When people say “time flies,” they’re not kidding. It’s already been over a year (October 2018) since the State of Oregon, in partnership with Tennessee-based BOLDplanning, conducted the first statewide disaster exercise of its Continuity of Operations (COOP) plans. Now, the two have done it again.
On December 11, 2019, approximately 150 participants came together in Salem to conduct the second in a series of exercises to validate and identify areas to improve the quality of the all state departments’/agencies’ COOP plans. Participating in the day’s activities were Oregon Governor Kate Brown, 33 state directors and their team(s). Conversations centered around policy decision making and implementation for the Governor’s Disaster Cabinet (GDC), current strengths, and areas for improvement, among other important topics.
“There has been much progress made in the State of Oregon over the last year,” said BOLDplanning representative, Cathleen Atchison, MEP, PCP. “This year’s discussions were well focused, and the overall level of understanding was significantly greater among the group.”
BOLDplanning will return to Salem, Oregon on January 29, 2020, for the After Action Conference. There, participants will discuss the key strengths and lessons learned during the statewide exercise. They will also develop an improvement planning matrix that will identify actions to enhance the quality and implementation of all state COOP plans going forward.
