HISTORY OF THE NEXT OF KIN REGISTRY (NOKR)
 

"If we do not learn and evolve from past events who will the public trust in the future?" Mark V. Cerney NOKR 2004 at Traffic Victims Remembrance Day with California Highway Patrol in San Diego, CA NOKR registering veterans in Los Angeles, CA at Veterans Homeless Stand down with Kenny Nickelson Memorial Foundation NOKR President Mark Cerney and Michael Brown Director of FEMA discuss the response to Hurricane Katrina in Orlando, Fl       NOKR President Mark Cerney and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford The State of South Carolina is leading a movement to build a template state for emergency preparedness. NOKR is working in cooperation with the South Carolina Emergency Management Division (SCEMD). This cooperative relationship will create an innovative large-scale approach to provide all citizens in South Carolina information about the NOKR as a preparedness resource. NOKR is proud to be involved with this preparedness movement with the SCEMD. South Carolina will become the first state in the nation to provide the NOKR resource to all families and individuals in this manner. This template will be developed utilizing multiple resources and provide NOKR to both emergency agencies and to the public. Mark Cerney NOKR’s President, along side South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford addressed attendees at the 2007 Emergency Preparedness Conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.   Mark Cerney founded the National Next of Kin Registry (NOKR) because of a devastating and personal experience. An extended family member of Mark’s known as “MiMi,” was the nanny to Mark and his sisters for over two decades.   Mimi eventually became a resident of a convalescent care facility in San Diego, California due to multiple strokes. Mimi had been hospitalized for nearly a decade at the same care facility. Over the years, Mark had informed new staff repeatedly that if Mimi were near death or suddenly passed on; he was to be notified immediately. Mimi had Mark and his family listed as her immediate family contact in her patient file.  In late May 1990, Mimi passed on. Neither Mark nor his family members had been notified of her death or burial. The pain of knowing Mimi had died alone was Mark’s grief for many years. The frustration of what took place, the lack of communication, and out of love for Mimi, NOKR was born. On January 1, 1999, Mark began his research and case study on the information gap between the public and the agencies needing rapid next of kin or emergency point of contact information.     Volunteer Jim Weaver, 75, takes a phone call from a woman in the Hollywood, CA area who is looking for her father and brother, who are from New Orleans. Weaver and others are compiling names of the missing in a database for the Next of Kin Registry (nokr.org). DAVID CARLSON Staff Photographer In late 1999 Mark Cerney applied to volunteer at the Whatcom County Fire Rescue department in Washington State in hopes of delivering a new preparedness program. On January of 2000 Mark Cerney developed a community base program called Community Care 2000. The first goal of this new program was to follow up on all medical calls made by the Fire District. The second goal was to compile a confidential file of vital contact information for everyone living in the district.  This file simply would list who should be contacted if the district responds to an emergency at a given address. The 3rd goal of the community care 2000 was community education and launching a fire district website aimed at keeping the community informed. The volunteer sprit of Fire Fighters and EMT’s in Bellingham, Washington allowed for Community Care to grow. Community care 2000 was a success but Mark knew that for the impact to be greater that he had to develop a very robust but user-friendly service with web applications. The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, the long overdue void and the much-needed emergency next of kin locator systems revealed more urgency as well as faults in the present system and the necessity for a more simplified method of disseminating information. On Jan 1, 2004 NOKR was officially established. The service is paid for by donations from our founder's family. In 2005 post Hurricane Katrina Senator Barack Obama now United States President-Elect introduced the National Next of Kin Registry to the 109th Congress in S.1630, The National Emergency Family Locator Act.  The Next of Kin Registry was referenced in this bill as a standard for the Secretary of Homeland Security to consider in establishing the National Emergency Family Locator System. In 2007 the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) consulted with the Next of Kin Registry in an effort to answer HR5441 (Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2007), SEC. 689c. NOKR put forth the requested solution for the National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System (NEFRLS), which is being established in compliance with Congressional Legislation SEC. 689c of H.R. 5441 to help family members separated after major disasters to communicate with one another. As of today NOKR is used worldwide as a free resource to prepare for emergencies. NOKR has proven to be crucial in daily emergencies and disasters both domestically and abroad; the Asian Tsunami, London bombing, Hurricane Katrina and Rita. NOKR is a volunteer driven organization that currently has volunteers situated in 87 countries working to promote the FREE NOKR resource daily. The NOKR continues to recruit on a continuous basis to develop human resources in every part of the world. This enables NOKR to be ready, and on the ground wherever needed globally.