EMERGENCY RISK REDUCTION

I spent most of today assisting in a local mobile medical unit training. The International Red Cross Federation calls it an Emergency Response Unit. The ERU can be deployed worldwide when a disaster occurs. This weeklong exercise takes an enormous amount of time, money, and human effort.  The operative word is ‘training’.  The question is whether the training is worthwhile for the 30+ persons directly involved.  The answer may be, “it depends”.

It is extremely difficult to simulate the environment of a disaster setting while operating in modern western Canada. Ok, today we tried. The trainees sleep in tents, use generators for electricity, purify water, and eat MREs. Almost anyone can take this for a week. It’s basically a camping holiday for some. It’s some physical hardship, but also “relief light”.

Should the stage be set for some mental hardship? I’m not a fan of reality shows. Maybe they are 99% hokey, but some of the originals did provide mental hardship.   They would reveal certain qualities in the participants. Qualities more important that using a latrine rather than a flush toilet.

I have seen this in teams overseas. A group of burly men get off of the plane in an under-developed country like, say, Guatemala. They are in country for two weeks, and building a clinic, church, etc. After a few days, the true colors emerge. Some of the physically strong are mentally soft, the complainers. Some of the wimpy-looking ones are tough mentally, the encouragers. Which would you rather have on your team?

The Peace Corps goes through an extensive selection and training process. Still, approximately 33% of volunteers don’t last the 27 months. One out of three, and I believe this isn’t because they don’t care for the local food. The majority of PCVs I have known don’t live in a village hut, but are in urban areas in fairly comfortable housing. Some leave due to sickness but most because of lacking mental stick-to-it-ness, which all the training didn’t reveal. The cost is enormous, and I don’t mean monetarily. Some who leave early feel like losers for decades. It impacts their decisions. It clouds their view of the world. A real shame.

I don’t know the answer. This Friday, I leave for Sweden for a weeklong UN training as an “early recovery advisor”. It’s basically a role to place “recovery” in the mindset of all agencies while they are performing “relief” after a disaster hits. Maybe I will write more about this in another blog. But for now, I wonder about the value of the UN flying me from BC to Stockholm for several days for this ‘training’. Of course, after 15 years overseas in numerous roles in garden spots such as Somalia, Congo, or Liberia, I think the mental toughness is there.  I will let you know if the training is top-notched, and if I, the student, am a good learner. I am an old dog, and unsure if I can learn new tricks.

Training is here to stay. We will try to simulate conditions as real as possible. Firemen and rescue teams do it all the time. What’s the alternative? On-the-job training? This may be ok for a stock boy at the corner grocer, or a teenager at the fast food counter. But would you like to go ‘under the knife’ of a doctor with OTJ training? Hardly.  Training must be intentional and ongoing. If you are reading this, you probably enjoy learning, training, improving yourself. This keeps you young. This attitude makes you a winner, whether you are at home, in the office, or are deployed into a disaster. Keep it up!