Marion County, Oregon, a long-time customer of BOLDplanning, is located south of the bustling Portland Metropolitan area. The County spans nearly 1,200 miles and serves a population of approximately 315,900 people. As evidenced by its past work to develop and maintain a comprehensive Continuity of Operations (COOP) plan, the County is clearly committed to serving the needs of the community-at-large, especially in times of crisis. That’s why they continue to make every effort to enhance their COOP plans, as well as prepare for a tabletop exercise in September 2019.
COOP tabletop exercises, which are facilitated and discussion-based, allow COOP planners and their team members to validate roles and responsibilities and processes during a continuity activation, enabling organizational recovery from any given all-hazards disruption. Such discussions are highly beneficial to BOLDplanning customers like Marion County, Oregon, as they can:
- Evaluate their plans, policies and procedures that make up their critical programs;
- Identify strengths, gaps and areas for improvements;
- Validate recently changed or existing procedures or plans;
- Clarify roles and responsibilities;
- Obtain participant feedback and recommendations for program improvement;
- Measure improvement in past areas of deficiency;
- Improve coordination and collaboration between internal and external teams, organizations and entities, and;
- Assess current core capabilities and identify needed resources.
Just last week, BOLDplanning’s Vice President of Global Solutions, Cathleen Atchison, MEP, PCP, spent some quality time with Marion County, helping them move their COOP program forward. Planners from various County departments and cities were in attendance, as were partners from the health care and private sectors. All participated in COOP workshops, receiving beginner, intermediate and advanced level training, at the Marion County Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
BOLDplanning will return to Marion County in July and August 2019 for more additional COOP training in advance of the September 2019 tabletop exercise. Until then, keep up the great work!