A new course is being charted for healthcare—a course that can be difficult to understand but one everyone should be informed about. The Statewide Voice will be covering the Affordable Care Act and how it relates to the University of Alaska employee in a new monthly series. Our goal is to help staff understand the healthcare reform with ease.� MORE.....

On July 23, the University of Alaska held an SDI Planning Meeting in Fairbanks. Attendees included the three chancellors and their leadership teams, UA Statewide leaders, and UA governance leaders representing faculty, staff, students and alumni. The goal: to identify themes that will help shape the future growth of the University of Alaska. President Gamble opened the meeting with an overview of why the Strategic Direction Initiative (SDI) is important to the future of higher education in the state of Alaska. MORE...

The University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan campus will participate in an active shooter, full-scale emergency response exercise on the morning of July 31. Training for the event will begin on July 30. The scenario involves two shooters that enter the Robertson Building on the Ketchikan campus and begin to open fire.

Once the Ketchikan Police Department locate and arrest the shooters and secure the building, firefighters, paramedics, Ketchikan police, campus administrators, CERT volunteers and Fire/EMS Incident Commanders will simulated their response to the scene. Paramedics will encounter moulaged patients located throughout the building suffering from a variety of gunshot wounds. Campus information officers will simulate press relations, call banks and other forms of crisis communication. A mock press conference will be held.

Realistic dramatizations, like the exercise designed, allow the university to test and evaluate�the spectrum of decisive, proactive responses to a disaster or emergency situation on a campus. Lessons learned help to increase the chances of survival in an actual emergency. �

The drill is designed to test the working relationships and coordination of multiple agencies. Goals and objectives are outlined and a critique will be provided at the conclusion of the exercise. Evaluators will assess and discuss procedures that proved to be positive and areas where improvement is needed.