The High Alert Institute helps those not served by municipal, local, county, state, regional or federal programs/agencies to be Disaster Ready.

The High Alert Institute, Inc. envisions a world where all people, families, communities, businesses and organizations are disaster ready.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: We will support and promote Disaster Education, Planning, Preparedness and, when possible, provide Disaster Response and Recovery for animal owners, animal caretakers and animal welfare organization.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Two: We will support, promote and when possible, provide rescue & shelter for freshwater non-native exotic and ornamental aquatic pets.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Three: We will support, promote and when possible, provide opportunities for encounters with freshwater non-native exotic aquatic pets for special needs individuals and terminally ill children.

Goal Type: New program(s) based on observed changes in needs among our constituencies/communities served.

Describe an investment in leadership

Despite COVID-19 response activities, our Executive Director and our Founders have engaged with 501c3 management experts through programs hosted by SBA, South Carolina Community College Association and private vendors.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

• Community Building

• Policy Advocacy

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

We have relationships with local, state and national aquaculture organizations, local and state Emergency Management, State of Florida Agricultural Response Teams, animal rescue, botanical gardens, aquariums, aquaponic operations and ornamental fish owners. We have existing relationships with Make A Wish Foundation and Give Kids The World. The Florida State Agricultural Response Team (FL-SART) as well as county and state EOCs have all been very supportive as we are the only freshwater non-native aquatic pet rescue in FEMA Region 4 (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee & Kentucky).

Most of our Board members are frontline healthcare workers. One of our board members died of COVID-19 after he opted to work in an Emergency Room in an underserved community even after that ER ran out of PPE for staff. In the first six month of the pandemic, Thee High Alert Institute in partnership with Medical and Regulatory Affairs Specialists, LLC reviewed the majority of the antiviral repurposing literature in an attempt to identify an existing licensed drug combination effective against COVID-19. The Institute and MRAS prepared an article for publication and developed a protocol for facilities to use when administering the most effective drug combinations. The Institute found that no single drug available as of June 2020 was effective against COVID-19. A WHO clinical trial published in November 2020 would prove the institute correct. Fortunately, 2020 and 2021 saw no major storms resulting in the need for a fish rescue in FEMA Region 4. However, the fish in our community tank laid eggs yielding 200+ hatchlings that survived to adult size. Dubbed the "KOIVID" fish on social media, these 200+ animals are now part of the High Alert Institute family and occupy both 1000 gallon isolation tanks as well as the community tank. The Institute recognizes that its prior focus on Healthcare Disaster Education (including pandemic preparedness) is over. Post-Pandemic, every healthcare worker has "been there, done that" when it comes to pandemic and disaster. Our partners it the animal wellness and conservation community however have had the realization that they need more disaster education to be truly disaster ready. In 2022, the Institute will pivot to a post-pandemic approach to fulfilling its Vision and Mission. This pivot will introduce us to a new audience and allow us to focus all our efforts on disaster ready animal caregivers.