Hosted by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture
Las Cruces, New Mexico
May 7-11, 2007
WAS THE AGENDA FOR THIS COURSE ADEQUATE AND MET YOUR EXPECTATIONS?
 | Yes, quite well! It was great to have earned the ICS 300 certification! Active participation in the breakout session was the "icing on the cake!" |
| The agenda was very adequate. It was much better than expected. I will take the ICS training back to my state and expand on it. |
| Yes! This PREP provided the needed ICS 300 training and followed that will relevant sessions explaining the role of EPA, FBI, USDA, etc. The ICS 300 presenter, Max was great and has a great temperament for teaching large groups. |
| Excellent-a lot of info, and it was covered very well. Speaker included a good range of perspectives. |
| Enjoyed ICS material and training the most. My department has a Bureau of Emergency Response who would directly be involved in ICS, but wouldn’t know at pesticides involvement. Therefore, I really liked the knowledge and experience I gained thru this training. Counter-part networking is the next best thing! |
| I believe that our objectives were met and our bench marks were exceeded. The overall goal of this PREP course was a great success! |
| Yes, very well done. |
| Yes. Although the ICS 300 training felt long, the rest of the agenda was diverse and interesting. Enjoyed the opportunity to interact with others on exercises. |
| The ICS table-top exercise could have been an actual exercise where all groups or members would participate by playing actual role of the ICS system. |
| Very much. |
| Yes, I was very pleased with the course. I also liked meeting the staff from other states and tribes. I also liked the breakouts. |
| The agenda was more than adequate and exceeded my expectations. The course was very informative as a whole, and each section was very interesting. |
| Yes. The 300 level cert is a bonus. The TTX could have played a larger part of the experience. Grady Bray could also have had a little more time. |
| This is one of the best PREP’s that I’ve attended. All exercises/speaker were great, especially the TTX and breakout reports. |
| Yes, I received 300 training. Update on Pandemic flu. Enjoyed the field trip. |
| The agenda was great, it fully met my expectations. |
| ICS, FBI and homeland security examples. |
| Excellent agenda. Maybe another field trip to an ag operation. |
| I think the ICS 300 training could have taken an extra day, felt like it was rushed through. |
| Yes, definitely. |
| Good agenda-expected a stronger, more intense tabletop exercise. Doubt that we would sit around a room discussing how things work in a real event. |
| Yes, the agenda for this course was adequate because the agenda items match the subject theme for pesticides high visibility incidents. This course exceeded my expectations for this valuable course to benefit all of us in the United States of America. |
| Yes, definitely adequate-a lot to cover in a short amount of time. In some ways the agenda exceeded my expectations particularly in the Avian Flu/Pandemic and other areas of previous emergency response (Katrina, etc). I prefer the breakouts and a few presentations allowing more time for speakers. |
| I thought the agenda was great. The ICS training was quite rigorous-a lot of info in a short amount of time, however, in order to meet the established ICS standards, it was probably unavoidable. All speakers did a great job. The breakout group format is good for this subject matter. |
WHAT COULD PREP PLANNERS HAVE DONE TO MAKE THIS COURSE MORE USEFUL TO YOU?
| It worked find as executed. |
| Nothing-all presentations will be useful. I will take a lot back and will hope to apply what was taught. |
| It seems to me that PREP went about as good as it could. Thank you!-to all the planners who obviously worked very hard to put this PREP together. |
| Could have spent additional time on ICS portion and conducting group activities. |
| No FBI! |
| If there are any FED/SLA plans/programs implement on ICS and pesticides it would be of interest. |
| If possible, develop one high visibility incident that is related to pesticides that could be built upon and used during the ICS 300 instruction. As presented, there were multiple incidents involving airplane crashes and damaged ship hull-it would have been more useful to use one incident (that we can relate to) that could be escalated and built upon throughout the course instruction. |
| Training was good and useful especially ICS. The table top could have been an actual exercise. The session on the labs could have been more on procedures that the lab would be required from the field staff. |
| This was done in an excellent way with all of those materials presented being very useful not to only our jobs, but in our everyday living. |
| Maybe a role playing event using Incident Command Systems (ICS) so we could learn how an incident really works. |
| The ICS section could have been longer. It was a lot of information for the time period. |
| Great job planning. |
| Max could have used more time; was feeling rushed by the time he finished-an exercise that actually assigned everyone a job playing a role would have been good training. |
| I still like the hands on exercise we did in North Carolina but I appreciate the addition of a terrorism component (FBI). |
| I think the ICS 300 could have been at least ½ day to 1 day longer in order to fully complete each one of the exercises and get a better overview of the ICS 300 system. |
| Limit topics to pesticides and high-vis incidents. |
| Good location/hotel. Good facilities. Good job Bonnie/Davis crew/NMDA crew/PREP guy-John! |
| I can’t think of anything at this time. I believe the interaction with other states and EPA is the most valuable thing. |
| Group or individual presentations? Would prefer to have each person present, 5 minutes each would be good. |
| The agenda was good. It brought a lot of issues/info to our attention. I’m not sure the states understand where we fit in all of this. I don’t think many folks take this stuff seriously. I’m also not sure if the other agencies understand where we fit either. |
| Everything, for this PREP course was well organized, planned, and executed to its full potential of use for information dissemination. |
| More frequent breaks! Hated to leave and miss valuable information but after coffee, soda and water-almost impossible-need a break every hour! Would have liked a more hands-on ICS event to practice-filling out forms, setting up ICS positions etc. Possibly bring real ICS documents used another real state or federal events. |
| The tabletop exercise may have been a little more "real" if class members had been assigned ICS roles and worked thru a specific his-vis incident. However, this exposure was helpful as well. |
IF THIS COURSE WAS TO BE HELD AGAIN IN THE FUTURE, CAN YOU SUGGEST FACULTY WHO COULD SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVE THE AGENDA?
| Bring Max Johnson (Max Consulting) to every PREP course-his style I second to none: he is fabulous! |
| Bring them all back. Max Johnson-great! Grady Bray-great! |
| A FEMA or U.S. Forest Service speaker that has significantly experience would add another layer of the applicability of ICS. (I do not know anyone from these agencies.) Just an idea, not a critique of this PREP. |
| I thought everyone did an excellent job. |
| Shy of using an actual law enforcement facility with hands on ICS equipment capabilities. I found NMSU a great facility! Hotel accommodations and air flight accommodations were fine-Suzanne, Melissa and John pulled off another great and successful training! Special kudos to NMSU and NMDA staff! |
| Possible-Potato Cyst Nematode investigation leaders-Eastern Idaho USDA ID. State Dept. of Ag (Mike Cooper). ICS process-resulting in fumigations of large areas. |
| No one specifically-is there a state agency that has developed (and perhaps used) emergency response plans (pesticide related or otherwise) that would be willing to share their plan? |
| I don’t know of any. |
| Not at this time. |
| None-the people you had were all on target. |
| I don’t know, the group breakout sessions were the best use of the time. I would suggest putting that time to the ICS training exercises. |
| This course could be adequately covered in 3 days and do not have to do fillers for 5 more case files. |
| Another state vet. Guy to discuss carcass disposal plans around the country. |
| This faculty worked for me. I hear Asheville, NC was really nice. |
| Not really. Should definitely have Max present the ICS information. And I enjoyed the former coroner. Great to have some presenter from outside EPA/state/tribe present. Also liked having the VA prep. |
| Brady Gray was great, he needed more time. |
| Not knowledgeable in this question area. |
| Speakers from FDA, USDA, US Customs. |
ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS?
| The NMDA (Bonnie, etc.) did a fabulous job of hosting this PREP course. The hotel and the meeting site on campus were first rate! Cary C.S. Hamilton (NMDA) was a great extra-curricular event coordinator, guiding us to great food, nice gifts, beautiful sightseeing and local attractions. Thanks to everyone with UC Davis, U.S. EPA and NMDA that made my first PREP course one that I will always remember and one that will encourage my multiple attendance at future PREP courses! Thanks again! The only small "pet peeve" I have is the uncomfortable chairs in the meeting room. They were not padded. The high spot cut off the circulation in my legs numerous times and that’s why many people stood in the back of the room quite regularly! PLEASE keep this small factor in consideration for future PREPs! But, I closing, I seriously learned a great deal about ICS, and I know that this course will benefit the attending states in that we all can better respond to all crises. Thanks! |
| The field trips were very enjoyable as well as the trip to White Sands. Cary Hamilton and his staff did a great job as hosts. John Ward and all the other from EPA should be commended. The crew from UC Davis made this one of the best meetings I have attended. Great location for this meeting! Enjoyed group breakouts. |
| I would like to say that all coordinators did an exceptional job-very professional. A special thanks must go to the excellent staff with the New Mexico Department of Agriculture. Cary Hamilton, Marge, Bonnie, etc-phenomenal folks. Suzanne, John and Melissa-great job! Thank you! |
| The state folks who organized this did a wonderful job and logistics and everything else. It all went very smoothly. |
| The planning staff did a great job coming with subject matter covered. Second thought: Possibly run a mock (non-stress) ICS scenario with attendees participating-and/or run a mock (non-stress or stress) ICS scenario than attendees could watch first hand. Flight and hotel accommodations were terrific-so were the training accommodations and said subject material. Of course, food was unbeatable. Breakouts: I like working in a group situation to present an incident rather than conducting an individual presentation. |
| Great job John, Suzanne, Melissa!!! |
| Always, ICS training emphasizes too much public safety examples and breakouts. Also, possibly shorten to 4 days. Excellent food choices. Excellent hotel accommodations. Excellent hosts. Excellent facilities. |
| I enjoyed the Las Cruces, NM site. Hotel was good and very accommodating-shuttle service was a plus. Recommend a get together on the evening of 1st travel day. |
| The Corbett Center was nice as was the hotel. Wish they were closer together (within walking distance). As always, the course was well organized. John, Suzanne and Melissa-you have mastered PREP course planning and logistics. You are to be commended. Thanks! |
| Would suggest courses on dealing with media events in regard to high profile incidents also courses on evidence collection and practicals. Course on the NRP directly. |
| Because the course was more of a classroom interaction with hands on practical perspectives. I would request that EPA should sponsor the 700 and 800 training for the future. |
| Everything was great except the chairs. They are too hard. One more thing, with such a long day, maybe a few more breaks. |
| The chairs were uncomfortable. Arrange the room in a U-shape instead of classroom shape so we could see people when they talked-Davis has the best arrangement. Everyone’s stories would be great; but we wouldn’t have enough time. |
| Great location-hospitality was #1 effort. Thanks to the planners. Great course. Message: working with your emergency crews. Breakouts were great with groups. |
| More free time, food for morning snacks. |
| Good PREP-great job done by all!!! Loved the group presentations. |
| New Mexico State Department of Agriculture deserves a big thank you! Well done. Hotel was great, food outstanding, location beautiful. |
| During the ICS 2-day session, it was interesting to hear all folks complain and the amount of info presented. But, after it’s over we all come away with a better understanding of how ICS works and how are fit in the system. How about canned juices instead of Pepsi/Mt. Dew? |
| Great PREP course for 2007. I really enjoyed and was very pleased with the entire course. |
| New Mexico did a really stellar job putting everything together from the hotel, to the field trip. White Sands (a blast!) shuttles to Old Mesilla and the dinner! Great job! As usual, the PREP crew did a fantastic job on the agenda, speakers, great food (we’re all stuffed) and lots of good company-a great group. |
| Everything was great except for the chairs. Another fine PREP course. I enjoyed very much the trip to White Sands! |