June is National Safety Month – an initiative established by the National Safety Council (NSC) to promote the importance of creating and maintaining safe environments. This month, Hagerty joins the NSC in emphasizing education, prevention, and action to promote emergency preparedness and spread awareness about common hazards. Today, we are highlighting several members of Hagerty’s Preparedness team to discuss their career paths and safety preparedness tips.
1. Tell us about yourself and how your career path led you to Hagerty.
Avery DeLong: Early in my career, I was interested in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which aims to mitigate workplace injuries and illnesses. However, my transition to Emergency Management (EM) began during the COVID-19 pandemic when one of my OSHA internships switched to an EM role, offering virtual work flexibility during times of isolation and social distancing. This experience allowed me to recognize the parallels between the two fields. I saw that similar to OSHA, EM also prepares for, responds to, recovers from, and mitigates the impacts of incidents, but on a much larger scale. This insight inspired me to pursue EM, where I sought exercise and training planning experiences. Luckily, I landed my career at Hagerty Consulting in the fall of 2021 and have been growing my knowledge and skills in EM ever since.
Ethan Arvanitis: While in college, I became a sponsor, which is like a version of a Resident Assistant (RA) on a lark. The opportunity sounded fun and meant I got a better housing draw number in future years. I did not realize that, as a sponsor, I had joined my college’s emergency response team. During sponsor orientation, I learned that the local fire departments told my college that after a major earthquake, fire, or other disaster, we would be on our own for at least 72 hours. It meant we had things like food, search and rescue teams, chemical toilets, and first aid kits strategically staged all over campus, and despite living there for a year, I had no idea. Thus began my interest in emergency management.
I joined my college’s Special Task and Rescue Squad (STARS) and went through search and rescue and first aid training under an ex-Navy soldier who had responded to the Haitian earthquake. When it came to a career, though, I was stumped. The only organization I knew in the emergency management field was the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). However, I lived near Evanston, Illinois, and learned that Mayor Steve Hagerty had an emergency management company. Of course, I had to apply, and in May 2020, I began my new role at Hagerty.
Levi Gibson: After graduating from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, I moved to Washington, DC, to pursue a career in public service. Following three and a half years working for multiple members of Congress, starting as an entry-level Staff Assistant and ending as a Legislative Director, I was blessed with the opportunity to serve as a presidential appointee at FEMA as Special Assistant to FEMA Administrators Brock Long and Pete Gaynor. Learning under these accomplished leaders, working alongside the FEMA workforce and state and local emergency managers across the country, and seeing the sacrifices they all made to help others on their worst days motivated me to stay in this profession and drew me to Hagerty.
What excites me about Hagerty is that we get to engage with and experience the full breadth of emergency management by working with clients at the federal, state, and local levels and in the private sector across the country. All of them have complex, nuanced challenges they are seeking our help to solve. I am fortunate to bring my experiences from Congress and FEMA to Hagerty and the clients we serve.
2. What are some of the most common challenges when it comes to safety and preparing for disasters?
Avery DeLong: One of the most common challenges in disaster safety and preparedness is anticipating anomalies — rare, unpredictable events that deviate from typical patterns. For example, hurricane track forecasts may shift at the last minute, a region with a warmer climate may experience an extreme winter storm, or an unexpected pandemic could disrupt global infrastructure.
Given the unpredictable nature of disasters, it’s impossible to prepare for every type of event that might occur in a specific area. However, the key to effective preparedness and safety lies in the proactive maintenance of up-to-date preparedness plans. This involves incorporating a region’s best practices and current protocols into emergency plans, such as Emergency Operation Plans (EOPs), Comprehensive Emergency Management Plans (CEMPs), Hazard Mitigation Plans (HMPs), etc. Regularly updating these plans is a crucial step in effectively managing unexpected events, as it ensures that the most relevant and effective strategies are in place at all times.
Ethan Arvanitis: My work at Hagerty primarily involves continuity of operations (COOP). From a continuity perspective, responses are not about the specific hazard but about the impacts, and thinking about impacts instead of hazards can be a huge challenge when it comes to preparing.
Here is a small-scale example: in my household, we just went through our shelter-in-place bag to update the materials. Does the clothing still fit? Are there enough toothbrushes? Has the food gone bad? Have we used any of the glow sticks? The hazards most common in our region are floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis. All three make sheltering in place more likely than needing to evacuate with little warning.
In this case, the hazards have dictated only one part of our emergency plan. We have a shelter-in-place bag instead of a go-bag, but they have not dictated anything in the bag because it is designed to be hazard agnostic. Whether it is the expected earthquake or the unexpected meteor impact, we will still need food, water, clothes, important documents, etc. Our planning focused on impact, not hazard.
The same is true of larger preparedness. In my opinion, emergency management fits in a COOP context—in a way, all emergency management IS continuity of operations. Risk assessments are still important, but the more all-hazards our plans can be, the less likely we are to find ourselves surprised when it’s a meteor instead of an earthquake.
Levi Gibson: I think the most common challenges when it comes to safety and preparing for disasters at the community and individual level are that folks may not know where to begin or feel that the chances of their home or neighborhood being impacted by a disaster are not high enough to prioritize planning.
The term “disaster” applies to countless types of incidents (e.g., grid failure, fires, flooding), and it can be a daunting task for an individual or community to prepare for them in advance. Additionally, planning takes time and intentional effort, which can be difficult to do on top of the busy days we all have. Fortunately, local, state, and federal emergency managers know this and have developed products, checklists, and guidance to help you get started.
3. Safety and preparedness are shared responsibilities. What are some ways communities can ensure they are empowered to prepare for disasters and emergencies?
Avery DeLong: By seeking grants and other federal funding, communities can feel empowered to access financial support at different levels of government to bolster their safety and preparedness efforts. These grants, available at the local, municipal, county, state, and federal levels, offer funding for infrastructure enhancements, training initiatives, and procurement of essential equipment. They play a vital role in strengthening community preparedness by assisting with diverse projects, including hazard mitigation and disaster recovery. Through actively pursuing and efficiently utilizing grants, communities can enhance their capacity to respond to and mitigate the impacts of disasters and emergencies, ultimately ensuring the safety and well-being of residents.
Ethan Arvanitis: I am a shut-in who does very little in my local community besides playing pickleball and checking out library books. My brother, however, is a volunteer firefighter, one of the most extreme ways community members can become empowered to respond to disasters and other emergencies.
I would love to be more engaged. However, the only options I am aware of in my area are becoming a firefighter or focusing on household-level preparedness, which I have already done. As a result, the biggest way communities can boost safety and preparedness is through outreach and engagement. This could occur on social media, but people like me are more likely to find out through flyers at the local library. In the end, it all comes down to communications.
Levi Gibson: Local, state, and federal governments have systems in place to respond to disasters that happen in your community; however, depending on the severity of the incident, this support can take hours to days to arrive. If a severe thunderstorm downs trees and powerlines in your neighborhood, it may block first responders’ access to your community; what can you do to account for this and be ready?
The first and most important step is to get to know your neighbors and exchange contact information; the simple act of having a standing group text to communicate disaster impacts in the area, check on the wellbeing of one another, and request/offer help can go a long way to ensure the community can help one another at the immediate onset of an incident.
From there, an extra step you can take is to develop a plan together. By this, I mean discussing hazards most likely to impact the neighborhood, developing an up-to-date and printed neighborhood contact list, and identifying any rally points if evacuation from your homes is needed.
The success of a plan is measured by how useful it is when you need it. There is no “process” one must take to make one – talk about preparedness planning as a community and develop the plan as a community so that when a disaster strikes, it can be actioned as a community.
4. What are some simple ways individuals can enhance their personal emergency preparedness plans?
Avery DeLong: One of the best ways individuals can enhance their personal emergency preparedness is by growing their social circles and networks. As highlighted by Daniel Aldrich in his article “Narrow Escape from Hurricane Katrina Inspires Professor to Study Post-Disaster Recovery,” his experience and subsequent study on post-disaster recovery show that strong social connections can significantly improve resilience and support during emergencies. Building relationships with neighbors, participating in community groups, and staying connected with friends and family can provide crucial assistance, information, and resources when disaster strikes. For example, connecting with neighbors can lead to shared resources and assistance during a power outage or evacuation.
Additionally, individuals should create personal emergency plans, maintain a supply of essential items, and stay informed about local emergency procedures and protocols, complementing the support they receive from their social network.
Ethan Arvanitis: One unique part of my personal preparedness plan is that I have contacted someone hundreds of miles away from where I live (my dad) to serve as a dispatch center if there is ever a major disaster. Now that almost everyone has a cell phone, it’s easy to forget that cell signal is not a naturally occurring phenomenon.
Major disasters, such as earthquakes, can wipe out cell signals for entire regions. In smaller-scale disasters, people immediately want to call one another to check in, which can overwhelm the strained network and make it hard for first responders to get through If an earthquake occurred on the Cascadia fault, I know there are a dozen people who would want to call me, which would strain the system just when responders need it most.
The role of my dispatcher is to immediately contact everyone on a pre-made and annually updated list. This list includes family, friends, and colleagues. The message is simple: “There has just been a disaster, do not call or text me. All information will come through my father.” This saves me from fielding calls when I might be in a tricky spot myself and means I only need to relay information to one person throughout the disaster.
For those who already have their emergency bags packed, I recommend setting up a dispatcher next. And of course, I would be remiss not to point out that a dispatcher is only as good as their training. Every year or so, I text my dad with the news of an “earthquake” to make sure he remembers where the list is and what to do.
Levi Gibson: The simplest way to start personal and household emergency preparedness planning is to start thinking through what your situation is and what you will need to be self-sustaining for three to seven days. There is a treasure trove of publicly available individual/family preparedness guidance and checklists to start this conversation. FEMA’s Ready.gov, a website solely dedicated to empowering American citizens to prepare for disasters, is a fantastic place to start.
Here are a few resources that can help start that thought process:
- Low and No-Cost Preparedness
- Emergency Supply List
- Basic Disaster Supply Kit
- Financial Preparedness
- Prepare Your Pet
Once you have made a plan, I would recommend dusting it off every six months to make sure it is up to date and ready to use. Rather than adding two more dates on a calendar to track, an easy way to remember this is to add this on days you already track. For example, every President’s Day (February) and Labor Day (September), spend 10 minutes reviewing the plan.
5. What is the best book you have read recently?
Avery DeLong: If Tim Keller has written it, I have most likely read it. One of the books I am currently reading is Uncommon Ground. It is authored by not only Keller but also 10 other authors, artists, songwriters, filmmakers, etc., sharing their life experiences and opinions.
Ethan Arvanitis: When I am not playing pickleball, I spend my free time reading about philosophy and history. The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama is an excellent combination of both. Fukuyama discusses why centralization was historically more common in some regions than others, using China, Western Europe, and India as his three case studies. Despite being a great read, I would not recommend it to anyone not already interested in the topic, as the book is a bit of a doorstop.
Levi Gibson: The best book I have read recently is Atomic Habits by James Clear. The book takes a deep dive into how individuals develop habits and offers insight into how to best take advantage of how you build them to help you achieve your goals. Most importantly to me, Clear speaks to how quickly results pile up when you strive to be just one percent better at something every day, and the book gives you the tools and instructions to do it. It provides real-world examples, is written plainly, and summarizes its messaging in tables and lists so you can easily refer to any section and recall its main points.
I have applied it both in my personal and professional life and could not give it a higher recommendation if I tried!
To learn more about Hagerty’s work supporting communities in capabilities assessments, organized exercises, and emergency preparedness plan development, visit our Preparedness page.
Avery DeLong is a Preparedness professional with experience in emergency management, assisting local, state, and federal partners to meet their emergency preparedness response and recovery needs. At Hagerty, she leverages her skills to execute logistical, financial, and risk management operations. Prior to joining Hagerty, Avery served as a communication bridge between FEMA and COVID-19 testing sites in Arizona during financial reimbursement processes.
Ethan Arvanitis is a Managing Associate and FEMA-certified Professional Continuity Practitioner with experience assisting clients with their business continuity needs. He leads Hagerty’s dependency mapping efforts and helps design exercises and training workshops.
Levi Gibson is a Managing Associate with more than eight years of experience. At Hagerty, he manages and supports numerous projects related to disaster response, recovery, and preparedness to help communities before and after the impacts of disasters. Before Hagerty, he was the Special Assistant to FEMA Administrators Brock Long and Pete Gaynor and served multiple United States (US) congressmen, including the then-Vice Chairman of the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.