A Very Special Recognition and Goodbye to Staff
As CAN transitions into yet another phase of its development, the program will say goodbye to four long-time staffers at the end of July. A very special thanks goes out to each of these individuals who have made substantial contributions to the direction and success of CAN.
Darcy Brune, Training Coordinator, has been the voice of CAN's Training Program for more than 2 years. In this position, she has improved the written documentation, created numerous job aids and introduced video tutorials. Darcy has also made substantial contributions to the in-person Train-The-Trainer program.
Elizabeth Campbell, Technical Outreach Coordinator, has provided her trademark "high touch" approach to providing high tech help. She began in June of 2005, serving as the liaison for the pilot communities in Oklahoma City and New Orleans and eventually assumed the responsibilities of system administration. Throughout these shifting roles, she has helped countless agencies and users get maximum benefit from CAN.
Lesli Remaly-Netter, Sr. Officer for Community and Deployment Support, joined the team in 2007 to help spread the reach of CAN into more communities; as result of her leadership the CAN Liaison Network has grown to expand "footprint" of CAN across the country. Lesli's commitment is known far and wide as the program's boots on the ground—working to meet with communities and nurturing a special relationship with VOADs and LTRGs.
Liz Lawrence, Sr. Officer for Strategic Interagency Initiatives, has been with CAN since its inception and has left her unmistakable imprint on the program. Beginning with the community-building work in the pilot communities, including intensive time in New Orleans in the aftermath of the 2005 Hurricane Season, she has worked behind the scenes to "make CAN happen." Building consensus across communities and agencies to provide leadership to the Disaster Client Data Standard (DCDS) and the NVOAD DCM standards, are just some of her contributions over the past five-plus years.
If you have any questions about this transition, please email
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Supporting the Gulf States Oil Spill
The Gulf States oil spill has generated numerous inquiries from communities preparing to develop recovery plans. In response to these requests, an Associated Disaster for each of the five impacted states (Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi and Texas) is available to users of the Region IV and Region VI Portals.
Communities are encouraged to use CAN how ever it best suits their unique recovery needs—whether it is initial client tracking or longer-term case management.
To help new and existing agencies best use the tools of CAN, the following guidance was created to help these impacted communities:
For agencies in the impacted communities, please take time to update entries in the Resource Directory as services become available.
New: Chapter and Community Guides
In July, two new electronic PDF documents were published to help new users understand CAN, and provide existing users with the tools to educate other community organizations about CAN.
For new users, "A Community's Introduction" is designed to explain the specific role CAN fulfils in the recovery phase of a large-scale disaster. Communities should plan to use this document when reaching out to new agencies, organizations or faith-based groups considering joining the Network.
The other brochure, "A Chapter's Guide," is targeted at Red Cross Chapter staff to highlight the unique role CAN plays in communities. This brochure also explains how the Resource Database fosters community leadership.
Update: Volunteer Module Passes Important Milestone
The Volunteer Module has moved out of initial development phase and into beta testing. This new module will add capabilities to track volunteers as they are recruited for opportunities to assist with disaster recovery, track their hours and document their services to clients.
CAN staff will be working closely with UMCOR and LDR during the pilot phase of the Volunteer Module prior to its release to the general CAN community later in the year. On behalf of the Network, we all thank UMCOR and LDR for the generous contribution to develop the Volunteer Module.
Migrating Program-specific Client Data to Regional Portals
As indicated when the 10 Regional Portals were launched, we are transitioning our community of users to our new Regional Portals in stages. On August 19th the following legacy Disaster-Specific Portals will be phased out:
Agencies and user will continue to access their clients by using the appropriate Regional Portal. For instance, users of the California Wildfires Portal will now access the same client records on the Region IV Portal. Simply go to My Tools and select that Regional Portal and then use the "CA 2009 Wildfires" Associated Disaster checkbox to filter client records on the Client Search page.
The Regional Portals all support the Standardized Formset and a small number of fields unique to the legacy portals are not available when viewing client records. CAN staff is in contact with the particular programs using this data to assist with the transition. All agencies using the affected portals are encouraged to begin transitioning prior to August 19th to assist with the transition.
Questions about the portal closures should be directed to
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.
Enhancements: Address Validation
On August 6, an address validation feature will be added to the Client Registry that will allow users to verify street addresses. This new feature will provide more accurate addressing to reduce duplicate records, improve reporting and correct errors—especially for the county or zip code fields.
This enhancement is as practical as is it easy to use. The "Verify Address" button is displayed next to the Zip Code field for an address. Once selected, the system will display the recommended format for that street address and only updates the address when the "Choose" button is selected. Both addresses are displayed so that changes can be reviewed before the address is updated.
This enhancement is yet another great example of how user requests continue to improve the way CAN works. Your feedback is welcomed, so please join us on the next User Group call in August.
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