Two of our Emergency Management and Homeland Security majors — Dale Gaarenstroom and Lauren Fletcher — assisted with a State of Ohio Emergency Management Agency Tabletop Exercise on Monday at Cardinal Health in Columbus. Our students worked as note takers and helped to compile the After Action Report.

“This relationship provides students with experience and networking with emergency management and Department of Homeland Security organizations while being assets to the exercise team,” says Dr. Stacy Willett, professor of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

Notes Fletcher, "This exercise was different than previous ones I have attended. It was interesting to see how a private sector company deals with a tabletop exercise and how they delegate incident command roles. It was fascinating to hear how the various response teams interacted. The different terminology used by the private sector was also noted as compared to the uniform response language used in the public sector. Overall it was a great learning experience.” 

Pictured above, from left, are Dale Gaarenstroom, EMHS program senior; David Nunley, Ohio Emergency Management Agency training branch manager and an EMHS graduate; Andrew Elder, Ohio Emergency Management Agency operations administrator and EMHS graduate; Lauren Fletcher, EMHS program senior; Matthew McCrystal, Ohio Emergency Management Agency preparedness branch chief; Hollis Mignogno, director, Global Security Programs at Cardinal Health; and Dr. Russ Decker, Ohio Emergency Management Agency deputy director.