VAM Emergency Response Task Force

VAM Emergency Response Task Force

Toll-free Emergency Contact for Virginia's Emergency Response Task Force
866.636.7505
www.vamest.org

We at VAM recognize the need for a centrally organized team of museum professionals who can immediately respond to a disaster involving Virginia’s cultural institutions. We have created a statewide Emergency Response Task Force (ERTF). VAM’s ERTF system will consist of two distinct groups: Museum Emergency Support Teams (MEST), and VAM’s Emergency Response Team (ERT). View a diagram illustrating the structure of our Task Force.

Museum Emergency Support Teams (MEST) 
Download our "What is a MEST" Pamphlet
VAM encourages cultural institutions to plan for emergency response, coordinate local resources, establish relationships with local emergency officials, and create local response teams to assist one another in emergency situations. To assist with the creation and ongoing communications of the MESTs, we are setting up a MEST website, www.vamest.org. This communication network will allow MEST members to communicate with each other, volunteers to join a MEST in their area, and program leaders to post information including technical assistance, events, training, and more. For questions about setting up a regional MEST, contact Jennifer Weiskotten.

Now available!  Are you interested in starting a MEST in your region?  Use VAM's MEST Toolkit to help get you started.  This document will go over the basics of forming a MEST, what to do at MEST meetings, and how to organize your MEST members once the group has formed. 

Richmond MEST
Documents relating to the Richmond MEST group.

Guest Speaker February Meeting
Minutes from December Meeting
Generic Meeting Agenda
Generic Minutes

VAM Emergency Response Team (ERT)
Download our "What is the ERT" Pamphlet
These volunteers are willing to mobilize within hours of a call to provide triage and salvage assistance anywhere in the state. This team will be effective when an entire region has been struck by disaster, such as a hurricane, and it is important to receive assistance from outside of the area as well as within the locality.
Many ERT members will also be members of local MESTs. We are organizing a team of museum professionals who have volunteered to:
• assist with immediate response and triage of damaged items
• remove objects from damaged areas
• determine levels of damage for salvage efforts
• assist conservators and museum staff with preliminary salvage and recovery efforts
• assist with basic treatments of damaged objects (if requested by staff and conservators)

The Teams are designed to respond to emergencies that cannot be handled by the museum’s staff and board members alone. Such emergencies may include one or more institutions affected by a disaster situation. VAM will act as the central point of contact in an emergency situation. Any museum or historic site that encounters a disaster can contact our special Emergency Response toll-free number, 866.636.7505, monitored around the clock by VAM staff.

In addition to fulfilling the primary requirement of attending the two-day Homeland Security Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training, VAM’s ERT volunteers are required to attend a one-day museum-specific training workshop within their region. ERT certification is contingent upon completion of these requirements. To become a part of the Emergency Response Team, download and fill out this form.

Thank you GroundWork Design for assisting us with the MEST website!
Upcoming ERT Training!

We will be offering two Emergency Response Team Museum Training programs in 2010. This is required for anyone who is interested in serving on VAM’s Emergency Response Team (ERT), though you do not have to commit to serving in order to benefit from the training in this class.

Each three hour class will review some of the procedures a museum must follow post-disaster. You will look at how different disasters damage objects, and what to look for in a triage and salvage situation. 

If you are planning to join the ERT, and have completed CERT training through your local emergency management department, you will receive a VAM Ready Bag at the conclusion of this workshop.

 

Workshop Dates:

Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg Area Museum, October 26, 10 AM to 1 PM

Newport News, Mariners Museum, December 1, 10 AM to 1 PM

 

Cost: $30 for VAM members

Please note: if you have already attended an ERT training class in 2009, this is a repeat of those classes.

To register, call 804-788-5823, or email jthomas@vamuseums.org.