Membership Meeting and Workshop: Feb 3, 2008 - Orlando, FLA

[Jay Wilson]

(Edited to remove inactive links on 8/31/2008)
(Date of original posting: 12/01/07)

The DERA Board and leadership team wish you a happy and successful New Year!

As a reminder, the December DERA newsletter is available online at:

http://www.disasters.org/dera/library/2007_december.pdf


The December newsletter provides details about our Annual Membership Meeting and Strategic Planning Workshop, which will be held in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday, February 3, 2008, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Attendance at the DERA sessions on Sunday is free of cost to DERA members, but prior registration is essential so that we can properly accommodate everyone who wishes to attend. To register, simply send an email to attend@disasters.org and tell us of your plans to attend.

This year, our guest speaker will be Dr. Douglas Troy, from Miami University of Oxford, Ohio, who along with our western region coordinator Anne Hutton, will detail the Community Disaster Information System (DCIS) initiative. Information about that project is available at: www.rdcmiami.org

Additionally, Catherine Lawhun will present a report on DERA's Caribbean support initiative.

Our meetings are being held in conjunction with the International Disaster Management Conference hosted by the Emergency Medicine Learning & Resource Center (EMLRC). The conference runs February 1-3, 2008 and will cover all aspects of disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. There are sessions for all disciplines, not just emergency medicine. This annual conference is always an outstanding event, and is attended by the Who's Who of disaster management.

As a program partner with EMLRC for this annual conference, DERA highly recommends the full conference and pre-conference training events for those who can attend. While the DERA sessions on Sunday are free to members, there is a reasonable registration fee for attendance at other sessions of the International Disaster Management Conference. You may get additional information on the main conference or register online at www.emlrc.org/disaster2008.htm or toll-free (800) 766-6335. International registrants may call +1.407.281.7396.


Also, several members have recently asked whether it is possible to renew DERA membership online with a charge card. Yes. Just go to https://www.disasters.org/renew.htm where you will find a convenient and secure online renewal form.


In closing, I wanted to say a sincere "thank you" for your continued membership and support. Working together we are able to accomplish so much! We are an organization run by and for our membership. We have no paid staff...everything DERA accomplishes is done by unpaid volunteers. Your fellow members value your support of our mission and we are counting on you as we continue to serve together.

- Jay

Bascombe J. Wilson
Email: dera@disasters.org