’s at 1900H on 442.625+ pl103.5

WWMST Region 6 Training Net

Coming Soon!

Weekly Seattle Auxillary Communications Services Training Net

MST members located in the City of Seattle and surrounding areas of King County are encouraged to check into the Seattle Auxillary Communication Service weekly net at 1900h Monday evenings on the PSRG Repeater, 146.96- pl103.5

See www.seattleacs.com for more information.

Training Opportunity

IS-200.HCa – Applying ICS to Healthcare Organizations

FEMA has developed a new IS course. IS-200.HCa – Applying ICS to Healthcare Organizations. IS-200 follows National Incident Management System (NIMS) guidelines and meets the NIMS Baseline Training requirements for IS-200.

IS-200.HCa is designed to provide training on the Incident Command System (ICS) to healthcare professionals whose primary responsibility is emergency management, to include middle management within a hospital or healthcare system. Such professionals may include physicians, department managers, unit leaders, charge nurses, and hospital administrators that would have a leadership role during an incident..

This course is available on-line at http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is200HCa.asp

Solar Storms: Increasing Threat

An official at the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) explained at a recent tabletop exercise that solar storms happen when explosions on the sun's surface send radiation or electrically charged particles toward Earth. "It's important to understand that, along with other types of natural hazards, solar storms can cause impacts," said Craig Fugate, Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) when attending the exercise.

This information prompted the Emergency Management and Response--Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) to revisit this topic for current available data regarding the threat from solar storms to the critical infrastructures and operations of Emergency Services Sector (ESS) departments and agencies. Although SWPC forecasters predict low solar activity in the next four weeks, there is growing concern by the National Academy of Sciences about a slow activity increase to a "solar maximum," perhaps resulting in the "perfect storm" on a spring or autumn night in 2012.

The EMR-ISAC acknowledges the complex dependencies and interdependencies among national, state, and local critical infrastructures. Therefore, because of significant reliance on technology, critical sectors such as the ESS are vulnerable to operational degradation caused by a major solar storm. The "perfect storm" would have catastrophic and long-lasting socioeconomic outcomes that jeopardize a nation’s survival, particularly for those in the northern latitudes. However, a major solar storm will significantly disrupt power, water, fuel acquisition, air conditioning, and communications including GPS receivers, and require recovery times maybe in excess of 4 years.

Considering the possibility of a major solar storm in mid-2012, scientists at the National Academy recommend infrastructure stakeholders (e.g. ESS) develop plans and implement actions to reduce susceptibility to the extremes of space weather and ensure the operational continuity of their respective physical assets, communications, and cyber systems.

More information about solar storms can be seen at "2012 May Bring the Perfect Storm," and also at "Solar Flare Activity Might Threaten GPS." If interested, view the two-minute CNN video about potential solar storms.

Taken from the EMR-ISAC CIP INFOGRAM.

Communications Academy Lite – October 2, 2010

Getting Started in Radio— the Beginner’s Track

for new Hams and other volunteer communicators

Are you a new ham and felt like you rushed through the technician class, got your license, but now you find yourself asking, "What do I do now"?

Are you supporting a community hub, CERT team, SAR team and use FRS or GMRS radios, but have

never used a 2-way radio?

Comm Academy Lite is geared toward the FRS/GMRS or new ham technician class licensee who will be supporting a radio communications role and is ready to take the next step into the radio hobby. These classes will give you basic understanding of radio technology and how to efficiently communicate with other radio users.

Session Overview

Session 1 (all): Overview of Radio Communications for the Emergency Volunteer

Session 2 (ham): Getting your first amateur radio.

Session 3 (ham): I have my radio, now how do I turn it on?

Session 2 (non-ham): Very Basic Radio Science (what I need to know)

Session 3 (non-ham): GMRS, FRS, MURS FCC Rules

& Equipment

Session 4 (all): But I'm afraid to talk into that microphone!

Session 5 (all): This is fun, what’s next? The basics of EmComm operations.

Session 6 (all): I get it now! Where can I go from here?

Session 7 (all): Hands-on Exercise—bring your radio(s)!!

Visit our Web page for more information: