To stay on top of the demands of emergency preparedness, organizations nationwide offer programs for volunteers interested in learning crisis management skills. The Red Cross recently held a program in Colorado that concentrated on getting attendees ready to face potential disasters, The Gazette reported.
Volunteers participated in a variety of preparedness courses for three days in Colorado Springs, thanks to the efforts of instructors from Colorado and Wyoming. The Disaster Academy drew roughly 100 students who took classes such as psychological first aid, disaster frontline supervisor training and public relations.
"We have so many volunteers and it's extremely efficient to be able to get them all together in one weekend and offer so many classes," said Red Cross spokesman William Fortune.
The recent program exceeded the size of any previous training event in Colorado Springs. Participants included locals Dale Poll and Tess Behrends, who volunteered as public affairs specialists and photographers. Poll remarked on the importance and generosity of the Red Cross and their ability to accomplish much with donations and volunteers.
Response efforts can be further augmented by rapid information sharing. Having a multi-channel emergency communication system such as Omnilert can prove highly effective in preparing the community and businesses, rallying a response effort, getting input from key decision makers, and ultimately mitigating dangerous situations.
