ROBERT J. LEAHY, JR., ED.D.
Emergency Management and Emergency Preparedness Background
In 2002 I returned to live in my boyhood hometown after a long absence. Having done this required me to retire from my volunteer service with the Lake County Sheriff’s Reserve Deputy Unit. An Illinois state statute requires Reserve Deputies to reside in the county they serve. My hometown is not in Lake County, Illinois.
After moving back, I discovered that my local community and county did not have Auxiliary Police or Reserve Deputy programs. I decided to I looked for other community service opportunities where I could use my skills and abilities. I found it with the Palatine Emergency Management Agency (PEMA). This organization is the local emergency management agency for the village and works with, or coordinates with, the Illinois Emergency Management Agency-Office of Homeland Security (IEMA-OHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). PEMA had approximately 200 volunteers associated with it. These volunteers supported the community during times of natural and man-made emergencies assisting the police, fire and public works departments. During non-emergency times, they also supported local events, schools and organizations. In 2018, the Village of Palatine, Illinois disbanded the PEMA Volunteer program.
In 2016, after twelve years of volunteer service, I suspended my volunteer work with PEMA. At that time, I was full-time employed with the US Department of Veterans Affairs and enrolled in a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) Leadership program at the American College of Education. I continued my emergency management/emergency preparedness interests as I used those subjects in my doctoral studies to include my dissertation.
I completed my doctoral progarm in late 2019 and there was no longer a local emergency management/emergency preparedness program I could join. However, I returned to active involvement in 2023 when I became a member of the CERT Association of Illinois. In addition to creating and updating official documentation for the 2023 Prairie State CERT Challenge, I also developed and conducted the CERT Jeopardy Station at the event. Later, I was once again an instructor for the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Train-the-Trainer Course for the November 2023 and March 2024 classes. This is training sponsored and supported by IEMA-OHS and the CERT Association of Illinois.
My résumé, education and writing examples in Emergency Management/Emergency Preparedness is found on the following pages:
