Engage 5% of residents in a community risk reduction education activity annually
Objective Description
Trend Analysis
The HCDFRS Community Outreach Team stepped up to the challenges of 2020 to continue their mission to educate Howard County in life safety to prevent loss of property and loss of life. Due to the pandemic, all in-person Community Outreach events and trainings were suspended for everyone’s safety. What that lead to, were virtual trainings and over the phone “home safety visits”. Though the numbers reflect a decline in community engagement, it should be noted that the Community Outreach Team made every, safe, effort to connect with residents, employees, and visitors of Howard County.
As a result of the ongoing partnership with the Howard County Public School System, the HCDFRS Community Outreach Team was successful at supporting the online training of CPR and Stop the Bleed to students enrolled in health education. In CY 2020, CPR was taught to students in May and December while Stop the Bleed was taught in December to only about half the students in health education classes. Also, since the Fire Safety and Prevention House was unable to visit HCPSS schools, the Community Outreach Team created a series of safety videos for second grade teachers to share with their students that covered the life safety topics which would be discussed during the in-person program. A potential benefit from this will be to use these videos when in-person classes resume to maximize the time engaging in the psycho-motor skills of fire prevention with the target audience.
Community events took the hardest hit for community engagement over the last year. The HCDFRS Community Outreach Team would spend countless hours at community fairs, expos, and other events throughout other years. Those inter-personal engagements and “learn on the fly” experiences were unable to happen and, as a result, lowered the number of residents educated. Virtual classes also plateaued by the fall and the number of attendees dropped as the pandemic went on.
Strategies
- Reduce the risks and impacts of health, fire, rescue, and hazardous materials emergencies for the residents and visitors to Howard County.
- Frequently assess and understand the key areas of need and risk to the community.
- Provide and facilitate risk reduction information and education programs to reduce the impact of potential emergencies to the community.
- Facilitate proliferation of risk reducing engineering solutions such as home sprinklers and smoke detectors through public education, outreach, and advocacy for improved local, state, and national codes and economic incentives.
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Source: Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue