It’s not if it will happen in your community, it’s when will a disaster happen in your community?   In Henry County, there have been multiple disaster impacts, some natural and some not.  With Henry County housed near two major interstates, disasters related to hauling animals have occurred, raising concern and a need for awareness about disasters involving animals.  

The Henry County Extension Agents for Agriculture and Natural Resources and Family and Consumer Sciences Extension collaborated with a team from the University of Kentucky to pilot the LADDER Program.  Ladder is a Local Approach to Discussion-Based Disaster Exercises and Readiness program that involves community partners to work through discussion-based exercises to improve disaster preparedness involving animals in the community.  For one half day, the Henry County Judge, Henry County Emergency Management Director, and representatives from the Henry County fire department, health department, Kentucky State Police, and local farmers attended the workshop.  

The workshop consisted of the group dividing into two teams participating in a discussion-based game.  The game focuses on resources available and coordinating those resources in a fictional community and applying outcomes to the community’s local emergency operations plan.  The goal is for the teams to compete to acquire and apply resources to resolve five animal needs assignments following the games rules.   As the teams competed for the goal, discussions arose about Henry County’s emergency operations plan and the resources available in the county.  The teams were competitive working through each exercise of the game and discussing situations within their own community.  

As a result of the program, the local county emergency operations plan was discussed further among the community partners.  Changes were made to include a list of resources available within the county and additional details were included based on certain disasters.