The National Mass Fatalities Institute
is located on the campus of Kirkwood Community College in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa. It is funded in part by grant H28/CCH720676-02 from
the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention and by award number SBAHQ-04-1-0043 from the
U.S. Small Business Administration.
The National Mass Fatalities Institute was founded in 2000 with
a congressional grant administered through the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Its mission is to prepare communities
for the effective management of mass fatalities events. Efforts
of the Institute are focused on providing guidance and training
for the development of comprehensive mass fatalities incident
response plans. These plans must promote multi-disciplinary, multi-agency,
and multi-jurisdictional response efforts that are thoroughly
integrated at all levels of government. It is the goal of the
National Mass Fatalities Institute to assist community leaders,
through the collaborative planning process, to assess, establish,
and maintain integrated community resources that will facilitate
recovery and healing following a mass fatalities event.
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Meet
Our Faculty and Staff/Administration, Operations, and Support
Staff |
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| Adjunct Course Faculty |
Dennis McGowan, Deputy Director |
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Lisa LaDue, Senior Technical Advisor |
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Lee J. Sweat, Jr., Recovery Operations |
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Jim Coyle, Family Assistance Operations, Mental
Health Support |
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Eddie Neal, Radiological Considerations |
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Jack Herrmann, Family Assistance Operations |
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Ken Thompson, Family Assistance Operations |
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Steven Koosmann, Funeral Service Support |
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Stephen Smith, Funeral Service Support |
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Ron Snyder, Incident Management & Site
Safety |
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Don Ransford, Incident Management, Site
Safety & Special Operations |
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Alexander Duarte, Traumatic Stress |
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Christine "Dusty" Bowenkamp,
Staff Processing Operations |
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| Administration, Operations, and Support Staff |
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Doug Feil, Executive Director of Environmental
Health, Safety & Security Dept., KCC |
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Pat Berntsen, Executive Director of Grants
and Federal Programs, KCC |
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Edgar Thornton, Director of Environmental
Health, Safety & Security Dept. & Interim Director of The
National Mass Fatalities Institute, KCC |
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Michael Holmes, Funeral Service Profession
Liaison |
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Ann Bates, Office Coordinator |
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Pamela Edwards, Semantic Web Librarian |
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Donna Hoppes, Web Site Manager |
Dennis McGowan is Senior Advisor for the National Mass Fatalities
Institute. Dennis retired as Chief of Operations for the Fulton
County Medical Examiner’s Office in Atlanta, Georgia. He was
Chief Investigator for the Medical Examiner’s Office prior
to that position. He is an experienced medical-legal investigator
and emergency response program manager. Dennis was a firefighter
in New England during the 1970s and worked in the New Jersey Medical
Examiner’s Office for 11 years.
Dennis has over 25 years of fatality/mass fatality management
experience and disaster mitigation planning, training, and response
including coordination of the mass fatality planning for the 1996
Olympic Games in Atlanta. He has worked at numerous mass fatality
incidents including Egypt Air in 1999 and the World Trade Center
attacks and American Air 587 in 2001. He also participated in
TopOff and TopOff 2 preparedness exercises. Dennis has specialized
training and experience in terrorism response and weapons of mass
destruction incident planning and mitigation. With his experience
and knowledge, Dennis has traveled throughout the United States
and internationally as a presenter and instructor.
Dennis also contributed the "Final Disposition" article
to the 2005 "Capstone Document: Mass Fatality Management for
Incidents Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction" prepared by
the U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command, Military
Improved Response Program and Department of Justice, Office of Justice
Programs, Office for Domestic Preparedness.
Capstone Document: Mass Fatality Management for Incidents Involving
Weapons of Mass Destruction (pages 41-42) http://www.edgewood.army.mil/hld/dl/MFM_Capstone_August_2005.pdf
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Lisa is the co-founder, former director, and senior technical
advisor for the National Mass Fatalities Institute in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa. She has been providing clinical social work and mental health
services for over 30 years to those who have been impacted by traumatic
events. Lisa lectures internationally on topics related to disaster
response, trauma, terrorism, and mass fatalities, with the unique
perspective of providing services to individuals, families and communities
as an integral part of the emergency/disaster response system.
After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Lisa served as an
American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Coordinator at the Pentagon
and the Pentagon Family Assistance Center. In November 2001, she
coordinated Red Cross disaster mental health services on New York’s
Staten Island. Lisa has co-authored articles and contributed to
a textbook on topics related to the disaster mental health response
to the attack on the Pentagon.
In January, 2005, Lisa responded to the Indian Ocean Tsunami, working
for three weeks in Khao Lak, Thailand with a team of trauma specialists
sponsored by the Foundation for Human Enrichment. She was the co-leader
of a team of trauma specialists to Tamil Nadu, India, in June 2005,
providing trauma recovery training and services for tsunami survivors
suffering from persistent post traumatic stress symptoms. Both teams
taught and demonstrated trauma intervention techniques to local
human services providers based on Somatic Experiencing .
Following Hurricane Katrina, Lisa responded as a Mental Health Specialist
with the Iowa-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team that went to Bay
St. Louis, Mississippi where the team established and maintained
a field hospital for hurricane survivors. In February 2006, Lisa
traveled to New Orleans with a Trauma Outreach Team providing Trauma
First Aid training to crisis counselors, outreach workers, and New
Orleans Fire Department peer counselors. |
Lee J. Sweat, Jr., recently retired as Inspector with the Georgia
Bureau of Investigation (GBI) after more than 25 years in law enforcement.
His experience also included military and municipal police experience.
Lee served as Supervisor of the Mortuary/Recovery efforts for the
Albany Flood of 1994 and as Site Supervisor in 2002 during the Tri-State
Crematory Recovery.
Lee's educational background includes University of Georgia, Georgia
Southern University, Columbus State University, and GACP Law Enforcement
Command College. He received over 3,000 hours of law enforcement
related training including certification as a Basic Emergency Medical
Technician. Lee is currently a private consultant and lectures internationally
on Mass Fatality Recovery Issues. |
Jim Coyle holds a masters degree in counseling and has been
a pastor for 24 years. He is a Founding Member of the Department
of Homeland Security and has served as Chaplain and Mental Health
Specialist at the national, state and local level. He has devoted
his life to helping people transition through loss and trauma. Jim
was on the Nevada 1DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistance Team) for 10
years before transferring to the Iowa 1DMAT team in 2005. Jim has
been on several deployments and has extensive experience in mass
fatality preparedness. Jim has also worked as a Chaplain at the
University Medical Trauma Center along with the Metropolitan Police
Department in Las Vegas, Nevada.
From September thru December of 2005, Jim was instrumental in the
MST (Management Support Team) for NDMS (National Disaster Medical
System) in helping victims from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the
Gulf Coast. His experience in this disaster ranged from Strike Teams
in the field to the Family Assistant Center in Baton Rouge to the
Morgue Operations at St. Gabriel and Carville.
Jim is currently an adjunct professor at Kirkwood Community College,
the Fitness Director at the YMCA, and the Senior Pastor of Ellis
Community Church. His passion is in helping people get to a better
place physically, spiritually and emotionally. |
Eddie Neal has over 27 years experience in the nuclear industry.
This includes 17 years of vocational evaluation and instruction.
He has designed and conducted HAZWOPER, Radiological Worker, and
other environmental/health and safety courses for the Savannah River
Site, the Oak Ridge Reservation, and numerous Department of Energy
sites. Neal holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from
Arkansas Tech University.
Currently, Neal is a research associate with the University of Tennessee,
The Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment (ISSE). Additionally,
he serves as a Radiological Worker Training course instructor at
the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
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Jack Herrmann earned his master's degree in counseling, family
and work life studies from the University of Rochester, and is a
national certified counselor and a licensed mental health counselor
in the state of New York. In January 2007, he was appointed Project
Director, Public Health Preparedness at the National Association
of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) in Washington, DC.
In that role he oversees a cooperative agreement between NACCHO
and the Medical Reserve Corps, a volunteer program of the Office
of the Surgeon General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Prior to this position, Jack was assistant professor of psychiatry
(and clinical nursing) at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
Over his 17 years of employment with that institution, he served
as the Director of Community and Multicultural Affairs, Director
of Strong Employee Assistance Program, Coordinator of the Center
for the Study and Prevention of Suicide, and most recently, Director
of the Program in Disaster Mental Health, overseeing the development
and dissemination of a statewide disaster mental health training
program funded by the New York State Department of Health and New
York State Office of Mental Health.
Jack also has extensive experience in disaster preparedness and
response as a volunteer with the American Red Cross for over a decade.
He has served as the volunteer New York State Disaster Mental Health
Lead and most recently as the Disaster Mental Health Consultant
for the Northeast Service area covering the northeast and the Caribbean.
Jack has responded to numerous local, state, and national disasters
ranging from earthquakes, floods, and aviation accidents. He served
as the American Red Cross mental health coordinator for the New
York City Family Assistance Center during the first 11 days following
the attacks on the World Trade Center (2001) and the administrator
for health, mental health, and client services for the American
Red Cross Disaster Relief Operation in Louisiana for the first two
weeks following both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (2005). Jack has
received a number of local, state, regional, and national disaster
service awards for his volunteer efforts.
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Ken Thompson is a Senior Field Superintendent for Chesapeake
Energy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Prior to his role with Chesapeake
Energy, Ken served as Director of External Affairs for the Oklahoma
City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism,
where he was responsible for education, outreach and assisting the
Institute in its mission to prevent and deter terrorism or mitigate
its effects.
Since April 19, 1995, Ken has been an active participant in the
planning, establishment and construction of the Oklahoma City
National Memorial and the Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism.
As a family member, Ken has first-hand experience of the effects
of terrorism in our world today. His activities have included
co-chairing the Oklahoma City National Memorial Family, Survivor
& Rescue Worker Conscience Committee, serving as a board member
of the Oklahoma City National Memorial, and serving as a founding
member of the Institute’s advisory committee.
Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Ken volunteered
time in New York City as a Red Cross Volunteer and was instrumental
in guiding New York City leaders through a process for family members
and survivors to begin dealing with the long-term effects of the
tragedy. Ken was selected by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
the A&E Television Network and Biography to receive the 2002
Biography Community Hero Award for the City of New York due to his
outstanding service to the City of New York in the months following
September 11, 2001. In 2005, the President’s Council on Service
and Civic Participation selected Ken for the President’s Volunteer
Service Gold Award for 2004 for his commitment to strengthening
the nation and making a difference through volunteer service.
A native Oklahoman, Ken attended Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma,
and the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. Ken, his wife,
Shannon, and their daughters, Faith and Hope, live in Oklahoma City.
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Steven Koosmann, M.S.Ed., is a licensed funeral director and
embalmer. He is also Director of the Funeral Service Education
Program at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park. He possesses
twenty-seven years of teaching experience in embalming and restorative
art.
Steve has traveled extensively and done comprehensive studies
of different cultures and their methods of final disposition.
He is co-author and instructor of "Mass Disaster and Mass
Fatalities Response – Overview and Responsibilities for
Funeral Service Professionals.”
Steve participated in the development of the "Mass Fatalities
Response Planning for Funeral Service Professionals" project.
This product of The National Mass Fatalities Institute will be
offered to funeral service professionals to facilitate their participation
in their local mass fatalities response planning process. |
Stephen W. Smith, M.S.Ed., is a licensed funeral director and
embalmer in Missouri and Illinois. Steve is an Assistant Professor
in the Department of Funeral Service Education at St. Louis Community
College (STLCC) at Forest Park and is the Program Director for the
Certificate of Proficiency in Funeral Directing. He also co-authored
and instructs the "Mass Disaster and Mass Fatalities Response"
course developed in conjunction with the National Mass Fatalities
Institute.
Steve was responsible for launching the Funeral Directing Program
at STLCC in 2000. His teaching responsibilities at St. Louis Community
College include funeral service psychology, funeral management
and merchandising, history of funeral service, and funeral service
law.
Prior to his appointment at STLCC, Steve was an instructor for the
Mortuary Science and Funeral Service program located at Southern
Illinois University in Carbondale as well as the Commonwealth Institute
of Funeral Service in Houston, TX.
He has authored or co-authored articles related to the funeral service
profession in The Director, the official publication of the
National Funeral Directors Association.
Steve participated in the development of the "Mass Fatalities
Response Planning for Funeral Service Professionals" project.
This product of The National Mass Fatalities Institute will be
offered to funeral service professionals to facilitate their participation
in their local mass fatalities response planning process. |
Ron Snyder holds a BA in biology with minors in chemistry
and physics and an MA in education. He has served as the Training
Supervisor and Programs Administrator for HMTRI (Hazardous Materials
and Training Research Institute) and the ETC (Environmental Training
Center) for Kirkwood Community College since 1989. He is responsible
for curriculum development and delivery for the NIEHS Train-the-Trainer
Program, as well as the OSHA Susan Harwood Grant and all Environmental
Safety and Health programs. He also serves as the Kirkwood Community
College Program Director for OSHA Outreach Training as part of the
Midwest OSHA Education Center. Prior to his Kirkwood assignment,
Ron served as an Academic Dean at the post-secondary level and as
Program Director for International Education while in Brazil.
As a Certified Environmental Safety and Health Trainer (CET), Ron
serves on the Board of Certification for the National Environmental
Safety and Health Trainers Association (NESHTA) in the areas of
Emergency Response and OSHA. Ron is also an OSHA authorized 500,
501 trainer and MSHA trainer, as well as having trainer authorization
for the delivery of FEMA’s Incident Command System training
programs and the Department of Justice Weapons of Mass Destruction
Awareness and Operations programs. |
Don Ransford is a Captain with the Cedar Rapids Fire
Department. Capt. Ransford is intensely involved with the CRFD Hazardous
Materials and Special Operations Team. He responds to hazardous
materials incidents, confined space, trench, water, low and high
angle, and structural collapse rescues. Capt. Ransford has been
named Fire Fighter of the Year multiple times by local organizations
for his outstanding public service to the community. He has extensive
training in fire sciences, hazardous materials, confined space rescue,
special operations, trench rescue, water rescue, structural collapse
rescue, Incident Command, WMD/Terrorism Response, and OSHA.
Capt. Ransford is a fire instructor at the Central Iowa Training
Association (CITA)/Kirkwood Community College Fire School. He is
Lead Instructor at the Hazardous Materials Training and Research
Institute (HMTRI) in Industrial Spill Response, Wastesite Worker
and Supervisor, and Worker Safety for Disaster Events WMD Train-the-Trainer.
Don has coordinated the HMTRI adjunct teaching team for Hazwoper
worker training and for the Hazwoper Train-the-Trainer and Instructor
Refresher training since 1995. He is also an instructor at Kirkwood
Community College's OSHA Training Center in OSHA general industry
and construction. |
Alexandre Duarte holds a degree in education and is a Certified
Rolfer and Somatic Experience Practitioner. His private practice
involves continuing work with trauma healing. As an educator, he
has worked with children since 1987, integrating his knowledge of
child development with his skills as a somatic therapist.
He has served as a Trauma Outreach Program team member for the Foundation
of Human Enrichment. In Thailand he worked with survivors and family
members affected by the 2005 Tsunami Disaster. During that time
he developed techniques to work with groups of traumatized children.
Alexandre was also a member of a trauma specialist team that traveled
to Tamil Nadu, India, and provided additional trauma recovery services
to tsunami survivors suffering from persistent post-traumatic stress
symptoms. |
Christine "Dusty" Bowenkamp is a retired Disaster Mental Health
Senior Associate for the American Red Cross. Her responsibilities
included development, activation and support of the ARC Disaster
Mental Health and Aviation Incident Response Team (AIR Team). She
was also responsible for assisting with development and implementation
of the psychological response portion of a weapons of mass destruction
program. Her daily responsibilities included providing technical
and administrative support to over 1,200 chapters in the recruitment,
training, and management of over 25,000 Disaster Mental Health volunteers,
thus enabling them to respond to the needs of those affected by
disasters locally, nationally and internationally.
Christine was a Level 5 disaster mental health or health officer
on over 60 national disaster relief operations including but not
limited to: Singapore Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Egypt Air, KAL
TWA Flight 800, Aero Mexico, and PSA air disasters; Oklahoma City
Explosion; California Floods of 1995, Midwest Floods of 1993; Hurricanes
Georges, Fran, Iniki, Andrew, Hugo; Northridge, Humboldt County,
Landers Big Bear, Loma Prieta, and Whittier Earthquakes; Malibu,
Laguna and Oakland Hills Firestorms.
Ms. Bowenkamp is an internationally recognized speaker, author,
and trainer on disaster mental health coordination and response.
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| ADMINISTRATION, OPERATIONS, SUPPORT
STAFF |
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Doug Feil is Executive Director of the Kirkwood Community
College Environmental Health, Safety & Security Programs and
the Associate Director of the Hazardous Materials Training and Research
Institute (HMTRI) since its formation in 1987. Doug oversees the
physical facilities of the Community Training and Response Center
and the quality and safety of center programs, directs the development
of new programs and administers the center's environmental worker
training programs, the center's industrial fire, safety, haz-mat
and rescue training. Doug is on the management team for the Advanced
Technology Environmental Education Center (ATEEC) funded by the
National Science Foundation. He is training director for the NIEHS-funded
Community College Consortium for Health and Safety Training (CCCHST)
and is technical director for the North Central Partnership for
Environmental Technology Education (NC PETE).
Doug has a BA in chemistry and environmental studies, 26 years experience
in post-secondary technical education and six years industrial and
environmental work experience. Doug is a board member of the national
Partnership for Environmental Technology Education (PETE) and a
member of the NC PETE Steering Committee. He is an advisor to Intelecom's
Preserving the Legacy curriculum development project and to the
HazMat Management Technology Skills Standard Project sponsored by
the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD).
Doug was the League of Innovation in the Community College 1988
Innovator of the Year, and he received the National Environmental
Training Association's 1994 National Environmental Educator of the
Year Award. Doug has been director of Kirkwood Community College's
Environmental Training Center since 1985 and was principal investigator
of the NIEHS/ Community College Consortium for Health and Safety
Training from 1992-1995. |
Pat Berntsen is Executive Director of Grants and Federal Programs
for Kirkwood Community College. In that capacity, she serves as
the principal investigator for the Community and College Consortium
for Health and Safety Training (CCCHST), one of 20 model programs
recognized by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
(NIEHS). She directs the North Central Partnership for Environmental
Technology Education (NC PETE), serving ten states with a membership
of 130 community colleges and affiliated universities, professional
societies, governmental agencies and businesses. Pat also administers
the Environmental Technology ET Online program, a Learning Anytime
Anywhere Partnership (LAAP) grant supported by the Fund for the
Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), Department of Education.
Pat has a BA in languages from the University of Iowa and is a Phi
Beta Kappa graduate. She holds an MA in social justice from the
University of Loyola, New Orleans, and has over 25 years experience
in educational fundraising, planning, grantwriting, and federal
program management.
Pat has secured millions of dollars in private funds for programs
supported by the prestigious Hewlett-Mellon Foundation, the Roy
J. Carver Trust Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute;
and in public funds through Title III, Higher Education Act; the
Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education; the Older Americans
Assistance Act; the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences;
the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation. She
has directed political campaigns for U.S. Senators, state legislators
and city mayors. |
Edgar Thornton is Director of Environmental Health, Safety &
Security Dept. & Interim Director of The National Mass Fatalities
Institute. He is responsible for management for the wide degree
of environmental science related training programs offered to public
and private sector personnel and undergraduate students.
Edgar manages the day-to-day operations of the Community Training
and Response Center which houses an Environmental Program that includes
grant funded training provided by the Federal Departments of Homeland
Security; Energy; Health and Human Services; State; Small Business
Administration; EPA; National Science Foundation and U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID).
His department offers a wide number of credit and non-credit
courses related to environmental management, occupational safety
and health, agriculture terrorism, disaster recovery and mass
fatalities planning. The program has an extensive number of partnerships
with major domestic and international companies, NGOs, and with
various colleges and universities.
Prior to these duties, Edgar worked for 20 years as a senior U.S.
federal government public policy professional and contract administrator.
His past experience includes working at USAID, EPA, U.S. Departments
of Energy and the Interior. He also served as Deputy Cabinet Secretary
for the New Mexico Environment Department. |
Michael K. Holmes is Manager of the William J. Harrison Education
Center for St. Louis Community College at Forrest Park. Mr. Holmes
earned a masters degree in Foreign Affairs and Middle East Policy
at Illinois State University and previously served as Service Center
Coordinator for the American Red Cross – Illinois District.
He is a licensed funeral director and member of the National Funeral
Director’s Association. His industry experience includes management
of family-owned funeral homes and cemeteries.
Michael’s duties with St. Louis Community College include
planning, coordination, development, and implementation of all
continuing education programs, business and industry credit courses,
seminars, workshops, programs, and conferences both on and off-campus.
His role with the Institute is to supervise the sub-contract granted
to St. Louis Community College and to provide support for development
and implementation of the "Mass Fatalities Response Planning
for Funeral Service Professionals" Project. The program is
funded by a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration and
will help prepare funeral service students and funeral directors
to assist their communities in planning for response to and recovery
from mass fatalities events.
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Ann Bates serves the National Mass Fatalities Institute
as its Office Coordinator. Ann assists the Director in course registration
and the preparation of all of the Institute’s workshops and
training courses. She is responsible for the day-to-day operations
of the office and is the friendly voice you are most likely to reach
when calling the Institute. |
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Pamela Edwards is Researcher and Online Librarian for the
National Mass Fatalities Institute. She earned a BA in history and
an MA in American studies. The Online Library offers Internet links
to information vital for responding to mass fatalities incidents.
Edwards brings to this position 29 years of professional experience
in research, information management, and collection management.
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Donna Hoppes is an educational programmer and serves
as the Web manager for National Mass Fatalities Institute. She is
responsible for converting classroom courses for online delivery
for the Environmental Training Center. |
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