LSU Eunice offers training to first responders on who to work with the media

Rural first responders attend media seminar
By Claudette Olivier
Staff Writer
About 20 people from around the region attended a media seminar for first responders Thursday at LSU Eunice.
“This is a good seminar, and it is free for those like first responders, 911 dispatchers, corrections officers, deputies, chiefs, sheriffs and city marshals office,” said Stephen Gontz, coordinator of the Department of Public Protection and Safety and instructor of criminal justice and forensic science at LSU Eunice. “It is rural training that they wouldn’t normally get.”
“We host this once a year, but we would like to do once a semester, if we have the funding.”
The seven-hour seminar, “Working with the Media: A Short Course for Rural First Responders,” is taught to provide rural first responders, whose organizations often do not a have a full or part-time public information officer, with the skills and knowledge to act as a public information officer should the opportunity arise. The course covers understanding how the media works and how to work with media outlets.
Topics covered during the seminar included utilizing the media in emergency and public awareness situations and working with the media at the scene of an emergency. The course is part of the Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium.
The seminar had attendants from St. Landry, Evangeline, Allen, Calcasieu, Vermilion and Allen parishes. The seminar is federally funded by grants through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Those in the class learned about what information they need to be a PIO if there is not one place or if the designated person is absent that day,” said Jerry Wells, Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium master instructor from Eastern Kentucky University. “The media is a business and must make a profit. The media gets information to public.”
“It is likely that those in the media have a four-year college degree. They are professionals and first responders should in turn be professional with them. First responders should be open and transparent and work in conjunction with media.”
Varden Guillory with the Eunice Police Department attended the seminar.
“We learned about building relationship with the media and working together with them,” Guillory said. “We were taught about the understanding that they have a job to do and we should give them what they need to inform the public, especially in times of an emergency.”
The seminar was the first time Mona Nelson with the Evangeline Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness had attended an event designed for rural first responders.
“We learned a lot about how to prepare for events like hurricanes, active shooters, severe weather and chemical spills,” Nelson said. “We have an understanding of the media, and how to handle things at the scene of an emergency and conduct interviews and public awareness campaigns.”
Contact Claudette Olivier at claudette.olivier@eunicetoday.com.