Living with a hearing disability and working as a firefighter paramedic, Jennifer Tozzo knows the importance of communication in an emergency.
With her lab shepherd service dog, Zoe, by her side, Tozzo was among about 25 people who attended the Alachua County Emergency Operations Center’s awareness workshop Thursday for emergency responders and the Deaf community.
Tozzo, a disability training specialist and a member of the Citizens Disability Advisory Committee, said she was pleased with the expansion of Alachua County’s awareness of emergency response for the Deaf.
“It saves lives,” she said. “People with certain challenges are left out of the loop.”
David Donnelly, emergency management director for Alachua County Fire Rescue Services, organized the workshop to break the communication barrier between first responders and people with hearing loss.
“It’s really become a topic of interest in the emergency management field,” he said.
Donnelly said communication is tough for not only the Deaf and hard of hearing but also for the general public.
“We’re kind of frustrated because we can’t physically communicate,” he said, “and they’re frustrated because we’re not communicating in a way that they can get the message.”
Illinois State Police Master Sgt. John Garner, who has first-responder background, and Glenna Cooper, a sign language specialist, led the workshop, mediating conversation about preparedness between emergency officials and Deaf participants.
The eight-hour training workshop focused on safety, evacuation, transportation and medical needs.
Jeannene Mironack, assistant supervisor of elections for Alachua County, said responders watched videos of people with using sign language. She said the purpose was to give emergency officials an insight into the lives of the Deaf.
“We’re learning their needs and what we have to present in our needs,” she said.
Frankie Beville, an emergency service officer volunteer chair for the American Red Cross, said the workshop helped him understand how other organizations provide assistance to the disabled.
“It’s been very informative,” he said. “I’m anxious to get back and talk to our people about the situation and the resources available to us.”
This is the first time Alachua County offered the workshop. Donnelly said he hopes to make it an annual program and offer response methods to people with blindness in the future.
“Our job is to educate the public on the mechanisms we have,” he said. “The whole point is to ... make sure we are able to serve our whole community.”
David Donnelly, 44, leads Jack Varnon, 79, a citizen advocate for the blind community, to his chair after a lunch break Thursday afternoon.
