Interesting Contacts

Earlier this month I had opportunity to take an amazing Tony Robbins' DWD course at the Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix AZ.

First, let me say DWD was the most dynamic course I have ever taken and would highly recommend it. It is an inspiring way to get one's life in focus. http://www.tonyrobbins.com/

Secondly, what an incredible reminder of the small world it is. While standing near the front with a new friend, an investment banker from Chicago, there was a tap on my shoulder. "Are you from Canada" was the question. It turns out, Dr. Russ Irwin, now a psychiatrist and professor at McMaster University Medical School was in my paramedic class in Niagara College many years ago. It had been more than 25 years since we had last been in touch.

And third, with 2000 people from 49 different countries it was an opportunity to meet many new friends, one of whom is Rodney.

Dr. Rodney Payton OBE (Order of the British Empire) has a Masters in Education, a Law Degree and is a highly decorated consultative surgeon, author and speaker. One of Rodney's specialties is in the motivation, training and appraisal of medical staff. His books include "Best Practices in Surgical Education", "Appraisal and Assessment in Medical Practice", and "Teaching & Learning in Medical Practice".

Check out his website and online book store at http://www.jwrodneypeyton.com/

Olympic Security Must Tighten

A story published by The Canadian Press today examines some of the Olympic security issues over past events and how the lessons must apply to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2009/12/26/12272271-cp.html

Toronto 3rd Most Vulnerable City

Toronto maybe the third most vulnerable city in North America to disease exposure acording to a Toronto Star article.

Pearson International Airport sees more than 32 Million passengers a year with direct international flights accounting for more than 10 million passengers. The potential of bringing disease along with the passengers is signficant.

Read the article at: http://www.healthzone.ca/health/newsfeatures/article/722788--pearson-airport-flu-magnet?bn=1

Olympic Torch Run Protests

On the first day of the Olympic Torch Run hundreds of protesters in Victoria BC disrupted the planned run and celebrations.

The Canadian Press reported protesters representing a variety of causes were there, from environmentalists to anti-war demonstrators to native-rights advocates.

Several anti-Olympics groups have sprouted up as the Games approach, promising to protest not just the torch relay but the Games themselves. The Olympic Resistance Network has sent out a call for activists across the country to use the relay to protest the Winter Games or other issues.

While the protest was generally peaceful protesters used marbles to put police horses, which were present to monitor the crowd, at risk of injury by falling.

Some activists have said they were inspired by the protests along the international torch relay ahead of last year's Beijing Olympics, primarily targeting China's human rights record. Those demonstrations showed the torch presents a useful podium for getting a message out to the world.

For the full story from the Canadian Press go to: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/091031/national/oly2010_torch_protests

While we hope that the Olympic Torch Run is seen as a celebration as it crosses our great country, communities where it is passing need to be prepared for the protests that may accompany it.

Provincial Emergency Management Conference

An amazing success.

After EMO cancelled their plans to host the annual Provincial Emergency Management Conference, the Red Cross (Ontario Zone) stepped in with only two months to go and they did a great job. Having been at many emergency management conferences, this one would rate at the very top. The organization was well done, the speakers were interesting, the program was jam packed, and the networking was great. Of course, Deerhurst is a wonderful place for a conference.

Congratulations to John Saunders (conference advisor), Annie Burke (conference chair), Tammy Fedick (registration), Jean Lodge (program), and Jack Lodge (logistics) and all of their volunteer support for a job well done. Special thanks to Jean and Jack Lodge for the evening of entertainment. Annie deserves a special round of applause for her leadership.

The Red Cross demonstrated in so many ways, through the successful rescuing of this conference, how they can be counted on. Ron, you have a great team.

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.

Texting and Driving - PSA

The following is a British public service commercial about texting and driving. It is graphic but sends home the message.

A video worth sharing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ttNgZDZruI

Mobile Command Post / ESU design

It is always exciting to get to travel to other jurisdictions to see how they have designed their emergency and disaster response. This past week I accompanied a Fire Chief and one of his Captains to Florida to look at mobile command posts, hazmat trucks and other disaster response vehicles that were in use, as well as spending a day and a half at a fire/specialty truck manufacturer. The objective of the trip was to come up with a practical design for a combination mobile command post and emergency support truck.

There were numerous lessons and ideas gained by talking with front line staff, disaster managers, senior officials and specialist truck manufacturers, too many to list. But the biggest lesson was a reminder of how valuable it is to get outside advice based on experience. Many thanks to the many professionals we met with, sharing their experiences; what they did right and what they would change in the future. The professionals we visited with had been to hurricanes, floods, chemical plant fires, train derailments etc., some travelling to other states to assist (e.g. Katrina), so when they had suggestions we listened carefully. Hopefully we will be able to take these nuggets of experience and apply them to meet the requirements of the community our truck is being designed for.

Churches Need To Prepare Too

Although we receive many comments of appreciation for our projects we normally don't post them (maybe we should). The letter below, however, demonstrates the importance of churches being prepared.

Following recent incidents in the USA of shootings in churches, we were contacted by the Royal Oak (Michigan) Church of Christ (500+ members) to put together an emergency plan. Emergency plans in churches should at a minimum include: fire, severe weather, security (violence & child protection), medical emergencies, and crisis communications.

Emergency plans for churches need to be straight forward and easy to use, but most of all, they need to be PRACTICED.

August 22, 2009
Emergency Management & Training, Inc.
65 Cedar Pointe Dr.
Barrie ON L4N0Y9 Canada


To Darryl Culley:

On behalf of the Royal Oak church of Christ, I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to you and your staff at Emergency Management & Training. The emergency and disaster recovery plans that you prepared for our church is outstanding and addressed every need from lock down procedures to basic traffic flow. We have already started implementing the specifics steps outlined in the documents and have experienced positive feed back from everyone involved.

It would not be prudent on our part if we didn’t do everything possible to provide a safe and healthy environment as we service our community in Royal Oak. We have truly benefited from your company’s expertise and knowledge. We appreciate the professionalism and the true caring that you displayed in working with us to develop these plans. We would not hesitate to recommend you and your company to anyone who might be considering your services.


Sincerely,
Ken Jamison, Deacon – Special Projects
Royal Oak church of Christ

Pneumonic Plague Outbreak in China

While the world is focused on a relatively mild form of influenza, the H1N1 outbreak, other serious diseases lurk in the background.

As of August 3, an outbreak of the Pneumonic Plague in China has the police and military isolating a community of 10,000. The World Health Organization states that the Pneumonic Plague is one of the most deadly infectious diseases often killing people within 24 hours of onset. It is spread through droplets such as through coughing.

"This form of pneumonic plague is probably the least common but the most severe," said WHO's spokeswoman in China, Vivian Tan. "It has a very high fatality rate and generally spreads quite easily. So we're certainly concerned about the situation."

More information is available through the Associated Press at:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_PLAGUE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-08-03-15-09-53

Concert Hit by Storm - 1 dead, 75 injured

The Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose, Alberta was struck by a sudden storm on August 1, 2009 resulting in the partial collapse of the stage killing 1 and injuring 75, 15 of whom were transported to hospital. The event which attracts up to 20,000 people per day had paramedics on site who immediately started attending to the injured.

Large event organizers should always complete a HIRA and put plans in place to deal with the highest potential risks. High winds and rain, although not having the same impact, blew through the Big Valley Jamboree in 1999 providing some history to the risks faced at this event.

Local media coverage can be found at the Edmonton Journal:

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Valley+Jamboree+cancelled+after+with+Alberta+storm/1853266/story.html

Mass Casualty Incident or Hysteria

Emergency site managers: be attentive to how messages are worded.

The following article was published on July 29 in several media outlets.


34 hospitalized after co-worker sprays perfume
By The Associated Press

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — At first, fire officials suspected that carbon monoxide or some other toxic fumes had sickened almost 150 people at a Texas bank call center.
It turned out that perfume was to blame.

MedStar ambulance spokeswoman Lara Kohl says 34 people were taken to hospitals, 12 by ambulance, after reporting dizziness and shortness of breath Wednesday at a Bank of America call center in Fort Worth. An additional 110 were treated at the scene.

Fort Worth fire Lt. Kent Worley says the incident started with two people complaining about dizziness after a co-worker sprayed perfume. Others reported being sick when an announcement was made that anyone with similar symptoms should exit the building.
Investigators do not know what type of perfume was sprayed.

Business Excellence Award nomination

We are very excited to have been nominated for the Business Excellence Award - Service Sector from the Barrie Chamber of Commerce. The phone call today was very exciting and is being followed up with interview on Friday where we will learn more information, hopefully including who nominated Emergency Management & Training as we would like to thank them.

It is an honor just to be nominated as it places us in a group of highly admired organizations.

We thank all our our clients and corporate friends for being such great supporters.

Did You Know?

We all know the world is changing and that rate of change is getting faster.

My grandfather told me a story about seeing change in his life. When he was a child, he and other boys would go down to the barber shop to listen to stories from the barber. One that particularly caught his interest was the barber telling them that one day they would have a box in every house where they could listen live to the Macy's parade in New York City. The radio was coming.

My grandfather lived through a time of great discovery: the household radio, manufacturing of automobiles, television, the Wright brothers' flight, the sound barrier broken and man landing on the moon.

Change was coming rapidly.

Now we live in a constant state of change. The attached link is to video by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Brenman puts a perspective on the current state of change.

In the end we must ask "What Does It All Mean?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIDLIwlzkgY

"Swine flu: How scared should we be?"

Attached is a link to a very interesting article from the Toronto Star on July 25, 2009 regarding the threat of the current H1N1 strain. An interesting read balancing out what we typically see from the media regarding H1N1.

http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/671620

Trillium Response - Part 2

Trillium Response

One of Emergency Management & Training's specialties is planning, coordinating and implementing mock disasters, often involving several hundred participants.

EMT was one of the major behind the scenes players for Trillium Response, an exercise lead by Emergency Management Ontario and the Department of National Defence. It involved dozens of municipal, provincial and federal agencies, NGOs and otehr organizations.

EMT coordinated the EMAT (Emergency Medical Assistance Team) portion of the exercise working with numerous agencies to coordinate the deployment, recruiting 16 physicians to works as Patient Information Providers and more than 200 volunteers to play the role of patients over the 2 day exercise. EMT created the scenarios to challenge the EMAT team leaders and the patient scenarios.

Dr. Martin Cann attended on behalf of EMT to photograph Trillium Response. We have had numerous requests to post photos so the next few posts will be a small sampling of the hundreds of photos taken during the exercise.