St. Thomas Aquinas Parish is working to develop an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). An important component of the preparedness plan is the emergency communications plan.
When an emergency occurs, the need to communicate is immediate. Disseminating information within the parish — to staff, lay leadership, affiliates, membership, media and denomination hierarchy—takes thought, planning and an organized structure.
Regulators may need to be notified and local government officials will want to know what is going on in their community. Neighbors living near the facility may need information – especially if they are threatened by the incident. At the onset of an emergency, there is a high probability that power outages and congested wireless networks can render the wireless phone, wireless device or VoIP out of service.
The parish’s first step is to ensure connectivity between our three church sites located in Palo Alto and the Pastoral Center by installing Multi-Use Radio Service radios in each of the Churches. The most common use of MURS is for short-distance, two-way communication and functions similar to walkie-talkies.
After an emergency communications plan/network has been established within the parish, the parish Safety Committee will be working with the City of Palo Alto’s Office of Emergency Services to establish communications to their Emergency Operations Center; a mode of communications is still being determined by the City’s Office of Emergency Services.
Lastly, the parish would like to find out if you are an Amateur Radio operator (ham). If you are, please identify yourself by letting us know your name, your call sign and which church site you frequent. Send me an email [email protected]. Thank you, Lydia Kou.