Grace, County Seeking Federal Funds To Outfit Response Center
Posted
Tim Robertson-trobertson@timesuniononline.com
WINONA LAKE - Federal money could help equip the Orthopaedic Capital Center, at Grace College, to serve as a response center during emergencies.
Grace College and the Kosciusko County Emergency Management Agency recently sent a letter to U.S. Congressman Mark Souder requesting more than $3 million to outfit the newly constructed facility for use as a command center for local, state and federal agencies during a wide-scale disaster. Grace College Chief Advancement Officer John Boal said the idea came through discussions with Grace faculty and local officials on how the facility could be utilized by the county.
"We got talking about different uses of the center, asking, 'How can this building offer maximum use for the county?'," said Boal.
"What we've talked about is, 'Can the building be situated in a way to facilitate a place first responders could use for meetings and planning?"
The Orthopaedic Capital Center contains offices, classrooms, meeting rooms, a gymnasium, an auditorium, and underground locker rooms.
"It could also be used as a temporary shelter if we get the necessary funding," Boal said.
EMA director Edward Rock said the 60,000 square foot Orthopaedic Capital Center provides the space necessary to launch a response operation to large-scale disasters.
"It has plenty of area to set up in and plenty of parking," said Rock. "It would be very easy to get people and equipment and get set up. You could be in communications mode really fast."
Rock said Kosciusko County's central location in Northern Indiana lends itself well for federal and state personnel to use the OCC as a command center for a regional disaster. "That's where I see it's biggest bang for the buck, in a major federal response situation," said Rock. "Locally, we probably would not use it for a local disaster unless something happened to our dispatch center here."
Boal said federal money is needed to equip the center with generators, emergency response supplies and new technology. "The biggest expense would be to get connected to the fiber optic grid in Indiana," Boal said.
The grid facilitates the communication needed for an emergency command post.
Rock said, if the requested funding comes through, the center would be the only one of its kind in the area. "It would be very difficult for other agencies to put together that kind of setup just because of the space issues," Rock said. "Any other county might be able to move certain amounts of it's equipment to an off-site location, but not anywhere close to what we have in Winona Lake."
