RDPC looks at obstacles near Mexican border

Members of the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium (RDPC) of Somerset recently traveled to Arizona to meet with U.S. Border Patrol and local Native American tribe officials to discuss obstacles they face near the Mexico border.

RDPC staff met with U.S. Border Patrol officials who gave them a walking tour of the wall that separates the two countries in Yuma, AZ. Officials showed them the different access points and tower stations that they use to secure the border and keep people from crossing over illegally.

RDPC also met with two local Indian tribes – the Cocopan Indian Tribe and the Quechan Indian Tribe. They met with emergency management personnel in both tribes, who both described limited resources as one of the biggest obstacles.

“Rural and tribal communities face different obstacles whenever responding to an emergency—one being limited resources,” said Jason Mullins, RDPC Director. “Our goal is to bring the whole community together and better prepare those communities for disasters.”

RDPC, which provides tuition-free training to first responders, recently certified two isolation and quarantine trainings that are specifically focused on tribal nations, which the Quechan Indian Tribe will be hosting soon.

The training, which focuses on isolation and quarantine procedures for tribal nations, is 28 hours long and includes both management and performances levels.

For more information on the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium, go to www.ruraltraining.org.