03-14-09

The Sheltering Team command staff would like to thank all our volunteers for being so very patient during this transition period. We would like you to know your patience has allowed us to really get alot of things done behind the scene. The long and short of it? - We are finally back and ready to go!

Here are the things we have been working on:

We (command staff) are finalizing the Shelter Operation forms this Friday, and putting them to work during an exercise involving mock shelter "stations." This exercise will first be for the Shelter Operations Command team, in an effort to hammer out any bugs, or to find any faults with the current forms. These "forms" are UAN's Emergency Animal Respose forms, which are being used nationally through NARSC (National Animal Rescue & Sheltering Coalition.) SMART has chosen to use these forms in an effort to coincide with what other organizations will be using. We have also added our own forms when appropriate or needed to fill in any gaps of missing information.

The command team will each recieve a copy of all of these forms in their entirety, on a disk during Fridays meeting.

Shelter Ops volunteers will be e-mailed the login and password for the Members Only page so that they can access all of the forms, charts, and important information. Please get comfortable with all the information on that page!

Gail has also been working on Flow charts to better explain to volunteers where each form comes into play, and at what "station" these forms will be used. (Intake, In Shelter, Veterinary Services, Disposition, and Transfer.)

Should the meeting go well on Friday, we will start putting these forms into affect, and training volunteers on how to use each form during Regional exercises.

Once volunteers have gone through training on how to use the forms, we will then offer Regional Mock Sheltering exercises. Offering these trainings regionally, will allow for more participation from volunteers.

It has been a long journey, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, now that the grunt work has been completed and we can move on. I am also happy to announce that we have a complete command staff per ICS! Having a complete team will allow for a much smoother transition as the duties are split among more members.

Other various projects we have in the works is our relationship with the ARC (American Red Cross) in developing a parallel to their "Community Liaison Project."

Frank and David (our new leads on Finance/Admin, and Logistics), are going to be hard at work, doing what they do best!

Thanks again everyone.

-Ash

P.s. Check out the new photo's in the Shelter Ops gallery. You'll want to be familiar with the layout of the Cape Cod Regional Shelter.