Expertise in Emergencies: Jeff Jelinek

Show Transcript

Rauel LaBreche: 0:04

Welcome to frame of reference informed intelligent conversations about the issues and challenges facing everyone in today's world, in depth interviews with salt counties, leaders and professionals to help you expand in and form your frame of reference, brought to you by the max FM digital network. Now, here's your host Rauel LaBreche. Well, well welcome that's three wells in a row. Well, welcome to High normally say, but I was thinking we should say something about a Well, welcome to you all there, the listening to our frame of reference podcast, especially these days where it seems every time we turn around, there's a new emergency, a new crisis going on, that everyone has to readjust to. And because we're in that kind of mode, I was really happy to find out that my guest today who is in the field of emergencies, that's his his game, his emergencies on a daily basis, that he was willing to come and talk with me today. I'm speaking of none other than Jeff Jellinek, who is the emergency management director for Sauk. County. Correct,

Jeff Jelinek:

 1:05

Jeff? That is correct. I got so much for having me. You got it. Right. Okay. Excellent. Well, so I actually

Rauel LaBreche:

 1:09

did one thing, right today, could we call my wife and let her know that

Jeff Jelinek:

 1:12

we're gonna let her know, forgive me,

Rauel LaBreche:

 1:14

I appreciate that. So, Jeff, tell me, what does an emergency management director do? So it's like, I always think of emergent emergency, the old fire show, you know, you know, is that emergency or?

Jeff Jelinek:

 1:26

Okay, that's one of the big things that I preach and we are not first responders. Okay, we are in the back background planning coordination. I mean, we do get involved oftentimes and different emergencies. It can be anything from a flood, which, you know, we have a lot of those right. We've been involved very heavily in the COVID response to that. We get we assist law enforcement, you know, bomb threats. Sometimes if there's barricaded subjects with public information, things. There's just a lot of different things that we get involved in. Besides training, a lot of training we do a lot of preparedness training with residents in the public with first responders and with the staff at the county Sure,

Rauel LaBreche:

 2:05

sure. And do you find I was just talking with Travis killer Pelican one to make sure I talked to said hello to Pelican commander for him. So this is it I got to find out about this whole Pelican thing at some point. But in Pelican one was saying how he is he was actually doing some teaching with us on active shooter training. But then he was talking about the sort of the the regulation factors that we have to do to self regulate to kind of just be self aware. He talked about you know, being hyper, you know, aware of things and hypo aware of things that we can be in those different states and how that affects us. I would think being an emergency management director, it's hard to regulate to be an optimum because you're either in sort of okay, no emergencies today. Good. Doesn't look like it's gonna flood in the next week. Good. But then all sudden, boom, you know, things go crazy, because there's a, you know, 16 inches of snow coming tonight or whatever. Is that Is that a fair estimation of what life is like in your shoes?

Jeff Jelinek:

 3:10

Yeah, the big thing is we really play that game all the time. So okay, something's not happening here. Just like with the snowstorm that's going out East right now. I'm thinking through my mind, what if it happened here? What would be the things that we do and not that we get that much involved with the snow removal? But if power starts going out, right, we'll need assistance. Those are things. So maintaining a level head is probably one of the biggest things. I mean, we you do definitely get adrenaline rushes. But I think as an emergency management director, we're really looking at the community as a whole. There's that site specific incident, and sometimes it might be the whole county. But if it's flooding, you know, it's water, but then what are going to be the impacts from that. I mean, it's it's not just when the water goes down, and always caught getting back to that new normal. For a lot of individuals that are impacted. They're never going to go back to normal. They've lost so many things. And that's one of the big things that we really look at, is trying to look at the community as a whole, just not now. But what's it going to be like, in a month? Six months a year? Sure. And oftentimes many years out.

Rauel LaBreche:

 4:10

Yeah, I know, I've talked with Kathy lens quite a bit with an organization called gather my lost sheep, and she's really a specialist in trauma care. And she talks about that same sort of thing where, when you're in an event like that, the trauma of that can often take months, if not years to really impact a person where they realize that oh, gosh, I'm still grieving over that whole process. I'm still struggling with fear over what happened during that period of time. So I would imagine that's part of that picture right?

Jeff Jelinek:

 4:40

Oh, yeah, definitely. We have an individual's yo from the big 2008 flood we've had many between that but in 2018 flood got hit again. And then you know, got flooded out again. And then again, we're going to have heavy rains. So anytime it's going to be a heavy rain from that point on. They have that anxiety isn't going to happen again because we know how it rains around here, right? Um, so big thing I mean that the mental component of it right is huge, right? And just because something doesn't impact me, doesn't mean it's not impacting someone else. So that's the biggest thing that we really look at. Also from a long term recovery. It was kind of interesting. This past 2018 flood with our long term recovery committee, we really looked at mental health is one of the big things we offered mental health counseling, I made an agreement with Aspen family counseling here in Baraboo, to assist us through that process, okay, and at a reduced rate. And it really worked out great. So we had many individuals that were going through our long term recovery process that utilize the services, because it is traumatic. And it's not just a flood, it can be anything, just because something doesn't impact me doesn't mean it's not impacting someone else. And especially when we get into these disasters and emergencies, sure,

Rauel LaBreche:

 5:48

why isn't that part of the issue? No, again, Travis, talking about empathy, and how it's very different from sympathy. It's one thing to sit and go all those poor people in California with all those forest fires that are going on wildfires that are that must be awful. It's another thing to be empathetic and understand that well, when you talk with somebody Cal in California, and they seem kind of on the edge, and they're really kind of, you know, zoned out, it takes empathy to really understand that why are they such a jerk? Well, you know, try living through wildfires throughout an entire summer into the fall and you know, see what that does to your makeup. Right?

Jeff Jelinek:

 6:20

Yeah, and exactly, and it's just the thick, you know, that you're going to lose something you don't know from day to day, right? Maybe they have lost something already, maybe they did lose something, or a family member, and then just constant stress. And I mean, honestly, you can kind of see that right now with COVID. It's the same thing. I mean, it's just this for some people to stress others not, you know, having different belief systems, and whatever it is, for everyone. It's stressful. And definitely the empathy is so important. And I think that's one of the biggest things is emergency management, we oftentimes look at, you know, what is the results of property and things like that. But truly, the number one priority that we work on is life safety. And truly, when I talk life safety, it's not just blood or things like that. It's the mental component, the mental component can oftentimes be worse than the physical component from a life safety standpoint. Yeah. And

Rauel LaBreche:

 7:07

you think of that as being our you know, what our where our mental state is, it certainly affects what kinds of decisions we make about our safety, you know, if you're kind of, you know, out of it, because you're essentially in Shellshock, you're more prone to potentially have an accident, I would think, definitely, you know, not seeing something that you should would normally see. And even, you know, or the relationship issues that come with, in which I got to believe that a cycle downward, so, well, we have a lot to talk about, I can tell. So let's get into the fun part of the show, before we get into all that stuff. Because it does sounds like a lot of what you do, it's not so fun. But it's very, very necessary, and probably help people to think it through and to be aware of what's all involved. So but as you know, because you've seen the preparation, we don't have our opening segment, that is our favorite thing, since a opportunity for our listeners to kind of get a chance to relate to the person that I'm talking with instead of just the emergency management director, which you had another name, but I'm not going to use the French name that you went by. But he was so our favorite things. This is totally rose Shakti and I have to say something, you blow up with the answer that first comes to some obz something you have to think for a while. But please do not choose the option of all I just can't think of anything already that just, you know, just go with something that I've studied. I'm ready. All right, good. We're okay. I'm going to try to throw you that. Okay. How about Jeff had a favorite quote,

Jeff Jelinek:

 8:32

favorite quote, actually, we were just talking before we did this about the Denver Broncos, okay. And in their locker room, as you come out of the Denver Broncos locker room, it says, we're now just going brain dead out, of course, because I just lost it. It's something to the effect of treating someone you know, treat those that you can get nothing from the way you'd want to be treated. Okay. And truly, and he really talks about, you know, just because someone's not going to give something back, right really need to help them out. Right, we really need to help people out. And I think that's one of the big things that I'm seeing, as we've gone on. In disasters, we're great about helping individuals out. It's amazing is Sauk County, and it's amazing in the state of Wisconsin, the way people come together or emergencies. But in normal day to day life, you know, it's really good. Now I've got it, you can judge the character of a person, by the way they treat those that can get nothing from there you go. And it really, it's really, it's really sat with me. Because, you know, oftentimes people call us for help, they call for different things. And it might not be that big of a deal. In the big in the grand scheme. Sure, to me knowing everything that's going on, but for that individual. It's a big deal. Yeah. And so we need to try to do something as much as you can. And it's in that's looking at but just in general life, right. That's truly what I try to do. I really try to do things for folks outside of work. Sure. And I'm not expecting anything in return. I just do it because I want to do

Rauel LaBreche:

 9:58

it. Yeah, play it forward. Kind of exactly. So I think of two that there's an exercise that I've done years ago where it's basically an assessment of your personality. And it's, it assesses you both in your kind of your normal state, your stressful state, and then the state when there's nothing, no one watching, essentially. So in the the key is, you know, you really find people that have totally different states, depending on who they are. And the and the cool thing was, I always felt good about myself, because I was essentially the same person in all three of those states. Okay, that's where I want to be, I want to be when no one's looking, I still want to be the person says, Hey, let me help you with that. You know, and that's not You're not going to get any accolades for doing that. But it just feels like the right thing. Right?

Jeff Jelinek:

 10:45

Yeah. And I play that game every night. I'm married to a psychologist, so I get oh, God, I get free. Okay. Analysis every day, I will

Rauel LaBreche:

 10:54

put you in my prayers because you're constantly you have tendencies toward, you know, be like living with Sigmund Freud. Why did you dream that?

Jeff Jelinek:

 11:04

Luckily, she's not here to tell you. I'm sure she didn't want to know.

Rauel LaBreche:

 11:10

Tell her she can go on the website for for comedy, right. Some give some reviews of that letter? Like, how about a favorite book?

Jeff Jelinek:

 11:17

favorite favorite book? Not much in the reading, I can honestly say that. I would really say if it's anything. It's not so much books, its reports I do a lot of studying on active shooter. Active ongoing violence. Okay, so reading a lot of that stuff in my my free time. That's the stuff I look at. Because it's so important. And there's just more and more of that going on. Sure. And how could what can we do? What are the trends and is over the years that I've been doing this, the trends have really changed. Okay, so I just continually I that's what I enjoy doing. You know, that's one of my passions, is to try to go out and do training, as you talked about Herbster pelikin. One, Travis Hilliard, him and I have done many active shooter trainings together here. And we continue to do that. And it's really not just active shooter now it's active, ongoing violence, right? People are using cars are using all different types of things. So that's really what I read

Rauel LaBreche:

 12:07

on being aware of those things that are indicators that you might be developing

Jeff Jelinek:

 12:11

exists. There's a lot of different indicators nowadays. Sure. I've read so much in college I got I just never really read much.

Rauel LaBreche:

 12:22

Well, and I'm when we're getting ready to do the broadcast, you and Mike ganger. Were talking quite a bit. And I could tell there was a lot of sports information being you know, poured between the two. So I thought, I wonder if he's the kind of guy that likes those like sports books about the history of boxing or you know, history of football, that kind of thing is

Jeff Jelinek:

 12:38

no no, not much. I've got a couple of friends that are encyclopedias for that. So if I had any questions and a son, I give them a call. I get the answer.

Rauel LaBreche:

 12:46

Shows. No. Not Wikipedia. How about a favorite color?

Jeff Jelinek:

 12:54

My favorite color? Whatever my wife tells me. That's it. Yeah. Good answer. Wow. Highly trained professional.

Rauel LaBreche:

 13:03

Yeah, do not just oh my god, you know, what would look good on me right now?

Jeff Jelinek:

 13:09

Actually, my favorite color is black is black. Really? Yeah. I just love you know, now my friends really in the car shows in cars, okay. And I'm not much into him, but I go with them. And I mean, some of these paint jobs nowadays that they're coming out with some of these vehicles. I don't know what the colors are. But there's some blues that are just absolutely gorgeous too. But if I had a vehicle it'd be Black

Rauel LaBreche:

 13:28

isn't black hard, though in Wisconsin, because it shows all the salt in

Jeff Jelinek:

 13:31

one. Oh, yeah. It's hard.

Rauel LaBreche:

 13:33

You just get a bunch

Jeff Jelinek:

 13:34

of those little tokens that carwash Right, right.

Rauel LaBreche:

 13:37

I was taught Gray was a really good color to have in Wisconsin. Yeah, just kind of fades into everything else. Yeah, so I can't wait to stump you here. How about a favorite bird?

Jeff Jelinek:

 13:46

Favorite bird? Oh, there's no doubt about this one right? A Pelican

Rauel LaBreche:

 13:52

here that pelican. He shows you I got Okay, let's ask you this. Where does the Pelican thing come from?

Jeff Jelinek:

 13:59

Florida for Travis? Yeah, well, when the water was coming up him being on the south prairie Police Department and the river being right out back he started i He'd be my point of contact it just kind of get an idea because I knew how the river flow and turn out that Wisconsin River was coming up because when the water really came up and start coming towards the PD, you can write right on the river there. Okay, and one thing we just started talking and I have a love for pelicans. I mean, we go to Florida, my wife and I quite often have a pelican in my office. A really big size Pelican, okay. Yes, yes. Okay. That's that's really then. So and then our Pelican commander now, never commanded anything in my life, but at least that

Rauel LaBreche:

 14:40

would that be nice if you went down to Florida and said, Okay, pelicans over there. And the

Jeff Jelinek:

 14:45

funny thing I was telling Tracy that works really? Okay. Tracy Hamel works. She's the Deputy Director for our department, okay. And I was telling her that I was going down here to become a pelican crossing guard. And so I would be I'd have the Pelican underground and I was practicing Yeah. Yeah, so after believing that I was going to do that

Rauel LaBreche:

 15:03

pelicans need that sort of thing.

Jeff Jelinek:

 15:05

But he never takes me

Rauel LaBreche:

 15:06

seriously. You know, I have the same problem really, really do Jeff. So yeah, you don't pelicans are such interesting birds with the beak. They're weird the way it is. I remember all the cartoons that back in the day with, you know, Looney Tunes and whenever you see a pelican, they would have like, you know, that would be like a suitcase they'd be carrying something in there is that do they actually carry like fishing okay?

Jeff Jelinek:

 15:30

The big thing is a lot of them end up dying from starvation because for splashing in the water, how they get their their catch, okay, they end up getting cataracts on our eyes, and then they can't see the fish any longer really, really end up. That's end up they end up starving to death, unfortunately, well, that doesn't sound good. It's not a good thing. So if you

Rauel LaBreche:

 15:46

see a kind of a scrawny Pelican, maybe Oh, the fish market and get a couple of fish. Yeah. Yeah, definitely a couple.

Jeff Jelinek:

 15:52

They like mackerels.

Rauel LaBreche:

 15:53

Okay. Holy mackerel. It really is a holy field. Definitely. So how about a favorite food?

Jeff Jelinek:

 16:00

Favorite food? It's got to be Italian lasagna. Cool. Yeah.

Rauel LaBreche:

 16:03

Are you did you grow up Italian? Or, you know, I

Jeff Jelinek:

 16:06

had a good friend that was Italian and his grandmother. Oh, man. I'm telling you. I'm having flashbacks right now. For lunch. I mean, lunches were that wasn't lunch. It was like, it was just like, a buffet. Exactly. Yeah. I think that's where I probably got it in growing up and receiving there was so many great Italian and there are so many great Italian restaurants that just love Italian food. Yeah, it's interesting

Rauel LaBreche:

 16:31

that cultures that really kind of focus around the meal. Yeah. I had a close friend going through college. That's Greek and his family. I swear to God, the sucrose is when you would get together for any kind of a family gathering. Mama su gross made enough food for everybody that was inviting, invited to the party. And she assumed that everyone's gonna bring six guests. Yeah, you know, so there was enough for all that. It's like, Oh, my God, you know, the food just kept coming in. It was you know, spanakopita baklava. I was, you know, anything you could ever have your mouth water over with Greek it was there. And it was, you know, so it sounds like the same kind of thing. But yeah,

Jeff Jelinek:

 17:08

this was just lucky to be the four of us. He his grandpa and grandmas, his grandpa worked for Ford, for doubted were seen as auto mechanics. So he'd come home for lunch. And he'd eat all this stuff. And I'm like, how do you go back to work? I mean, it was just it was, it was great. I mean, it's really some fun times. Like I'm sitting right at their kitchen table right now just thinking about it. Well, I can't tell you what I did earlier today. But

Rauel LaBreche:

 17:29

that's okay. You know, those memories, they share? What is it? The olfactory sense is the strongest one for eliciting memories? So I'm sure you smell some good a lot lasagna right away back there.

Jeff Jelinek:

 17:39

Right. It's a it's a good, good memory.

Rauel LaBreche:

 17:43

Okay. So do you have like a favorite personality? Somebody you really follow religiously that you think is like the penultimate, maybe either person in your career or somebody that you think just, they're they have characteristics about them that you really think are the kind of person you'd like to be?

Jeff Jelinek:

 18:00

Yeah, I do. And it's nothing, probably nothing. It's not no historic figures. It was my neighbor, George Beasley. He passed away. July of 2020. Just a great man did a lot in the city of Portage that him and Nancy were from, from Illinois came up. They live right next door to us. Nancy's to this day still lives right next door to us. But a great man very active in the community. worked on getting in the Beasley pavilion that it's called now it's a music pavilion and by pocket park and the splash pad and all these different things that are in the rotary and all these different organizations, so very involved, but they're still to this day when things happen. I call him Papa George. And you know, what would Papa George do in this situation? What would Papa George do? So a very instrumental in my life? Unfortunately, we lost him way too early. I just outstanding man.

Rauel LaBreche:

 18:54

How old was he when he passed away?

Jeff Jelinek:

 18:56

78. Okay, just so I had a good long life. Just 78 would have been 78 on July 7 In the past July.

Rauel LaBreche:

 19:02

Okay. Isn't it interesting, too. It's those common folk often time. I've actually thought about that with President Lincoln, you know, that he is so often seen as like the penultimate, or, you know, the best president we've ever had. But he was common folk, you know, I mean, who around here grew up in a lien to you know, that's just like what so and then you think about, you know, his dad actually, you know, building log cabins by hand, you know, and growing up in places with dirt floors, and you know, so he knew what it was to be a true frontiersman.

Jeff Jelinek:

 19:34

And this was this was GEORGE Yeah, I grew up in a cut fields down south and kind of picking cotton. You know, not not a great thing and just self built man, State Farm agent down in Illinois for a lot of years. And just the way he approached people and the way he talked to people in just his interactions that it really had a tremendous impact on my life.

Rauel LaBreche:

 19:54

So he was truly the person that treats people very well without exception. Anything he was a

Jeff Jelinek:

 20:01

legend and unfortunately, with passing during COVID didn't kind of get the send off. He deserved and for sure, and we we tried to do everything we possibly could. But you know, unfortunately, the times the COVID just didn't get that too. Yeah,

Rauel LaBreche:

 20:13

yeah, that's fun. One of the most heartbreaking things about COVID is the the number of people that had had to say goodbye to someone without really having any opportunity to be there when they were passing. Definitely, you know, you read story after story of how heartbreaking that was for people. And I think one of the most concerning things for me, just looking around at that, is the number of people that have insulated themselves from Oh, yeah, that'd be too bad. And not really realizing the depth of that pain. And, you know, not being willing to go to a place where they can really, truly say, Okay, I haven't lost anyone close to me, just part of why COVID Maybe isn't treated as seriously as as could be should be, perhaps. But they, because they haven't had that closeness to it, like people have had with folks with losing jobs, say, you know, it's just really hard for a lot of people, I think, to go to that place where they can really feel the pain, or, you know, try to feel the pain of what someone has gone through. Right. And just

Jeff Jelinek:

 21:14

paying your last respects. Yeah. When you really think about it, like you're saying the lasting ramifications, because that's going to be something that is going to last for years. And it really goes back to what we talked about earlier, that mental health component. Yeah, I mean, that's a tremendous impact. We can't be there with the loved ones passing or you have to pick I think when for Papa George's funeral, there could only be like 40 or 50 people. Now, there would have been five 600 There's no doubt in my mind. Sure. There would have been that many, at least. Sure. And now to try to pick 50. Right. Well, you do that, right. We made the cut thing, but luckily, I didn't expect it. I mean, I honestly did not. But yeah, but you know, for me, I'd already I'd set my I got to say my my final piece. And I, I was fine with that I met emotionally and mentally I worked through that. Sure. And but you know, I really wanted to be there. Don't get me wrong, but it's like, you know, someone else can go, right. And luckily, we were asked, so my wife and I,

Rauel LaBreche:

 22:09

when you think of your wife probably would support this, that the mental health component to COVID has been so tremendous. And even our choice of words early on of saying social distancing, instead of just physical distancing. And I remember reading a report by I think it was a pediatrician out of lacrosse. And he said, one of the things that he saw early on, because this was written in like, April, or June or May of 2020, new saying the thing, one of the things he was observing was that COVID was a different kind of thing in that it was attacking our groups. And by attacking our groups, it was attacking our individual identity, because so much of how we define ourselves is by the groups that were part of. So you think of you know, Papa George, and the number of groups that he was involved in the number of groups that he had an impact on in there, and it's how many millions of those stories do they have to be across the whole world right now? And you're right, what the impact of that will probably not be felt for many, many, many, and I

Jeff Jelinek:

 23:09

my impact was only 12 years. I mean, we moved in, and it was 12 years until he passed, but you think about the impact. And it's not just him, but there's so many people that have those impacts are you just don't know. Right? You know, I did sit under the radar and just do those things and aren't looking for the, the media or the attention. They're just doing the right thing. Okay, now the good thing. Yeah, yeah.

Rauel LaBreche:

 23:29

So kind of along that line, is there a favorite little thing? That you really like it when someone close to you remembers to do it for you,

Jeff Jelinek:

 23:39

saying thank you. That's a little thing. Doesn't happen much anymore.

Rauel LaBreche:

 23:46

My when my daughter was growing up, Barney, remember,

Jeff Jelinek:

 23:50

remember? Oh, gosh,

Rauel LaBreche:

 23:52

TV, and his one song that he's saying please, and thank you. They are the magic words. And, you know, I don't particularly like Barney too much. And they just know especially when like, they introduce the other characters like, Oh, this is just hard. But then Teletubbies came in I went oh my god. That's compared to Teletubbies. You know, but that whole thing of please and thank you they are the magic words is like, what a great thing to teach kids that age. Right. So it's

Jeff Jelinek:

 24:18

not just kids. It's adults. He has a long way. Yeah, I mean, those two words go. They carry a lot of weight. Right. You know, I don't need anything. Just that thank you. Right. And it's my friends are great. I mean, I've got a great support group around me are fantastic are like that, but it's just, it's just all together here. And if it's not a friend, just the Thank You sure means a lot. Sure.

Rauel LaBreche:

 24:41

How about a favorite? Do you have a I was just thinking about this a favorite? Um, oh, gosh. Now I completely forgot what I was gonna say because it had to do with the talking about Barney and all those favorite things that go on with that. Boy, this is the first time this has happened, Jeff. For the next Ferret, I want to go to something Elephants All right. Okay, let's go to my How about a favorite place to go to when you want to destress?

Jeff Jelinek:

 25:06

Marco Island, Florida? Marco Island. Where is Marco Island, Florida, south of Naples south of Fort Myers about about 50 miles south of Fort Myers airport.

Rauel LaBreche:

 25:16

Okay, so not as far that's would that be along the east coast?

Jeff Jelinek:

 25:20

It's on the Gulf side. Gulf. West west coast. Okay. Yeah. Marco Island, Florida.

Rauel LaBreche:

 25:24

Okay. So how is that kind of in line with like, Orlando, would it be that

Jeff Jelinek:

 25:29

nor No, it's farther down? Farther down? It's way down. Okay. You know, where Alligator Alley comes across like from Miami? No clue. Okay, so I was 75. Okay, you're talking way down there. Okay.

Rauel LaBreche:

 25:39

So almost to the keys. Not quite, not quite. Okay. But I'm in line with what would

Jeff Jelinek:

 25:45

be