Author: Keenan Bishop
Planning Unit: Franklin County CES
Major Program: Community Strategic Planning
Plan of Work: Increase best practices for urban ag, nat res, & local food systems
Outcome: Initial Outcome
The UK Emergency Management System team received a grant for LADDER: Local Approach to Discussion-Based
Disaster Exercises and Readiness, a unique project that offers emergency management,
Extension educators and other stakeholders a low-cost, low-technology “exercise-in-a-box” to
incorporate into their exercise schedule, allowing communities to identify ways to become more
resilient. Franklin County Extension is a partner in this pilot project.
The project goal is to engage whole community stakeholders in discussion-based exercises to
improve disaster preparedness involving animals. Few resources exist to facilitate exercises that
test local disaster response to animal issues.
Accomplishment of the project goal and supporting objectives will be
achieved through developing, evaluating and publishing peer-reviewed, research-based exercise
materials and engage preparedness stakeholders to build upon existing EDEN resources.
Exercise materials will be tested in locations reflective of rural communities across the nation.
Using pilot-testing feedback, revisions to the initial product will be made. A soft launch
engaging EDEN delegates will evaluate the product prior to hard launch. Participants will
conduct interdisciplinary assessment of emergency operations plans for disasters affecting
animals, gap identification, and improvement plan creation. Upon conclusion of the project, the
project team will engage Extension and emergency management professionals through a
network of existing organizations to facilitate local emergency managers’ ability to meet the full
spectrum of local preparedness needs.
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