McDonough County’s New Approach to Emergency Management

About emergency management in McDonough County

McDonough County is a rural community in the state of Illinois, with a population of 27,200. Its county seat is the city of Macomb, which is home to Western Illinois University and McDonough District Hospital, which are major employers in the county.

McDonough County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency (ESDA) are responsible for emergency management, hazard communication and event response in both the county and city.  

The County’s flat terrain contributes to the unique weather patterns that affect the community. Severe weather is a major hazard in the county, with tornados historically being the most common emergency event. In recent years, the county has seen an increase in the occurrence of straight-line winds.  

The ESDA also provides emergency preparedness services for the county hospital, large scale events at the University and the Macomb hot-air balloon rally.

From classroom scenarios to real emergency management

Before working with D4H (now part of EcoOnline), most of the ESDA's emergency management documentation existed on paper. If something happened that deviated from the written plan, it was challenging for Edgar and his team to respond.  

They found it difficult to work with the numerous disparate systems throughout the county and state, with no single source of information and a lot of time spent on admin.

Edgar and the ESDA were first exposed to the D4H’s emergency and crisis management software through intern Kiley Higby, a student of law enforcement and emergency management at Western Illinois University. At the University, the software is used in the classroom for hands-on training and mock emergency scenarios e.g. outlining evacuation routes, triage areas, staging points and routes to local hospitals.

When Kiley joined ESDA’s internship program, she brought a working knowledge of D4H’s system. From this initial experience, Edgar got in contact with the team at D4H and the partnership began.

Prepared for any event

While McDonough County has thankfully not had to contend with a large-scale emergency event recently, the D4H system has assisted ESDA in their planning for a range of more minor events.

When the potable water system for the city of Macomb went offline, Edgar and the team were able to use the software to document all the conversations that the team were having, both internal and external. They were also able to list all the resources that they would need to call upon, if the situation escalated.

The software makes it easy to compile reports for the state, such as the yearly threat assessment for local hazards.

“If I needed to report to the state…I just bring up a report [in the software] and send it. The state was like “Where did you get this? This is really nice!”

— Edgar R. Rodriguez, Emergency Management Director at McDonough County ESDA

It’s now easy to pre-establish plays for common incidents. Information is saved in ‘collections’ which can be dragged and dropped into reports. This saves time inputting information that doesn’t change from incident to incident.

Support for successful implementation

Edgar made note that the support received from the D4H team was vital to the successful integration of the software into their processes. When it came to training, D4H were able to adapt to the speed of learning of ESDA users, who were already familiar with the system.  

As D4H’s emergency management software is cloud-based, it has allowed the ESDA to take their emergency management operations on the move. All information in the system is updated in real-time, so in an emergency event users have the most up to date information available and a single source of truth.

All changes are recorded, leaving a full audit trail with a complete play-by-play of an entire incident. This encourages transparency and compliance, while also letting Edgar and his team respond as the situation develops.  

“I really like how live the system is, if somebody makes a small change then it’s updated immediately and multiple people can be on the same incident. I think that really helps put in the proper information more efficiently.”

— Kiley Higby, Student at Western Illinois University

The D4H team were also on-hand to assist with any troubleshooting that may be needed, with the helpdesk able to pinpoint exactly when an issue has occurred and quickly rectify it.

Future plans

“It’s good to have that infusion of new technology coming in, new processes…you also need to have that mentality to address it and say ‘Hey, I know I’ve been doing it this way for the last 10 years, but there’s something new that can really make it better and easier.”

— Edgar R. Rodriguez, Emergency Management Director at McDonough County ESDA

Currently, McDonough County ESDA are working to integrate GIS mapping (geographic information system) into their use of D4H, with more integrations planned for the future.

Looking forward, both Edgar and Kiley anticipate more involvement of technology within the emergency management sector, both in academics and in the field. As the enhanced tools are developing so quickly, Edgar advised fellow emergency managers to embrace new technology and processes.

‍“‍We weren’t hired as emergency managers to do paperwork…and it's good for us to embrace technology that will minimize the paperwork portion”.

— Edgar R. Rodriguez, Emergency Management Director at McDonough County ESDA