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Leadership Message
As I was reflecting over the past few weeks on our response to the pandemic, I couldn’t help but think of how many things may have changed for all of us, and I know our experiences probably have some overarching similarities. Just like you, I am settling into a new routine in this coronavirus (COVID-19) environment. I commute by walking the deserted streets of D.C. each day. Once I enter the FEMA HQ building, I have my temperature taken, put on my daily bracelet, badge in and ride an empty elevator up to the 8th floor. And for those familiar with 500 C Street, it is almost unheard of to ever ride an elevator by yourself.
Many of us have heard stories about an earlier time in NASA where everyone understood the ultimate mission – getting to the moon. And I think FEMA is the same. As professional emergency managers, each of you understand how important it is to help people before, during and after disasters. Our mission touches people and their daily lives across the nation as our agency is entrusted with this profound and unprecedented charge to lead the whole-of-America response to the COVID-19 response operations. Our core values of integrity, compassion, fairness and respect guide us as we continue to provide critical personal protective equipment to those who need it most; support the ramp up of testing efforts nationwide; and, provide the American public with timely and accurate information regarding the COVID-19 response.
Week after week, I marvel at the progress that FEMA continues to make in our nation’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic. While we currently have 3,157 employees directly supporting COVID-19 response operations, every employee is supporting this important effort in some way. None of this would be possible without you and our collective intent to always achieve the mission – even within austere conditions.
But there are a few unsung heroes who are also working diligently to protect the wellbeing of the workforce reporting to our facilities across the country, and I get the opportunity to be greeted by them every morning upon my arrival into FEMA headquarters. Each day, security guards, cleaning crews, temperature screeners, facility managers, safety officers and other support personnel report to HQ, regional offices and field offices. Their support embodies this agency’s service ethos of mission first. To them, we owe a debt of gratitude for the work they perform to keep us safe, healthy and secure.
Thank you for all you are doing – and know it does not go unrecognized.
Pete Gaynor
FEMA Administrator
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Program News
 For the past 36 years, the first week of May has been designated as Public Service Recognition Week – a time to honor those who have chosen the path of public service at the federal, state and local levels. As part of this celebration, FEMA Weekly is honoring more than 20,000 FEMA employees for all you do in these crucial roles.
FEMA has a critical mission in service to the American people to build a more resilient nation. This work continues unabated as FEMA employees continue to enhance preparedness to threats of all types and provide insurance and mitigation support to disaster survivors.
Our work with our partners across all levels of government to ready the nation for catastrophic disasters has also never been more important. During this extraordinary time, more than 3,150 employees are directly supporting the response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Whether you are still coming into the office or working remotely, your service as emergency managers is valued and vital. You continue to demonstrate strength and flexibility to adapt to rapidly changing situations and meet the needs of our customers and partners.
During this month, we honor the many cultures, traditions and history of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community in America. Each week of May, the FEMA AAPI Employee Resource Group will highlight the diverse experiences and traditions within the AAPI community at FEMA.
May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii
Lei Day was first celebrated in Hawaii in 1927 and became an official holiday in 1929. Each island in Hawaii is represented by a special flower and unique lei. Lei Day is celebrated by giving gifts of leis, plays performed by school-age children and a Lei Day court of Kings, Queens and Princesses to represent the different islands and their flower leis.
May Day is Hawaii’s way to celebrate the “Aloha Spirit.”
Lei Day is also a day to celebrate the different cultures and ethnic traditions that settled in the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiians began this lei-giving tradition with leis made of nuts, shells, flowers, seeds and leaves as offering to the gods. Today, making of leis has expanded to include leis made with candy, money, yarn and other materials. Contests are held throughout the state to show off lei making skills.
In celebration of AAPI Heritage Month, the Office of the Chief Information Officer, the Office of Response and Recovery, Region 5 and the AAPI Employee Resource Group partnered with the Office of Equal Rights to create a video which highlights members of the FEMA AAPI community. In the video AAPI members share stories of our shared mission and celebrate the value of diversity in perspectives and thought.
The FEMA AAPI extends an agency-wide invitation to join the group for educational events, social gatherings (when they resume!) and insights from members of the FEMA AAPI community. To learn more, contact FEMA AAPI.
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 Each year, the Atlantic Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. National Hurricane Preparedness Week is designed to remind us to take time and be sure we’re ready for any storm the season may bring. As featured in the April 29 edition of the FEMA Weekly, each day of the week has a theme to help everyone prepare for hurricanes. Today, the focus is on checking your flood insurance.
There's no more important or valuable disaster recovery tool than insurance. This includes flood insurance, which is not included in standard homeowner’s and renter’s policies. Talk with your insurance agent so you fully understand your insurance and know what kinds of coverage you actually have.
An example of the importance of flood insurance was seen following Hurricane Harvey that struck Texas in 2017. The average FEMA payment to uninsured disaster survivors was approximately $3,000, but the average flood insurance payment following the disaster was more than $117,000.
Take some time this week to invest and plan ahead for disasters or other emergencies that could take a significant toll on your financial well-being.
Learn more about flood insurance by visiting floodsmart.gov.
FEMA's Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) was recently praised by responders across the nation directly engaged in fighting the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Nurse Dawn Gajewski was recently featured in a New York Post article as the "hero of the day" and credits the knowledge she learned from CDP.
Gajewski is a registered nurse who works in the emergency room at Christ Hospital in Jersey City, New Jersey. She is in one of the areas of the country deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, Gajewski attended the Hospital Emergency Response Training for Mass Casualty Incidents course at the CDP campus in Anniston, Alabama. The training prepared her for working in the current pandemic environment.
The CDP course helped her and her team plan the logistics that her hospital uses to separate COVID-19 patients with differing levels of symptoms. Since some patients do not have to be hospitalized, the hospital set up an outside tent to treat stable COVID-19 patients with mild flu-like symptoms. This separation helps to protect them from possible further exposure if they were inside the hospital.
The CDP training also helped Gajewski and her team to plan the physical set up of the outdoor tent space, to include the equipment placement and ensuring the availability of staffing and supplies. Another benefit of the week-long training was that it prepared her for uncertainties she faces every day. One of her challenges is not knowing the number of patients who will arrive each day, which varies.
“I understand that you never know what’s going to happen the next moment. You have to be ever willing to evolve,” Gajewski said in her interview with the New York Post.
Two doctors in Washington state also credited CDP training in a recent Seattle radio interview. The doctors were among the first healthcare professionals to deal with the coronavirus in the United States. Jeffrey Tomlin and Ettore Palazzo, the CEO and Chief Medical Officer, respectively, of a two-hospital healthcare system in the northern part of the state said their team was ready to confront the outbreak because of the disaster response training many of the system’s staff members received at the CDP. Each year the system sends 20 members of their team to the CDP campus for training.
Visit the CDP website to learn more about the mission of the CDP and the trainings they offer.
The FEMA brand should clearly convey who we are, what we do and who we do it for. As part of these efforts, the Office of External Affairs launched the branding initiative with a new email signature in early March.
Additional resources are being launched to support you in presenting a unified identity and brand across the agency.
The latest approved and 508-cleared templates for materials such as Power Point presentations, fact sheets, advisories, name tags and more are now available on the intranet branding site. You can also download the FEMA Design Guide for easy reference and access various formats of the FEMA logo/seal.
As new materials are developed, they will be added to the FEMA branding page. If you have questions, contact the FEMA branding team.
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News You Can Use
Awards and Recognition Report FY2020 – Q2
FEMA is committed to maintaining a highly skilled workforce to guarantee quality service to the public. The Awards and Recognition Program is designed to create an environment where employees actively and continually seek exceptional ways to do their jobs, improve organizational performance and take pride in their achievements. The Awards and Recognition Program recognizes employees' accomplishments, contributions and innovations in support of the agency's vision, mission and goals.
The FEMA Awards Snapshot lists awards and formal recognition not related to annual performance appraisals awarded during the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2020. This listing may not include DHS administered awards or DHS sponsored awards.
Misconduct and Performance Accountability Report FY2020 – Q2
FEMA employees must demonstrate acceptable conduct and performance at all times, as required by the ethical standards of conduct and other rules, regulations and applicable laws. Fairness to employees who conduct themselves properly, follow the rules, and abide by the standards requires that appropriate action be taken to deal with employees who exhibit poor performance and acts of misconduct. To promote transparency, FEMA publishes this summary of disciplinary and administrative actions taken when FEMA employees failed to uphold the high ethical, moral and professional standards we share.
The Misconduct and Performance Action Snapshot lists administrative actions taken during the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2020. The circumstances surrounding each case vary greatly. Disciplinary or remedial actions taken are dependent upon the particular facts and varying degrees of aggravating or mitigating circumstances.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends use of cloth face coverings as an additional public health measure to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) to those around them. Recent data shows how COVID-19 spreads before people show symptoms (pre-symptomatic) or people without symptoms (asymptomatic).
Employees can stay informed by visiting coronavirus.gov and the FEMA Coronavirus Employee Resources page.
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Due to misinformation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic response, FEMA launched a Coronavirus Rumor Control page with information from official sources.
Remember to find trusted sources and look for information from official public health and safety authorities, such as your state and local government emergency management or public health department.
Find the latest updates from federal agencies on coronavirus.gov.
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 The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Employee Resources page has the most up-to-date resources and guidelines to keep you informed and healthy.
Reservist Connection
Dear RABy is a question and answer feature the Reservist Advisory Board (RAB) uses to address questions from reservist employees. Do you have a question for the Reservist Advisory Board? Send it to FEMA-RAB@fema.dhs.gov and it may be featured in an upcoming FEMA Weekly.
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I recently heard the term “future name request,” but I have no idea what that means. Could you please explain?
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Future name requests are commonly used to deploy FEMA reservists by name. Future name requests are often used to call responders back to a disaster operation because they are the only responder capable of meeting the specific incident needs. Often this can happen when the responder is attending an FQS training class at FIWA, the Emergency Management Institute or another location.
The 2019 FEMA Deployment Guide states:
“… future name requests must include a detailed justification to demonstrate how the responder being requested is the only responder capable of meeting the specific incident needs. Additionally, as part of the approval process, the giving and receiving event resource approvers will be able to review and approve or reject the request in DTS. Once the responder has accepted the request, the future name deployment will be stacked as a pending deployment in his/her responder portal until the arrival date of the future deployment or the responder has demobilized from his/her current event, whichever occurs first.”
A cadre coordinator oversees all aspects of day-to-day cadre management including staffing, equipping, training, qualifying and performance of the cadre and its members. Visit the FEMA intranet home page for a list of FEMA cadre coordinators.
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About FEMA Weekly
The Office of External Affairs publishes FEMA Weekly each Wednesday. Questions or comments about FEMA Weekly can be emailed directly to the Office of External Affairs.
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All FEMA employees are encouraged to submit stories, upcoming events and announcements; particularly stories about our values, guiding principles and mission in action. Articles should be 200 words or less. Submissions are due by close of business the Wednesday prior to the edition. Articles submitted after that date and time will be considered for the following edition. |
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