Pittsburgh G20 Starts tomorrow

Security is tight in Pittsburgh on the eve of the G20 summit scheduled for September 24 and 25 and no doubt that Canadian security officials are paying close attention in light of the G8 / G20 meetings scheduled for June 2010.



Here are a couple of links to stories and an active news organization from the Pittsburgh area.

Pittsburgh businesses prepare:
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2009/09/21/daily23.html

Local news station

http://www.wpxi.com/news/index.html

An older article on how protesters were preparing for the G20

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_633219.html

Good Advice

The sign says it all.

Job Posting - EMS Director

One of our previous clients, the Manitoulin-Sudbury District Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB), is recruiting a Director of EMS.

Emergency Management & Training provided consulting for and contract management of the Manitoulin Sudbury EMS four years ago, assisting to hire Jeff Horseman, the current EMS Chief. Jeff is now moving closer to home and has accepted a position in Huron County. We wish Jeff much success in his new position.

Manitoulin-Sudbury DSSAB seeks a highly motivated professional to fill the position of Director of EMS, overseeing the land ambulance services in the M-S DSSAB's jurisdiction. The Director is responsible to monitor compliance with government standards and the the requirements/expectations of the DSSAB, promote the advancement of patient care, ensure cost effective operations and plan the short and long term development of the ambulance service.

Qualifications include: experience with public sector administration and financial management; the ability to apply relevant statutes and regulations; manage land ambulance service; develop and execute service delivery plans with sound knowledge of staff relations issues and accepted practices.

The Manitoulin-Sudbury EMS head office is in Espanola, in the beautiful Manitoulin - Sudbury area.

The competition number is 2009-01-AD and the deadline for applications by resume is October 9, 2009 at 4:30 pm.

Human Resources Competition #2009-01-AD

Manitoulin-Sudbury District Social Services Administration Board

210 Mead Blvd., Espanola, ON P5E 1R9

Fax: 705.862.7866

Email: hr@msdsb.net

Website: http://www.msdsb.net/

Manitoulin-Sudbury EMS covers 25,000 sq. kilometres stretching from the French River to Chapleau. It is a beautiful area and the DSSAB team is great to work with. If you have EMS management experience and are a great leader, we would recommend you take a good look at this opportunity.

Seats Started Selling Within Hours

Registrations for the Crisis Communications Seminar started arriving within a couple hours of our first announcement. With only 27 available seats (less now) and $50 off for registrations received by September 30, NOW is the time to register for this highly informative and interactive seminar.

With expert instruction from Terry Blace, John Devine, Don Saxon, and Darryl Culley this session will help prepare you for any media interaction, especially when there is a crisis occuring.

Who should attend:

Fire and EMS Chief’s and senior officers
Health Care facility Administrators and senior managers
Municipal CAO’s, Directors and officials
Corporate executives and senior managers
School Board Directors and School Principals
Not-for-profit organizations
Emergency Control Group members
Anyone who may be called upon as the Public Information Officer

Seminar Date: October 28 & 29 – 9:00 am to 4:30 pm

Location: Holiday Inn Express, 6100 Hwy 7, Vaughan (near Hwy 427)

Register for this session by emailing: info@emergencymgt.com with the participant’s name, title, organization, mailing address, telephone and email address. An invoice will be emailed.

Save $50 for registrations received by September 30, 2009 – Only $699.00.
Registrations received after September 30 are $749.00. GST will be added to the registration fee.

Registration includes lunch and breaks.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Girls Call For Help Via Facebook

Rather than calling for help via the emergency number 0-0-0, two Australian girls aged 10 and 12 messaged a friend on Facebook via their mobile phone to advise that they were stuck in a storm drain. Adelaide Metropolitan Fire Service officials expressed concern that the girls used Facebook, possibly delaying emergency responders rather than using the phone to call the emergency number.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/07/2678945.htm

We are finding more incidents of young people using the technology that they use for daily contact during emergencies. Everything from texting their parents from inside an overturned school bus, twittering during school code reds, and now facebook to call for help.

This poses two challenges; educating young people on the best and most direct way to access emergency assistance, and keeping up with the impacts that new technologies being released will have on emergencies.

At least one 9-1-1 centre in the USA is already accepting emergency calls via texting which is feasible as GPS locations of the cell phones accompany the text call.

Emergency communications centres in Canada, lacking GPS data, still have difficulting tracking down cell phone callers - and this is an issue that has been with us for more than a decade. How will regulatory bodies and emergency agencies address new technologies when they haven't caught up to old technologies?

Business Excellence Award Nomination

Emergency Management & Training Inc. has been nominated for the 2009 Business Excellence Award – Service Sector in the annual Greater Barrie Chamber of Commerce search for businesses of distinction. Finalists for the award will be announced in October with the awards being presented in November.

“It is such an honour to be nominated for this highly distinguished award” comments Darryl Culley, President of EMT. “Without knowing who nominated us, it is exciting to see our rapidly growing company being recognized in this way.”

US President to declare Cyber-Security Emergencies

A proposed bill currently on the table in the United States would give the US President the authority to seize control of the internet in the event of a cyber-security emergency. (What is the definition of a cyber-security emergency?)

While the US President's authority would be limited to the internet infrastructure in the USA, much of the Canadian and even world's internet infrastructure is routed through or based in the US networks and American companies. The President would be able to direct which internet companies are on-line, off-line, restricted, who they can provide service to or cut off, etc.

An interesting story to follow over the coming months...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10320096-38.html

Persons with Disabilities and Disasters - Report

The US National Council on Disabilities has released a report called "Effective Emergency Management: Making Improvements for Communities and People with Disabilities. This report highlights the challenges that persons with disabilities face during a disaster and the planning processes required to ensure their safety during emergencies.

There are many beneficial points within the document which can be found at the link below.

http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2009/NCD_EmergencyManagement_HTML/EffectiveEmergencyManagement.html

Note: in an earlier blog entry we identified the deaf and hard of hearing as a planning focus including a position paper by the Canadian Hearing Society - scroll down to May 2009.