World Conference on Disaster Management

Emergency Management & Training is once again proud to have been a sponsor of the World Conference on Disaster Management.

We had opportunity to meet emergency management specialists from across Canada and the United States as well as Japan, South Africa, Uganda, Iran, Australia, Barbados and Denmark.

In addition to informative sessions, networking and checking out new technologies are always learning opportunities. And of course, meeting up with friends and cohorts from the past make the conference fun. Thank you to all of our clients and friends who stopped by to say Hi.

Always Ready Kids (ARK)

Earlier this week I had the privileged of meeting a young man (16 years old) who started a non-profit organization 5 years ago to educate youth on emergency preparedness. Yes, that means Konstantine Buhler was 11 years old when he founded Always Ready Kids.

This amazing young man spoke articulately with a group of emergency preparedness professionals explaining how the organization was established and run by "kids" to assisted "kids" and their families prepare for disasters. It was only then we found out that he was only 16, most of us assuming that he was a few years older than that by his professional presentation.

Always Ready Kids (ARK) has reached out to tens of thousands of young people across the United States with programs that are totally funded by corporate donations and now ARK is prepared to expand into other countries.

Community emergency preparedness officials should take a look at this program, the work completed and the methods they are using to educate young people - http://www.alwaysreadykids.org/ . An amazing young man with an amazing organization. Check it out.

The photo captures Konstantine and his father at the 2009 World Conference on Disaster Management.

The Value of Libraries

I am always learning from my clients. Our company chooses to deal with those organizations who are the progressive leaders in their fields, so we get to deal with some amazing people.

The Brampton Library is one of those organizations which sets the bar for others to reach towards. They have been working on a well developed pandemic plan along with other emergency procedures.

Today we had the opportunity to conduct a pandemic tabletop exercise for the library management team including the CEO Adele Kostiak. As we were debriefing the exercise, Ms. Kostiak stated that one of the opportunities for the library to participate in major community incidents is to "Provide servicing to the emergency process".

Library staff are experts at research, filtering accurate information from a world full of data, and communicating with the community. They already have well established communication processes and are a trusted source of information for the average person.

Libraries are an untapped resource for emergency planners with staff who are eager to assist.

Emergency planning departments usually have few staff, many of whom are double (or triple) hatters, with limited budgets, and can always use assistance with research and stakeholder communications. Libraries are a hidden resource.

The Brampton Library logo is underscored with the words "Education, Information, Inspiration". What a find for the Emergency Planner who takes advantage of their services.

H1N1 Now a Pandemic

Today the World Health Organization declared that H1N1 an official pandemic. H1N1 spreads easily between people and there have now been close to 30,000 cases in 74 countries, with 141 deaths related to the influenza strain.

Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization states "No previous pandemic has been detected so early or watched so closely, in real-time, right at the very beginning. The world can now reap the benefits of investments, over the last five years, in pandemic preparedness."

Leona Aglukkaq, Health Minister (Canada), responded to the WHO's upgraded rating of H1N1 reassuring Canadians "Today's WHO declaration is primarily a technical decision that is based on how the virus has spread, and does not reflect how severe it is."

Most cases of H1N1 are very mild however we should never let our guard down. Traditional pandemic planning has been for the avian influenza and then SARS struck suddenly in 2003 with a very serious illness, now it is H1N1 originating in swine. H1N1 has demonstrated how small of a world we live in. From a relatively small outbreak in Mexico the disease has now spread around the world in a matter of a few short months.

The key lesson is that all organizations need to continue to prepare their pandemic and business continuity planning, as the next outbreak could originate anywhere, any time, and have more significant health consequences.

Lets also be reminded that the annual flu outbreak has significant consequences. In Canada more than 20,000 people are sent to the hospital with influenza, with 4,000 to 8,000 deaths each year being attributed to the flu.

WHO website: http://www.who.int/en/
Fight Flu: http://www.fightflu.ca/index-eng.html
US Center for Disease Control: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/qa.htm

Seminar for Long Term Care / Retirement Homes

Successful Seminar for Long Term Care / Retirement Homes

In a sell out, 36 attendees from travelled from as far as Windsor and Espanola to attend the Emergency Management for Long Term Care and Retirement Homes Seminar.

Information was provided on the basics of an Incident Management System, doing a Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis, developing a Crisis Communications policy, prevention and mitigation and many other topics.

We would like to thank special guests Wieslawa Stepkowska, Antonio Ferreira, and Lyle Quan for their insightful presentations and sharing of real life experiences.