The emergency managers of Oregon are among the most innovative, collaborative, and dedicated professionals in the nation. We are known for our creativity, doing more with less, and getting the job done despite the odds. We may not always get the recognition we deserve, but we can do something to honor the good work of our peers.

Rose Gentry, recently retired as Oregon Department of Transportation Emergency Manager, received the OEMA President's Award for extensive contribution to the emergency management profession. Rose was honored for a long career of service to the State through ODOT and OEMA.

The following OEMA members and partners have been recognized for special achievement in the areas of Innovation, Coordination or Service to their jurisdiction, the emergency management community, and the citizens of Oregon.

OEMA Member Award for Innovation

Doug McGillivray
Emergency Manager, Yamhill County

In the wake of TOPOFF 4, the national emergency exercise held in Portland in October, 2007, Doug, who was working in the private sector at the time, founded what has become a strong alliance of local private sector emergency managers now known as the Emergency Planning for Infrastructure and Commerce group, or EPIC. This organization has hundreds of members that help promote business continuity planning, share ideas and coordinate overall emergency management planning between the private and public sectors. Even though he is now back in the public sector, Doug has continued to lead and encourage EPIC's growth. He also initiated the proposal, which OEMA approved last year, to offer trial OEMA memberships to EPIC members, and 32 people took advantage. Members of our association and OEMA as a whole have directly benefited from our stronger partnership with the private sector.

OEMA Member Award for Coordination

Scott Porter
Director of the Office of Consolidated Emergency Management

In the age of transparency, Scott consistently ensures coordination between stakeholders of the Portland Regional Emergency Management Group and the Urban Area Security Initiative program. He embodies coordination and communication. He also led a multi-agency tabletop exercise earlier this year, in conjunction with the statewide "Cascadia Peril" exercise. This tabletop involved 300 participants representing over 65 various government, private business, and non-profit organizations. Scott brought the right planning team together, wrote the design plan, prepared the player handbook and guided the project to success. Without his leadership, vision and coordination, this multi-agency exercise would have been hard to achieve.

OEMA Member Award for Service

Vicky Vose
Providence Health & Services Emergency Preparedness Coordinator

Vicky performed outstanding service to the Providence Milwaukie Hospital during last year's December snowstorms. She was the primary Logistics Chief, and served many nights as the only staff person in the Hospital Command Center. She was instrumental in arranging food, shelter and transportation for stranded staff, visitors and discharged patients. She also assisted other Providence Hospitals with their logistics needs. Vicky's contributions were critical in enabling Providence Milwaukie to continue providing uninterrupted health care and services during this disaster.

OEMA Partner Award for Innovation

Dennis Sigrist
Oregon Emergency Management's Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant Coordinator

Dennis has provided superb levels of communication, coordination, facilitation, and innovation for many complex Hazard Mitigation projects. When it seemed like a project was going to reach an impasse, he was always able to find creative solutions. He has provided extraordinary efforts to assist many counties during their recovery process. Because of his great work many home and business have been elevated or relocated out of flood hazard areas. We commend Dennis for his innovative solutions and wish to recognize his great accomplishments.

OEMA Partner Award for Coordination

Lorraine Duncan
Program Manager for the Oregon Public Health Division's Office of Family Health

Lorraine was very successful in developing the State of Oregon's Immunization Program, which oversees our Strategic National Stockpile. By working closely with local heath departments, state agencies, tribal governments and our federal partners, her work has improved our State's readiness and helped bring it to its current high level. Her efforts directly contributed to the ability of the Oregon Public Health Department to provide what has been broadly considered an outstanding response to the May H1N1 outbreak.

OEMA Partner Award for Service

Alan Rhodes
Providence Health & Services Manager of Emergency Management

This individual provided unparalleled service during last year's Arctic Blast Storm. Many hospitals suffered critical staff shortages because of treacherous driving conditions. Alan logged over 1,400 miles while working 18 hours days, providing critical staffing for not only the Providence Portland hospitals within his service area, but also outside his assigned area. He also conducted virtual EOCs via conference call to coordinate the response of five hospitals and over 40 clinics. This was in addition to his normal responsibilities. And it didn't stop there. As the snow and ice began to melt, Vernonia was once again threatened with flooding, and Alan responded by delivering staff and supplies, helping with sandbagging, and even spearheading the groundbreaking "shrinkwrapping" of the Vernonia clinic, which has now become standard mitigation procedure.

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