5 New Year’s Resolutions for the Emergency Management Professional (Opinion)

At this time each year, about 70 percent of us make our New Year’s resolutions. And if you’re like most people, by Feb. 1 you’ll have forgotten all about them.

Resolutions fail when we don’t see results quickly enough (“Why didn’t I lose 10 pounds this week?”) or the results don’t make us any happier (“It’s much more fun to spend than save!”). That’s why it’s important to pick realistic and appropriate goals that will be useful to you and those around you (we all need accountability, right?). For example, last year I decided to lose some weight. As a father of three young children, I was finding it impossible to keep up with all of their energy. So I reluctantly signed up for a marathon the following December. As a nonrunner, I was fearful of even trying, but knowing I had 12 months to prepare and the notion of keeping up with my children, I was committed. I’m happy to report that the goal was achieved and the results were definitely worth the effort. Today I can almost keep up with the children!

 

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Photo: Mitch Saruwatari is the vice president of quality and compliance at LiveProcess.

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For the emergency management professional, I’ve selected five 2010 resolutions that I think are easily achievable and will improve your work life immensely as well as the work life of those around you. As a bonus, you should expect to see results from all of these very quickly! Enjoy and good luck!

 

1. Update and organize my command center.

January is a great time to inventory your command center:

• update supplies and inventory;
• make sure the supply cache is full;
• check primary and secondary communications devices; and
• update ICS charts, forms and tools.

Make sure you have all the supplies and information you need to be ready for your first emergency situation of 2010.

 

2. Finish all my after-action reports and corrective action plans.

To maintain Joint Commission accreditation and ensure that your command center is operational, you would have had at least two exercises in 2009 and likely had at least one instance of activating your plan due to the H1N1 pandemic. January is a great time to complete any of those outstanding after-action reports as well as close out any open items within your corrective action plans.

A few areas to focus on:

• update needed changes to your EOP, plans, policies and procedures;
• update contact lists; and
• make sure emergency management regulatory and accreditation requirements are complete.

If you’re finding that your after-action reports are awkward to work with, this might also be a great time to look for a new template. A good place to start is the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program.

 

3. Prepare for my exercises long before they happen.

You know you’ll need to run more exercises in 2010, not only for Joint Commission purposes but really to ensure that your staff is trained and ready to respond in an emergency situation.

Start your planning early:

• schedule all 2010 exercises and fire drills by end of March;
• identify all internal and external exercise partners;
• develop exercise objectives and master scenario events lists at least three months before event; and
• schedule and conduct necessary exercise-specific policy or plan development and training activities (e.g., hazmat, spill response, infant abduction procedures, etc.).

Exercises are time-consuming but they’re also your most valuable tool for practicing, testing and identifying areas of need before an incident occurs. Spend planning time now and maximize the benefits of your exercises in 2010.

 

4. Get more staff trained in emergency management.

If an emergency situation impacts your facility or community, the more people who are trained to respond, the better your organization will be able to support your staff, patients, visitors and neighbors.

Work to expand the number and variety of employees who are trained on emergency management:

• develop brief training opportunities for command center leaders (e.g., command and section chiefs) such as mini-table top exercises during staff meetings;
• conduct brief overview programs for senior administrators;
• update new employee orientation training with contemporary issues surrounding emergency management, such as case studies from recent national and international events; and
• review opportunities for additional training through newsletters, bulletin boards, flip charts, etc.

If you don’t have the time or resources to do all the training yourself, enlist the help of outside agencies. FEMA, for example, offers a variety of online and in-person training courses and organizations like the International Association of Emergency Managers offer local, national and international events for individuals at all levels of emergency management.

5. Plan a vacation … and take it!

Lastly, and most importantly, I recommend that you work early in the year to get far enough ahead in your emergency management program to plan for and take a vacation. This planning should include identifying and training someone in your organization to cover all components of your emergency management program as well as being able to coordinate command center activation while you’re away.

Too often, being an emergency management professional doesn’t lend itself to you being able to leave the office for a week, let alone two weeks for a phoneless and pager-free respite. However, time away to relax and recharge is an effective way to ensure your ongoing health and happiness. Who knows, it might just include a marathon too!

[Training photo courtesy of Jocelyn Augustino/FEMA.]

Mitch Saruwatari is the vice president of quality and compliance at LiveProcess, Verona, N.J. Saruwatari is a recognized national health-care emergency management expert who co-chaired the development of the National Incident Management System compliant Hospital Incident Command System. He may be contacted at 973/571-2500 or msaruwatari@liveprocess.com.