Organizations Filed Purposes:
GROUND ZERO'S CURRENT MISSION STATEMENT IS TO STRENGTHEN EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO NATURAL AND MAN-MADE DISASTER AT THE LOCAL, STATE, AND NATIONAL LEVEL. WE ARE FOCUSED ON 2 MAJOR GOALS: TRAIN THE PEOPLE, AND TRAIN THE CANINES.
TO STRENGTHEN EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO NATURAL AND MAN-MADE DISASTER AT THE LOCAL, STATE AND NATIONAL LEVEL THROUGH PROVISION OF HIGHLY TRAINED SAR CANINES AND FIRST RESPONDER TEAM TRAINING.
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS SEARCH AND RESCUE CANINE TEAM TRAINING PROGRAM GROUND ZERO PRODUCES HIGHLY SPECIALIZED SAR CANINES, VALUED AT 50,000, PLACES THEM WITH EMERGENCY RESPONDERS AT NO CHARGE, AND TRAINS THEM TO BE A TEAM. THE PROGRAM INCLUDES 18 MONTHS OF INTENSIVE CANINE TRAINING IN RUBBLE PILE, WILDERNESS, SCENT TRAILING, AND WATER RESCUE AND RECOVERY. TRAINING FOR SAR TEAMS INCLUDES STRUCTURAL COLLAPSE, SEARCH TACTICS, BASIC AND ADVANCED MEDICAL TRIAGE, RESPONSE TO ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS, HAZMAT, BASIC AND ADVANCED TECHNICAL RESCUE, AND MASS CASUALTY INCIDENTS. CANINES LEARN TO SEARCH, LOCATE AND ALERT WHEN HUMAN SCENT IS DETECTED AND ARE TRAINED TO IGNORE ALL OTHER SMELLS. MOST IMPORTANTLY THEY LEARN TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE SCENT OF THE FIRST RESPONDER AND THE VICTIM WHO MIGHT BE BURIED BELOW THE RUBBLE. THIS SPECIALIZED TRAINING MEANS WHEN A TRAINED CANINE BARKS TO ALERT THE FIRST RESPONDER, THERE IS, IN FACT, A PERSON IN NEED OF RESCUING. CANINES ARE ALSO TRAINED TO NAVIGATE UNSTABLE FOOTING, INCLUDING COLLAPSED CONCRETE BUILDINGS WITH GLASS AND NAILS EVERYWHERE. OFF-LEASH TRAINING ENABLES THE CANINE, INDEPENDENT OF THEIR HANDLER, TO SEARCH THE SCENE OF A DISASTER MORE SAFELY AND EFFECTIVELY THAN A HUMAN FIRST RESPONDER. IN 2016, THERE WERE ONLY 9 DOGS CERTIFIED IN OKLAHOMA TO RESPOND TO DISASTER EVENTS AND MOST WERE NEARING RETIREMENT AGE. OK TASK FORCE 1, COMPRISED OF EMERGENCY RESPONDERS FROM TULSA AND OKLAHOMA CITY, HAD BEEN ON A WAIT LIST FOR OVER 3 YEARS TO RECEIVE NEW CANINES, PUTTING THE TASK FORCE TEAMS IN BOTH CITIES IN A DIRE POSITION. GROUND ZERO ENSURES OK EMERGENCY RESPONDERS ALWAYS HAVE THE MINIMUM NUMBER OF CERTIFIED SAR CANINES REQUIRED TO DEPLOY AND PROVIDES ADVANCED TRAINING AND CONTINUING EDUCATIONS FOR SAR TEAMS. GROUND ZERO'S PROGRAMS INCLUDE COMMUNITY EDUCATION PRESENTATIONS, DISASTER RISK AWARENESS, PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE PRESENTATIONS IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS, AND ADVANCED SPECIALIZED SKILL TRAINING FOR EMERGENCY RESPONDERS.
Executives Listed on Filing
Total Salary includes financial earnings, benefits, and all related organization earnings listed on tax filing
| Name | Title | Hours Per Week | Total Salary |
|---|
| Jc Watts | BOARD MEMBER | 0.5 | $0 |
| Rebecca M Switzer | PRESIDENT | 40 | $0 |
| Craig Sanger | BOARD MEMBER | 0.5 | $0 |
| Becky Samples | BOARD MEMBER | 0.5 | $0 |
| Ken Miller | BOARD MEMBER | 0.5 | $0 |
| Terri Jungels | EXECUTIVE DI | 20 | $0 |
| Kacee Van Horn | BOARD MEMBER | 1 | $0 |
| Joe Dorman | BOARD MEMBER | 0.5 | $0 |
| Mike Copeland | BOARD MEMBER | 0.5 | $0 |
| Kory Coots | SECRETARY | 1 | $0 |
| Bryan Clifton | VICE PRESIDE | 1 | $0 |
Data for this page was sourced from XML published by IRS (
public 990 form dataset) from:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/irs-form-990/202003189349305870_public.xml