One of the groups I belong to on LinkedIn.com has just finished up a long discussion on Community Emergency Response Teams and Amateur Radio Emergency Service.
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A management workshop, based on Harvard business school techniques, divided 110 people into eleven groups of ten people each. The groups were asked to list all of the attributes that came to mind. After a period of time they were told to stop writing lists and vote on their top eight. Then all eleven groups combined their results into the following top eight attributes:
This piece is from 1993, but it’s still true to this day!
Let’s face it, for the fact that it is: some governments don’t really understand about Emergency Communications Units; they don’t really understand how to work with and utilize volunteers, including hams, some of whom are professional communicators. For quite a while now I have advocated for Ham Radio operators to cross train and learn how to “do” Social Media.
I became interested in the American Red Cross as a ham radio operator. I saw the potential to use my skill-set to help as a disaster communicator. I joined as a volunteer in 1995. During a recent Twitter exchange with a Emergency Manager in Oklahoma, who is also an active Ham and a major proponent of #SMEM, I asked him if he was worried about a backlash from the ham community regarding the ongoing integration of Social Media into Emergency Management and Response.
Originally Published: June 17, 1996
We get inquiries about why volunteers are not called upon after they have some kind of agreement with a local official. Here, in the words of an unnamed emergency management agency official, is one perspective on why they are left out. This information is pulled from ACS Bulletin EMC061 “Command Bill of Rights,” originally released 16 Jan, 1997.
While the presentation is old, the information is just as pertinent today as it was back in 1997. As a volunteer, you need to keep the following information in mind. |
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