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Emergency, Disaster &
Evacuation Preparedness
Seminar
(Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina)
Special "Summer Networking Event & Ride"
Sunday, August 27!
Please RSVP email
today!
One of the goals of
the Coalition is to provide opportunities for the horse community to
gather, share ideas, share success stories and fellowship. We also
strive to provide first class educational programs of immediate
interest to the region's horse community. Our first annual "Summer
Networking Event" will do exactly that and is open to all horse
people and non-horse people.
Living in the greater Washington metropolitan region, our community
has been aware of possibility of evacuations and the need for
emergency preparedness. Although the
possibility of man-made or terrorist emergencies are present
since 9/11, natural disasters such as severe storms, tornadoes and
hurricanes are more apt to occur. The National Weather Service has
suggested that the mid-Atlantic area will have an increased chance
of severe storm and hurricane activity during this current hurricane
season.
The NVCEO Summer “Networking Event” and Trail Ride will feature Ms.
Bonnie Clark, President of the
Louisiana
Equine Council. Ms. Clark will provide a seminar on the "Lessons
Learned from Hurricane Katrina”. Her first hand
experience with the horse evacuations of Louisiana during Hurricane
Katrina, and Rita, will provide tremendous insight on how to prepare
for and react to natural or man-made emergencies.
In addition to being President of the Louisiana Equine Council,
Bonnie’s credentials include:
~ Committee Member,
Louisiana Equine Disaster Response Team
~ Equine Shelter, Rescue and Evacuation Coordinator, State Animal
Response Team
~ Publisher,
Horseman's Guide of the South Central Region
Over the last several
years Bonnie has been very instrumental in developing emergency,
disaster and evacuation planning for the Gulf coast region. The
successes of the equine evacuations during Hurricane Katrina and
Rita were largely due to the efforts and planning by the groups that
Bonnie has been involved in. It was reported that of the hundreds
of equines evacuated to the Louisiana Vet School during Hurricane
Katrina, all but 3 had been returned to their original owners. This
is truly amazing considering the scale of the disaster. The years of
planning developed by Bonnie and her groups paid enormous dividends
to the horse owners in the region. The seminar/presentation will
also include handouts and materials to help the horse owners of our
region to prepare for emergencies, disasters and evacuations. She
will also touch on the subject of how organizations like the NVCEO
can foster emergency and evacuation preparedness.
The NVCEO would like to encourage horse owners, and others
interested in emergency preparedness, to come join us for this very
special networking event. Since the event is being held at
Bull
Run Regional Park, in Centreville, anyone interested in a trail
ride before or after the seminar is encouraged to bring their horse
for a trail ride on the beautiful trails of Bull Run Park before or
after the seminar. The NVCEO will also be providing a catered
lunch. The event will be held at the “Special Events” area at the
park. This is the same location typically used for the Crystal Crown
JPR’s.
Also traveling with
Ms. Clark to our NVCEO Summer Networking Event will be a clinician
that is gaining some fame in the “South Central Region” of the
country. The Horseman's
Guide of the South Central Region is sponsoring
clinician Todd Meche and would like to
take this opportunity to promote Todd Meche
to our region of the country. Todd will be providing us with a
horsemanship clinic/demonstration at our Networking Event.
"Todd Meche has an uncanny ability to
read a horse and instinctively knows how to blend the perfect
concoction of training methods to bring the best out in each
individual animal. His approach is calm, humane, and on the money.
Todd’s easy going disposition has the same effect on people too
making it easy to learn from him! I highly recommend Todd and his
natural “horse sense” approach." - Ginger A.
Schouest, CAMELOT WILDERNESS RANCH
You
can find out more about Todd Meche at
his website:
www.toddmeche.com
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