Dealing With Disasters - About Us
Pat Jocius, President and CEO

Pat Jocius has over 26 years of emergency management experience. She has been the Emergency Manager in the cities of Sunnyvale, Cupertino, and San Mateo, and the county Emergency Manager of Santa Clara County, California. Ms. Jocius was also the Emergency Manager for the national headquarters of Apple Computer, in Cupertino, California.

Ms. Jocius has a BA in Communications & MA in Instructional Technology and Design. Her Master's Thesis culminated in the publication of the book, Emergency Preparedness for School Staff and Students. She has published many articles in emergency management journals on school emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation.

Her specialty has been in the area of preparing vulnerable populations such as children, seniors, disabled people, and pets for emergencies. She is
often asked to speak on the topic of “The Psychological Affects of Disasters By Age Groups. Ms. Jocius is the founder and Chair of Board of Directors for Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disasters of San Mateo County, (CARD of San Mateo County), which provides free assistance to non-profit agencies in emergency planning and hosts a web site that assists vulnerable populations in emergency preparedness at www.Preparenow.org.

Ms. Jocius has been a trainer and speaker at the National International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), California Emergency Services Association, (CESA), and GDIN Conferences. As well as an international speaker in the countries of Puerto Rico and Italy. She responded to Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey, after their catastrophic earthquakes. She was also invited to speak at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland on the role of non-profit organizations in disasters as demonstrated by her personal experiences in the California Loma Prieta Earthquake and El Nino Storms.

As a School Emergency Preparedness Consultant, Ms. Jocius has written numerous elementary, high school and university emergency plans. Her favorite activity is to train school staff and students in first aid and search and rescue skills and to practice those skills in mock emergency drills and exercises. She gained her hands-on experience as a past member of the FEMA Urban Search & Rescue Team out of Menlo Park, California, and received the City of San Mateo Medal of Valor as a member of that USAR team that responded to the Oklahoma city bombing.

Ms Jocius is a trained meeting facilitator, with the special artistic talent of Graphic Recording and Graphic Facilitation. This skill is especially appreciated by school children when giving large assembly presentations. She entertains the audience by drawing disasters live in front of the students while giving them life saving tips. Furthering her “Get Prepared” messages, she is often seen on television and heard in radio commercials giving emergency preparedness public service announcements.

As a mother of four daughters and a community volunteer, Ms. Jocius began her emergency management career writing school emergency plans, training staff and students, and conducting exercises in her children’s schools. Now, through her company, “Dealing With Disasters”, she continues her passion for preparing the world’s children for disasters, by providing school staff with quick and easy training tools to prepare them to be able respond effectively to the many emergencies that could happen in schools.

Copyright 2008 Pat Jocius. All Rights Reserved.