UAHuntsville student receives AEM credential from international emergency association

Cathy Carter Dempsey is living her life on hold.

Because Dempsey, a student at The University of Alabama in Huntsvillel and a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employee, must do required check-ins with an automated deployment database system on a regular basis, plans beyond a few days are out of the question — even her graduation date from the university is incalculable.

When called to deploy to a site, Disaster Assistance Employees (DAEs) are expected to have luggage packed and be ready to leave within two hours of receiving a call.

"Obviously, most DAEs have few commitments because they have to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice for indefinite periods of time … many DAEs are retired or semi-retired," Dempsey said. "I work for FEMA’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C., and I deploy to any region in the U.S. We respond to deployment calls after the President declares a disaster and gives the crisis area a number."

For her years of loyalty and dedication as an emergency management professional, the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) recently honored Dempsey as an associate emergency manager through their certification program. She and 10 other associate emergency managers from across the nation received their credentials at the 56th Annual IAEM Conference last month in Kansas City. Keynote speakers for the conference include R. David Paulison, Director of FEMA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Lt. General Russel L. Honoré, U.S. Army (Ret.), who was widely hailed as the "Category Five General" who led Task Force Katrina and was responsible for coordinating military relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina-affected areas across the Gulf Coast.

"The real reason I became involved in emergency management was because I wanted to do something to help my country after the events of September 11," Dempsey said. "On that tragic day, I became determined to learn all I could about safety, search, rescue, preparedness, terrorism and emergency management."

During her years in emergency management, Dempsey has deployed to crisis areas many times including working the floods in West Virginia that followed Hurricanes Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. FEMA deployed her to Atlanta in 2005 to work community relations because of Hurricane Katrina, but as soon as she arrived there she was rerouted to Alabama where she worked at a joint field office in Montgomery. More recently, she was deployed to Florida where she assisted with flood efforts because of Tropical Storm Fay.

Dempsey has received additional training in debris management, logistics and has training experience with the Civil Air Patrol. She has published numerous articles for emergency preparedness journals and newsletters including Mass Casualty Identification and Safety Issues During the Lee High School Bus Accident (January 2007) and Hurricane Charley: The Precursor of Katrina’s Events (February 2007) both published in the IAEM Bulletin. She wrote the book Helping the Elderly Prepare for Disaster - A Preparedness Guide for Senior Citizens available at the UAH Bookstore in the nursing section.

She also serves as a consultant for Channing Bete Company, Inc., publishers of educational and promotional products such as booklets, handbooks, and workbooks on social and behavioral topics. The company is also a distributor of American Heart Association training materials.

Dempsey, a senior at UAHuntsville, said her sociology studies help her to perform community relations duties when she deploys with FEMA to a disaster site. "I am tasked to provide disaster assistance information to people from many walks of life. Understanding a person's cultural heritage, aspects of their racial or ethnic identity, or other qualities of their community is beneficial to my work.

"People are under a lot of stress during and after disasters so having knowledge or understanding of their family, work, faith group, or other community support systems is essential," she explained. "My psychology minor is helpful to me too. I encounter disaster victims who are suicidal or depressed and being able to recognize certain mental states, such as Post Traumatic Stress, helps me to make appropriate referrals."

Dempsey is a widow and is the mother of four adult children. Her youngest daughter, Sarah, currently attends UAHuntsville and is enrolled in the Honors Program. Sarah is a political science major and will minor in global studies. Dempsey’s oldest son, Chris, will be a transfer student next year and is also planning to major in political science.

Dempsey's youngest son, Omar, is a computer graphic design student at Virginia College and her oldest daughter, Cheri, is nursing student at UNA.