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George Heake

Institute for Disabilities
gheake@temple.edu
(215) 204-7177

GEORGE HEAKE is Director of Operations at Temple University’s Center for Preparedness, Education and Practice (CPREP), as well as Emergency Management Coordinator & Information Technology Accessibility Coordinator for Temple’s Institute on Disabilities the University Center of Excellence for Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) for Pennsylvania.

Heake has been an evangelist of accessibility for the disability community at the local, regional, national and international level. He is involved in a wide range of training and community outreach activities covering emergency preparedness, planning, response of recovery for special needs populations.  Heake serves on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, regional and national planning committees and workgroups relating to emergency preparedness and management with the special needs populations. He planned and implemented, with the support of the Institute on Disabilities and the Temple University community, two successful durable medical equipment relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina survivors.

George Heake has developed a model data collection, management and analysis system, called SPAR-GIS: Special Populations Analysis and Research with GIS. The basic tenant of SPAR-GIS is to utilize a process where information on the location of populations with special needs and supporting resources, such as accessible shelters and durable medical equipment (DME), can be colleceted, managed centrally, and analyzed in relation to both envionmental hazards and appropriate deployment of resources. (see www.spargis.org)

Heake plans to utilize SPAR-GIS in two ways: 1) to develop the working relationships of key agencies that represent the interests of the special needs populations, and to create a shared data set as well as the system where information can be transferred to a central data management site; and 2) to centralize the date for processing through a GIS data analysis system. The planning tool merges the population data with other information about resource location, environmental data, and juridictional information. These maps thus allow for planning for resource deployment should an emergency or disaster occur.

Projects in progress include working with locations of special needs populations in aggregate data framework and supporting resources, such as accessible shelters and durable medical equipment (DME). DME can be collected, managed centrally, and analyzed in relation to both environmental hazards and appropriate deployment of resources. Heake is currently working on a project for the Pennsylvania Department of Health to assess lessons learned from several counties in Pennsylvania which have utilized GIS mapping software to map special populations. Out of this assessment, a guide of recommendations will be produced, along with a list of resources for county planners.

Heake is also developing supplemental courses based on the ADA Best Practices Tool Kit for State and Local Governments from the Department of Justice as well as the Emergency Management Planning Guide for Special Needs Populations from the Department of Homeland Security, Civil Rights and Liberties group when it is available.

Heake is currently working on a project for the Pennsylvania Dept of Health to assess lessoned learned from several counties in Pennsylvania who have utilized GIS mapping software to map special populations. Out of this assessment, a guide of recommendations will ultimately be produced, along with a list of resources for county planners.

Projects

Special Populations Mapping & Community Outreach: A Guide for the Counties (2008)

SPAR-GIS Model (formerly PA-ARGONNE) (MS word)

Temple University VOAD (ongoing)

Assistive Technology Planned Recycling for Emergency Preparedness (AT PREP)

AT PREP: Collection and Refurbishment Centers (Proposal)