Technology has advanced McDonald County Emergency Management's charge over the years, but it hasn't changed Director Gregg Sweeten's commitment to his neighbors.

The McDonald County Emergency Management Office's mission is to prepare, protect and respond to the residents of McDonald County before, during and after an emergency.

In the 35 years Sweeten has been associated with emergency management, operations have evolved a great deal. Despite technological changes, Sweeten remains committed to connect his neighbors to resources for help.

"I started in 1981, becoming familiar with the former name, 'Civil Defense,'" Sweeten said. "Back then, we did security for events, weather spotting and river rescues. Nowadays, we use modern technology to connect McDonald County with other agencies throughout the state of Missouri," Sweeten said.

Two mobile and two portable statewide interoperable radios help him connect to other agencies.

"I can sit at my desk on the portable radio and talk to the 'SEOC,' which stands for the State Emergency Operation Center in Jefferson City, as well as all other agencies throughout Missouri."

Appointed by the McDonald County Commission, the office operates under Chapter 44 of the Revised Statues of Missouri.

McDonald County is part of Missouri Highway Patrol Region D. The entities in Region D have their own automated emergency operations center program, which connects all members to each other and to the state.

"The days of paper requests for resources have long gone," Sweeten said. "We simply add a request through WebEoc and everyone who needs to see it, does."

A good working example of that is a large mobile generator, which was requested and secured earlier this year.

"We used to always be looking for a mobile generator while preparing for a disaster, whether it be snow or ice storms or tornadoes," Sweeten said.

"This year we could apply for some extra FEMA money through the state and we asked for a mobile generator. This addition of a large mobile generator is such an asset to McDonald County. We can power shelters, water wells, sewer plants, and we can even use it as a backup to our generator at our emergency operations center. The generator came in shortly after the Goodman tornado and it would have been so much help to have it there that night," he said.

McDonald County has its fair share of weather-related disasters. This year, officials and neighbors experienced a double whammy in April: a record flooding event and a tornado that ripped through Goodman, Sweeten said.

Experienced and trained volunteers and staff members -- as well as neighbors helping neighbors -- made the response effort much more efficient.

"A very well-oiled team of volunteers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical services, city and county road and public works employees, and everyday citizens came to help at both disasters," Sweeten said.

"That makes the job of emergency management so much easier and the recovery so much faster."

The Emergency Management Office also gets a big hand-up with the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). Emergency Management officials oversee the training each year, and have now trained more than 50 McDonald County teachers.

"Having these teams trained in our school system is one of the biggest assets we have and we thank our school leadership for the forward thinking they have done to protect our children," Sweeten said.

Officials are also developing a new program, TEEN CERT, which will appeal to teenagers to help their neighbors.

"We want to get the younger generation engaged in volunteerism and helping their neighbors. We can teach them basic life-saving skills, fire safety, search and rescue, and how to be prepared for disasters at a much younger age," Sweeten said.

The county has experienced disasters this year, but has successfully rebounded. Emergency Management officials stand prepared for whatever happens next.

"Your Emergency Management Office is ready to respond to and recover from a disaster and we have the tools to make sure we can communicate throughout the state to get help in when we need it."