211 ontario after action report huron challenge nov 5 2012

Ontario Regional Service Partners Disaster Exercise - Huron Challenge IV After Action Report November 5th, 2012

Ontario: 211’s Role in Emergency Response and Recovery Project April 2012 - March 2014

Table of Contents

This report was prepared for the Ontario 211’s Role in Response and Recovery Project Team by: Pamela Hillier, Executive Director Community Connection/211 Central East Ontario 275 First Street, Box 683, Collingwood, Ontario Canada L9Y 4E8 705.444.0040 ext 234 phillier@CommunityConnection.ca Page 2

Forward This After Action Report highlights the disaster planning and response efforts of the 211 Ontario Regional Service Partners during a formal exercise. This report covers actions taken and lessons learned from the exercise. This report also offers specific recommendations for strengthening and improving preparedness, response, and recovery efforts essential to future 211 disaster operations in Ontario.

The goals of this disaster exercise were to: 1) conduct Ontario-wide practice drills with all Regional Service Partners; and 2) participate in a multifaceted exercise played by Central East and Central South in various on-site locations.

The 211 Ontario Regional Service Partners share a commitment to ensuring the availability of high-quality 211 services during disasters, and work together to assure achievement of the Alliance of Information and Referral Services standards (AIRS.org) . These standards describe the requirements a Regional Service Partner must meet in order to connect people to critical resources in times of disaster.

Ontario Trillium Foundation Project – 211: Emergency Response & Recovery Four Regional Service Partners - Central, Central East, Central South and Eastern have received funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (trilliumfoundation.org) for a two-year project designed to: 1) develop relationships with those involved in incident response and recovery; 2) explore, develop and document the role of 211 in incident response and recovery; 3) develop tools and templates which build on best practices; and 4) share information and communicate learning. Numerous reports and other information created from the Exercise’s after action meetings and debriefing sessions will be used to further the project’s objectives.

The Exercise Huron Challenge Background Exercise Huron Challenge IV was the fourth in a series of training events designed to enhance the collective capability to respond to a natural disaster impacting the North-East Lake Huron Region, including the Bruce Power Nuclear facility, and to demonstrate a commitment to an ever-improving and robust emergency management regime.

A series of events was designed to allow the community of partners to gather, share, learn and train, helping to ensure that all levels of government and stakeholders are prepared to respond to a regional natural disaster affecting the local infrastructure and the Bruce Power site. The Huron Challenge series was led by Emergency Management Ontario (EMO) in close co-operation with Bruce Power.

Approximately 50 emergency management, industry organizations and community agencies participated in the exercise with an estimated 1,000 staff and volunteers involved over four counties - Bruce, Grey, Huron and Wellington Counties.

These four counties cross two 211 regions -- Central East Ontario served by Community Connection in Collingwood and Central South Ontario, served by Information Niagara in St. Catharines. The two Regional Service Partners worked with Bruce County’s CEMC Doug Smith and Kincardine’s CEMC Roberta Trelford for this exercise.

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211 Background In Canada and the United States 211 is a three digit telephone number assigned by the Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

211 provides easy public access to professionally accredited information and referral service organizations.

211 is free to call, available 24/7 and answered live by trained information and referral specialists, who assess each caller’s situation and help them connect to the services and programs they need in their community.

211 - Three Areas of Core Capabilities Everyday

Public Inquiry

Online Database

Needs/Trends

During Incident Response & Recovery

24/7, confidential & multilingual TTY and email accessible Trained in serving vulnerable populations including advocacy and follow up support Trained in crisis intervention and creating safety plans for endangered callers Protocols with 911, crisis & distress lines, volunteer centres Monitoring social and public media & posting facts or notices to call 211

Central access point to register volunteers and donations of goods Rumour control by monitoring social media and posting facts or notices to call 211 or visit specific websites Capacity to handle large call volumes through mutual assistance agreements with 211 Regional Service Partners across Ontario Potential in-person access points in reception or evacuation centres

Continually updated comprehensive database of human services across Ontario Province-wide database accessible online at 211Ontario.ca Annually updated pre-disaster database of organizations that provide services in times of disaster

Continually update disaster database with information and services that emerge throughout response, relief and recovery periods Make database available to other organizations in the community Maintain a continual information exchange with EIO to ensure only authoritative information is disseminated Collect customized details about people who want to volunteer & donations of goods as a result of an incident; & make available in real-time to emergency management personnel Support case management for vulnerable populations fan out procedures

Collect non-identifying details about calls, TTY, social media and email contact tracking needs and trends, unmet needs and services gaps Produce reports to support community planning and advocacy organizations

Participate in de-briefing Provide real-time reports to EIO to support emergency response Produce after action reports with aggregated data and key learning to support community planning activities

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211 in Ontario In Ontario funding for 211 services comes from the Ministry of Community and Social Services and many local United Ways and municipalities. The Ontario 211 Services Corporation is a non-profit governance body overseeing the development of the 211 Ontario system.

In Ontario, seven Regional Service Partners provide 211 services to 13 million residents, or 37% of the entire Canadian population. These organizations consist of five non-profit organizations and two municipalities.

Many of the partners are blended services, providing other specialized lines such as 311, health information, street help lines, victim support services, and utility assistance intake services.

Ontario 211 Services Corporation Andrew Benson, 416-777-0211 Ext: 221 abenson@211ontario.ca Central Region Findhelp Information Services, Toronto Sue Wilkinson, 416-392-4566 swilkinson@findhelp.ca Central East Region Community Connection, Collingwood Pamela Hillier, 705-444-0040 Ext: 234 phillier@communityconnection.ca Central South Region Information Niagara, St Catharines Rosanna Thoms, 905-682 4056 rthoms@informationniagara.com Dufferin-Peel Region Region of Peel, Brampton Carroll Francis, 905-791-7800 Ext: 6505 carroll.francis@peelregion.ca Eastern Region Community Information Centre of Ottawa Karen Milligan, 613-683-5400 Ext: 5503 karen.milligan@cominfo-ottawa.org Northern Region Lakehead Social Planning Council, Thunder Bay Marie Klassen, 807-624-1721 mklassen@tbaytel.net South West Region City of Windsor Jennifer Tanner, 519-255-7474 Ext: 834 jtanner@city.windsor.on.ca

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Exercise Huron Challenge IV A five-day scenario-based functional exercise was designed to practice interoperability, plans and procedures while responding to dozens of events resulting from a natural disaster impacting the North-East Lake Huron region. Players were to respond to simulated situations presented to them, striving to represent as realistic a situation as possible

Exercise Objectives Examine and practice the response of all stakeholders to a natural disaster that impacts the Bruce Power facility, and triggers the Provincial Nuclear Emergency Response Plan.

Practice the activation and function of operations centres at all levels.

Practice jurisdictional, command, control, coordination and legislative authorities/arrangements among all stakeholders.

Practice decision cycles.

Examine and practice the reporting requirements/information flow for all stakeholders.

Test and practice the integrity and interoperability of voice and data communications networks and information systems.

Practice all stakeholder’s strategic communications/emergency information plans.

The Scenario Severe weather began to develop in Michigan and parts of Northern Ontario over the weekend. By Monday severe weather moved southeast across southern Michigan and Lake Huron into Southwestern Ontario, characterized by very heavy rains, high winds, and thunderstorms.

On Monday there had been one confirmed tornado in southern Michigan. On Tuesday at 11:00 am Environment Canada issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for all of Southwestern Ontario, and a Tornado Watch for Essex, Lambton, and Huron Counties. There were reports of very heavy rains causing localized flooding and high winds causing local power outages. Several Emergency Operations Centres had opened in response to activities.

On Wednesday severe weather continued to affect Huron County and other parts of Southern Ontario with localized flooding and power outages. Throughout the morning there was heavy rain, localized thunderstorms and high winds. Numerous Emergency Operations Centres remained open across the region.

By Thursday at 6:00 am Environment Canada had expanded its Tornado Watch to include Bruce County. Severe weather continued throughout the area already impacted, with another line of storms coming through northern Bruce County into Grey County. The Provincial Emergency Operations Centre, Bruce Power, Bruce County, Kincardine, Saugeen Shores, Huron County, and two Wellington County Operations Centres (Harriston and Mount Forest) remained active throughout the day.

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211 Ontario Regional Service Partners and Exercise Huron Challenge IV This was the first functional disaster exercise with multiple Regional Service Partners in Ontario. Its purpose was to: 1)

Conduct Ontario-wide practice drills with all Regional Service Providers that would test:

Notification and communication protocols

Telecommunications call routing systems

Administration of disaster resources

Caller data element tracking and reporting capabilities

Volunteer and donations registration processes.

2)

Participate in multifaceted exercise activities played by Central East and Central South along with other participants to acquire new information that would:

Invoking mutual assistance agreements

Test re-routing of multiple telephone systems

Define protocols with Emergency Information Officers by participating in an Emergency Information Centre set up in Kincardine.

Define 211 participation with emergency personnel by participating in active Emergency Operations Centres in Mount Forest and Walkerton.

Determine how to provide 211 services on-site at the reception and evacuation centre set up in Port Elgin.

Exercise Format Various activities from the Huron Challenge Scenario Synopsis were used to create disaster scenarios in the multiple counties served by Central East and Central South. Central East, Central South and Central met several times prior to the event to plan and organize the Exercise Timeline.

Numerous mock call scripts and mock disaster resources were created to be used during the Exercise. A cloudbased central resource was established for participants to access a number of online tools created to support Exercise activities.

After Action discussion will be coordinated with Ontario Regional Service Partners and this After Action Report will be distributed for use in further planning and exercise efforts.

Communication Protocols during the Exercise All emails and text messages sent during the disaster had the following message at the start of their subject line and as the first sentence in the body of the email: DISASTER EXERCISE ONLY. Each of the mock calls made will begin with the caller stating: “THIS IS A DISASTER EXERCISE CALL.�

All staff members were to be briefed on the exercise and understand that this was an exercise only.

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Timeline Followed for Tuesday October 16th 8:30 AM – ONSITE Central East on-site at Walkerton Emergency Operations Centre.

9:00 AM - NOTIFICATION Central East initiates notification protocol to all Regional Service Partners and O211SC that an event has occurred and requests a conference call, providing conference coordinates. Emergency phone, text and email contacts were utilized to test their varying effectiveness. Message sent was: DISASTER EXERCISE ONLY. Notification This is a disaster exercise only. Severe weather affecting large areas of Bruce, Grey, Huron and Wellington counties. Need call handling overflow support. Conference call at 9:30. Conference number: 1.866.213.1666 ID: 8125220 9:30 AM - CONFERENCE CALL Central East hosts a conference call with 211 Regional Service Partners and O211SC. An email will be sent following the call with details provided.

10:00 AM - DISASTER CALLS ROUTED TO CENTRAL SOUTH Central East routes disaster phone lines to Central South for 90 minutes. Central East makes at least 25 mock disaster calls during this time frame.

11:30 AM - DISASTER CALLS ROUTED BACK TO CENTRAL EAST Central East routes disaster phone lines back from Central South.

2:00 PM - 211 CALLS ROUTED TO CENTRAL SOUTH Central East routes 211 phone lines to Central South for 30 minutes.

2:30 PM - 211 CALLS ROUTED BACK TO CENTRAL EAST Central East routes 211 phone lines back from Central South.

2:00 PM – MOCK CALLS MADE TO REGIONAL SERVICE PARTNERS Central East makes two mock calls to each of five Regional Service Partners for 30 minutes (Central, Eastern, Northern, Peel/Dufferin, and South West).

4:00 PM – DE-BRIEF MEETING Central East requests conference call with all participants to review any high level issues/concerns or key learning’s.

DISASTER EXERCISE ONLY. Meeting Request This is a disaster exercise only. Request conference call debrief meeting at 4:15 PM. Conference number: 1.866.213.1666 ID: 8125220 4:15 PM - CONFERENCE CALL Central East hosts a conference call with 211 Regional Service Partners and O211SC. An email will be sent following the call with details provided.

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Timeline Followed for Wednesday, October 17th 8:30 AM – ONSITE Central South on-site at Mount Forest Emergency Operations Centre; Central East on-site at Kincardine Emergency Information Centre.

8:45 AM - NOTIFICATION TO REGIONAL SERVICE PARTNERS Central East initiates notification protocol to all Regional Service Partners and O211SC that an event has occurred and requesting a conference call, providing conference coordinates. Emergency phone, text and email contact will be utilized to test their varying effectiveness.

DISASTER EXERCISE ONLY. Request for Meeting This is a disaster exercise only. Severe weather affecting large areas of Bruce, Grey, Huron and Wellington counties. Need call handling overflow support. Conference call at 9:15. Conference number: 1.866.213.1666 ID: 8125220 9:15 - CONFERENCE CALL Central East hosts a conference call with 211 Regional Service Partners and O211SC. An email may be sent following the call if new details provided.

9:30 AM – MOCK CALLS MADE TO CENTRAL EAST Central South makes at least 25 mock disaster calls to Central East for 90 minutes.

10:30 AM – 211 CALLS ROUTED TO CENTRAL Central East routes 211 phone lines to Central for 30 minutes.

11:00 AM - 211 CALLS ROUTED BACK TO CENTRAL EAST Central East routes 211 phone lines back from Central.

2:00 PM - MOCK CALLS MADE TO REGIONAL SERVICE PARTNERS Central East makes two mock calls to each of five Regional Service Partners for 30 minutes (Central, Eastern, Northern, Peel/Dufferin, and South West).

4:00 PM - DEBRIEF MEETING Central East requests conference call with all participants to review any high level issues/concerns or key learning’s.

DISASTER EXERCISE ONLY. Meeting Request This is a disaster exercise only. Request conference call debrief meeting at 4:15 PM. Conference number: 1.866.213.1666 ID: 8125220 4:15 PM - CONFERENCE CALL Central East hosts a conference call with 211 Regional Service Partners and O211SC. An email will be sent following the call with details provided.

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Timeline Followed for Wednesday, October 18th 8:30 AM – ONSITE Central South and Central East on-site at Port Elgin Reception and Evacuation Centre in Port Elgin.

After Action Meetings and Reports The 211 Emergency Response and Recovery project team will host provincial after action meetings, and will use the information from other reports created from the Exercise’s after action meetings and debriefing sessions to enhance the project’s work over the next year.

Exercise Goals 1) Test timelines for the exercise.

2) Activate notification and communication protocols.

3) Test telecommunications routing systems.

4) Invoke mutual assistance agreements.

5) Test a cloud-based portal to access online tools and information.

6) Respond to mock disaster related public inquiries.

7) Test a centralized caller data element tracking tool.

8) Activate a pre-disaster database and test administration of disaster resources.

9) Test a centralized database to collect information about volunteers who want to help.

10) Test a centralized database to collect information about donated goods.

11) Determine procedures to provide 211 service delivery on-site at a reception and evacuation centre.

12) Determine communication procedures between affected Regional Service Partners and Emergency Information Officers.

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Lessons Learned - Successes Overall the timelines were easy to follow and will be useful for developing future exercises.

Phone, text and email notifications were successfully sent to all prime and alternate contacts.

Six out of seven Regional Service Partners in Ontario participated in the Exercise.

Two mutual assistance agreements were invoked.

More than 70 mock disaster calls were made to playing Regional Service Partners.

All call forwarding processes and configuration of telecommunications systems were successful, including routing inbound calls to two out of region locations.

The cloud-based portal for centralized resources was successfully deployed, streamlining access to multiple call handling tools.

A centralized data collection tool was tested, accumulating disaster call information about service needs from mock calls.

A pre-disaster resources database was activated and made available online.

The disaster resources database was modified with more than 85 new and changing mock resources relayed by staff at the Emergency Information Centre.

Searching in the disaster resources database was made more intuitive by utilizing general headings on data resource listings, which matched categories located on the front search page.

Multiple call takers simultaneously tested viewing and entering mock volunteer registrations and donations of goods information in real time.

Using a survey-like entry form for collecting volunteer and goods donations controlled standardized data entry and automatically fed into an excel spreadsheet, including a time and date stamp.

The excel file was sharable online, which allowed designated people to search, sort and print lists of donated goods or registered volunteers.

Participating on-site in the emergency operations centres, emergency information centre and an evacuation centre help to establish some communication protocols between the affected Regional Service Partner and emergency information officers.

211 logos on clothing made it easy to be identified when on-site.

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Lessons Learned – Issues The provincial notification list was out of date and not complete.

Not all contacts confirmed receipt of each notification, so thorough testing wasn’t realized.

The timeline was not adequate for internal communications between the conference call and when activities were to start.

All players were not apprised of the timeline before the Exercise.

On-site activities were not included on the timeline.

All call handlers have extensive training and experience in needs assessment, it was challenging for staff not to follow normal operating procedures. As a result, call handling quality was tested more than planned.

The process for registering mock information for volunteering and donations required duplicate tracking.

Not all Regional Service Partners use the same terminology for call handling tools, which resulted in some confusion.

Some call takers were confused with the differences between their typical database of services and the disaster services database used for the Exercise.

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Lessons Learned – Results Six of the seven Regional Service Partners participated in the first province-wide 211 disaster exercise.

The notification procedure took 21 minutes to contact 21 people.

The first mutual assistance agreement remains in place between two Regional Service Partners.

The implementation of the cloud-based portal for the central resource system has formed a foundation for both future exercises and for supporting public inquiry services during future disasters.

There is significant interoperability between regions with current call forwarding processes and configuration of telecommunication systems.

A broad range of call handling skills was demonstrated.

The consolidated collection tool demonstrated a range of data that could be collected from calls about community needs and service gaps.

The disaster database which was made accessible province-wide forms a framework for future pre-disaster database development.

The centralized volunteer registration system and a registry of donated goods forms a framework for both future exercises and for supporting public inquiry services during future disasters.

Regional Service Partners have an improved understanding of their role on-site at emergency operations and information centres.

An After Action report will demonstrate the value of coordinated, province-wide public inquiry during times of disaster.

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Lessons Learned – Recommendations Notification Assign one Regional Service Partner to maintain a current notification list and make it accessible to all Partners.

All Partners should input all notification information in their smart phones for after hour access.

Provide annual training to all notification contacts on the notification communication protocols.

Mutual Assistance Use the current mutual assistance agreement between Central East and Central South for the development of agreements between all Partners.

The Regional Service Partners should provide training to ensure their staff are aware of the mutual aid agreements and related notification and communication protocols.

Determine the existing capacity of call handling and call routing systems of all Partners.

Timelines for Future Exercises At least thirty additional minutes should be scheduled between the notification call and the routing of phone lines to give adequate time for internal communications of affected partners.

Timeline activities should include a schedule of business cycle update meetings with staff of affected partners.

Technology Explore a perceived delay when making mock calls into re-routed telephone systems.

Have all telephone lines tested for quality when re-routed into a Partner’s telephone systems.

Use Exercise outcomes to inform the development of the future Information Management System.

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Lessons Learned – Recommendations Communication Explore the use of an instant messaging (IM) tool for providing brief status reports on disaster developments.

Establish guidelines for messaging when using social media tools.

Establish a job description for the on-site roles for Regional Service Partners.

Determine how information between database resources and the portal needs to flow.

Create a dashboard-style report to keep staff on-site informed of the impact on the affected Partner.

Follow up with Bruce County to learn what information flow from 211 would be useful during business cycle meetings.

Call Handling Eliminate the need for duplicate tracking by developing an integrated tracking tool for registering volunteers/donations and caller demographics.

Review the order of tracked information to improve the flow of data entry for call handlers.

The forms for contact tracking, volunteer and donations entry could include guiding questions that are more script-like in nature to be more intuitive for call handlers.

Develop a common reporting template for all Regional Service Partners.

Provide training on the differences between typical calls for volunteering and those that result from a disaster.

Pre/Post Disaster Databases Develop a pre-disaster database inclusion policy for the Ontario Regional Service Partners.

Establish a standard template for pre-disaster database development.

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Lessons Learned – Recommendations Training More disaster exercises will provide needed experience for staff of Regional Service Partners.

Create a training video or PowerPoint presentation on how to use the portal and the call handling tools.

Central East could record a webinar on their Goderich disaster experience, which could be used as training material for all Partners.

Provide access to more training about information and referral service delivery during disasters.

Create a training session on the minimum national disaster standards.

Create an Exercise planning tool kit for future exercises.

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Appendix A: Call Handling Tools Used for the Exercise A set of cloud-based call handling tools using the Google apps productivity suite (www.google.ca) were successfully tested during the exercise. The follow pages provide details and screen shots of these tools.

A cloud based portal provided central access to the exercise format, and the tools and resources tested during the exercise. The portal was designed using Google Sites, a structured wiki and webpage creation tool. The following is a screen shot of the portal and a description of its components: Links to access disaster database; entry forms to register volunteers & donations; & contact tracking tools Site navigation to quickly access information about the exercise

Mock updates about the event Scenario-based Mock Calls and Related Disaster Database Mock calls and corresponding disaster database resources were developed based on dozens of planned scenarios and events being played out during Exercise Huron Challenge. The following show an actual Exercise Huron Challenge scenario and several mock calls and data resources that were developed from it:

TIME

EXERCISE SCENARIO

NOTES

MOCK CALLS

DATA RESOURCES

8:30 am

Severe winds impact parts of Bruce County, causing widespread power outages, traffic disruptions, and numerous injuries, over-stressing utilities, police, EMS, and health facilities.

Activates Bruce County EOC (functional all day)

• My power is out…can I call someone to report and also to ask when it might be on again • I am a retired, fit man of 57 who could help out where you need me • There is a lot of debris around my house, where can I take it?

• There is a lot of debris around my house. I am a disabled senior, is there someone you can clean this up for me?

• Utilities – Power outage • Volunteers for debris removal • Landfill (for debris removal) • Victim Services (to help shut ins)

Bruce County, Town of Kincardine

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Appendix A: Call Handling Tools Used for the Exercise - continued The mock disaster database was set up using the cloud-based database software CIOC (www.cioc.ca). An existing pre-disaster database contained 62 listings about available community resources that provide services in times of disaster. The listings included descriptions of the services the organizations provide and the conditions under which these services are available. In preparation for the exercise, 11 mock disaster database listings were created. During the exercise 15 additional database listings were created from communications sent by 211 staff located on-site of the Emergency Information Centre. The following are screen-shots of the disaster database, example database listings, and a sample organization listing:

Key updates posted when received

Main search screen with multiple search options & custom topic searches

Database listing examples are live links to full details

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Appendix A: Call Handling Tools Used for the Exercise - continued The exercise successfully demonstrated how volunteer and donation registrations could be collected by multiple staff simultaneously and made available through the internet while maintaining confidentiality.

Google Sheets apps were used to create online excel documents for both the volunteer registrations and donations of goods. The tools were set up using an optional survey-like entry form to standardize data entry.

During the exercise 29 volunteers and 19 donations of goods were registered. The following are screen-shots of these tools:

Data entry forms feed separate downloadable databases in real time

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Appendix A: Call Handling Tools Used for the Exercise - continued For the exercise, SurveyMonkey software was used to create a contact tracking tool for information about each of the contacts received through mock calls, social media, email and TTY. The contact tracking tool contained 15 questions and a total of 69 possible data elements. The following are screen shots of some sections of the tracking tool:

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Appendix A: Call Handling Tools Used for the Exercise - continued Details from the mock calls received during exercise were collected using the contact tracking tool. After the exercise, the data was downloaded into an excel file which enabled the contact data to analyzed and reports produced. The following is a report example:

211 Ontario Mock Contacts Report Exercise Huron Challenge 85% 5% 1% 2% 1% 6%

Contact Outcomes

Reunification

Mental Health

Legal

Government

Financial

Home Support

Environment

Businesses

Transportation

Animals

Food/Water Housing

Health Care

Utilities

17% - information &/or referrals to services 4% - transfer to crisis/distress lines 3% - required follow up for at-risk/endangerment 2% - required advocacy support 2% - assessment & referrals (complex needs)

Donations of Goods

Volunteering

Reasons for Contact

Telephone In-person/Reception Centre Website Email TTY Social Media

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