Transcription
Welcome to Emergency Management Made Easy. You are with Lauren Holly Allen, and I am the author of a book titled, *You Can Write a Step-by-Step House of Worship Emergency Safety and Security Plan*. The book is designed for businesses as well as worship houses and schools. Wherever you may be, wherever you may work, this YouTube video is designed, and will be designed and implemented in the future, for anyone interested in education, training, safety, and the security fields. This includes organizations, institutions of learning, schools K through 12, college and church campuses.
Now, my primary goal is to assist anyone at any educational level in our efforts to prepare and manage most emergencies and implement common-sense plans. This video and my book are written for both experienced and inexperienced participants in any community. Wherever you are—you may be in Bangladesh, you may be in the United States, you may be in Africa, you may be in India, wherever you are, even Pakistan—this video is for you.
For instance, my book was written to train audiences in need of a slower, more detailed learning pace than experienced professionals already in the security or Emergency Management field. The basic training series provides general introductory knowledge for anyone who may be interested in this subject, even a young person, a student who is interested in entering into a career in Emergency Management. So please subscribe by scanning the QR code information on the screen, as I will post a new training video weekly on Fridays. So let's start with introductions—introductory class one. This is exciting!
Now, in our present political climate, our community must prepare for disasters that are occurring more frequently. Have you noticed? Our helpers are our community professionals, business owners, corporate executives, clergy, and school administrators. And as a result, all of us are challenged to learn safety training and skills in which we lack formal training or may not have an interest in learning—never even occurred to you that you would even need to learn anything about Emergency Management or Safety and Security. So, as a result, worship houses and business teams are challenged to absorb information they might not need to prepare for and manage various disasters, but they're challenged to do so.
My Emergency Management background began, and my career began, as a forensic psychiatric professional in a Maryland hospital in the training department. I taught new employee orientation and required annual training, which included safety training for physicians, nurses, social workers, and all hospital staff. My background included work with the American Red Cross, with the military staff and hospital teams worldwide as a night duty officer. In addition, I am a licensed psychiatrist assistant and I hold a master's degree in counseling psychology and worked in private practice counseling families. I also worked as a behavioral psychologist with special needs students. I trained Emergency Room physicians who worked with emotionally challenged adults, and these adults were inner-city youth with special needs. I was fully prepared, I thought, for my next level, my next level, and I just had so much confidence because I had achieved so much in my career, and I was hired at the Maryland Emergency Management agency—now it's a state department—as a training administrator shortly after September 11th, 2001.
My new colleagues were exhausted and preoccupied as they had worked and slept at Mima for several weeks, unable to go home because of September 11th. My job description as a training administrator included coordinating training for first responders statewide, civilian and Maryland National Guard employees. As well, my point is, despite my credentials and background, I was initially overwhelmed in my new job with Mima and the military, the Maryland Military Department. My job title was training coordinator. I was challenged to hit the ground running and learn new job duties. I was terrified yet determined to learn and succeed in the complex multi-agencies network. I fully understand the didactics of having to coordinate training for and with various city, county, state, and federal agencies involved in the Emergency Management field. My job was to learn the multi-layer department functions and work with and coordinate training with state and federal employees. Oh yes, I also understand how you might feel overwhelmed having to learn new tasks within your business, worship house campuses, and various organizations. Oh, I understand. I've been there.
Now, if you have a copy of my book, the page reference we're going to begin with is introductory pages 14 through 21. If you don't have a copy, I encourage you to follow along and take notes. Please subscribe. You can order a copy of the book in hardback, paperback, and ebook by scanning the QR code information on your screen. So let's start with the training process and goals. Let's start there. We enter anywhere with the mindset that nothing is going to happen. Why? Because this feels like a safe, familiar place. It's considered a sanctuary or a sacred space or even a football stadium or concert. If an attack does occur, we're shocked, and without proper training, people tend to freeze; they don't know what to do. This presentation will assist you in becoming more proactive and protecting your public spaces. In addition, you will acquire muscle memory skills to protect yourselves, your family members, colleagues. I reiterate that the goal of this training series is to strengthen your muscle memory. Instead of your freezing during an emergency, you should react quickly and know what to do to protect yourselves, your congregations, your colleagues, and others. [Applause]
So what are soft targets? What are they? Well, a soft target is a location or place that is vulnerable and might lack security or protection. It's often populated by groups of people. The current political climate and soft targets include houses of worship, synagogues, churches, temples, mosques, workplaces, and communities. The risk of violence is increasing in public places. Political agendas and conflicts have become our new normal. Additional locations are movie theaters, malls, schools, shopping centers, at open public venues and events. To understand the threats posed to soft targets, it's important to identify what makes them susceptible to intimidation and acts of violence and terrorism. Soft target locations are mostly at risk because of their welcoming environments. All have become increasingly toxic as they allow public access to anyone, adults and children. In the United States and abroad, report experiencing stress from the possibility of mass shooting, of a mass shooting. However, students attend school and college despite the fear and the possibility of increased active shooter attacks. They still go. Fear often prevents people from attending certain public places or events. Later in this presentation, I will present medical emergency advanced first aid. I'll cover that bleeding control kits, known as Stop the Bleed equipment. This will be covered in future videos. The advanced study is in the book, pages 122 and 123, for those who want to skip ahead and take a look.
So what are hard targets? A hard target is the airport check-in and baggage areas that are widely accessible to the public, making them susceptible to violent activity. The standard airport security process in the United States includes full body scanners, metal detectors, and thorough search of all travelers through tomography CT scanners. Additional targets are embassies, nuclear facil—facility, sorry, nuclear facilities, large-scale conferences, government and military facilities, private corporations, and critical infrastructure sites. Most are well protected. These are the hard targets. These locations usually have visible security personnel and control access points with strict surveillance and entry procedures. Emergency Management planning for hard targets focuses on preventing breaches and minimizing damage in case of attack. Keep in mind that threats and incidents might occur at soft and hard target locations. Having a security system is no guarantee that targeted incidents will not happen—no guarantee at all.
So let's take a self-paced learning quick quiz, and here are the questions—two of them. One: Is your business or agency a soft or hard target? Write that in your notes, the answer, or consider it. Two: Based on this video presentation, explain why. Let's move to emergency planning—the beginning. Emergency Management planning includes determining potential emergency situations and developing the right response or responses to address them. Communities face safety and environmental challenges that are increasing each week and season. We learned during the COVID outbreak and response; resources should be pre-planned whenever possible. However, we learned after recent US wildfires in the United States in 2025 and worldwide—right—they were caused by dry winter winds, drought, and suspected arson. The virus quickly became unmanageable, resulting in catastrophic damage and death. Climate change emergencies caused by severe weather patterns have accelerated over the past two decades. Previously, we had, we had more experience and success in planning and responding to weather advisories. Bonus questions: Write this now or consider: What months are severe weather forecasts prone to occur in your community, be it here in the US or be it throughout the diaspora anywhere? Two: When might your community experience wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, or damaging winds? These events can endanger your ability to function and recover at schools, in communities, and businesses. Training and planning development are necessary to address and curtail the effects of potential threats and hazards. Clergy, businesses, and families must be prepared and educated about safety and security threats, including violence attacks anywhere, as never before.
The guidelines I will share are designed to address basic step-by-step procedures for your beginning planning process. It is a process, a journey, so how long it will take to begin writing your basic written plan is up to you. You'll move at your own pace. See, that's the best thing about this video—it's self-paced. I will guide you through your self-paced training using my book. You've heard the title; I'll give it to you again: *You Can Write a Step-by-Step House of Worship Emergency Safety and Security Plan*, by Lauren Holly Allen, author. The book is useful for most businesses, schools, and worship houses. The guidelines and useful forms beginning on page 153 will save you time because they're already written for immediate use. The work's already done. So please subscribe. You can order a copy of the book—hardback, paperback, ebook—by scanning the QR code information on the screen. As we work together, I will offer consultation. We'll do—we can have face—we can do it on FaceTime, we can do it by telephone for $10 per hour, or we can do have a virtual consultation on Zoom for $30 per hour for your group. And what we will do: you will email me, we'll discuss the time, we'll set it up, you can pay your fees in advance, and we will set up your time to consult with me. If you have questions that are more detailed, or maybe I have uh written or discussed something that you don't fully understand, you can also send me an email and say, "In the next video, could you address this question?" However, because of the interest of time, I can only answer so many questions, so you might want to set up a consultation with me. However, it's time for us to part, and I enjoyed making this video for you. I will have another video posted by next Friday, and I thank you for meeting with me, coming to this station, this YouTube Emergency Management Made Easy, and you are with Lauren Holly Allen. Good evening, good week, and I will see you again next Friday. Thank you.