Emergency services

Author

Question

gartland_robert@yahoo.com

2005-06-29, 5:54 pm

Hello everyone,

I am an EMT-I and I recently got re-involved with emergency management.

I have had experience dealing with emergency management issues before
becoming involved in EMS, and now I am working part-time in EM to help
out our county.

My problem is that the person in charge of EM is a political appointee
and I am at wits end. I don't want to say where this is, but this
person does not know what they are doing, no background in EM or in any
emergency services at all.

We are trying to do planning and needs analysis and this guy wants to
just go off and buy stuff...lets get a command trailer...lets get a
decon trailer...

I am concerned because we need to do a training calendar and we need to
do a complete needs analysis, see what other resources we already have
in the county, etc.

Everytime I try to talk with this person he goes off on a different
tangent...'we need to have a command presence...a command post vehicle
will put us out front of the other agencies...we have no capability for
WMD...we need a decon a trailer...

While I agree a command post vehicle will be nice, he just wants to
open a book and order a truck!

I keep asking him 'what do we need?!' he he keeps saying we need a
command post vehicle.

he looks like a 3rd world dictator when he walks around, badge,
uniform, citations (for what no one knows), and 2 portable radios, a
blackberry and another cell phone.

Some suggestions on how to deal with him?

I have suggested he take some of the state EM programs which are very
good. He has taken two or three of the FEMA on-line programs but he is
well over his head, and he really needs more training and experience.

Some days I just want to quit, other days I just hang in because this
is where I live and I care about my neighbors.

Any suggestions I would appreciate.

Bob

2005-06-30, 8:53 am

gartland_robert@yahoo.com wrote:
>
>I keep asking him 'what do we need?!' he he keeps saying we need a
>command post vehicle.
>
>he looks like a 3rd world dictator when he walks around, badge,
>uniform, citations (for what no one knows), and 2 portable radios, a
>blackberry and another cell phone.
>
>Some suggestions on how to deal with him?

Mock him and laugh at him for being such a wanker?

Oh, you want to keep you job. Hmmm.... Okay, smile a lot and be real
pleasant while you studiously ignore him. Sounds like everyone else will
too eventually, so just figure you'll be way ahead of the curve.

Brian Humphrey

2005-06-30, 5:53 pm

<gartland_robert@yahoo.com> wrote...

> My problem is that the person in charge of EM is a political appointee
> and I am at wits end. I don't want to say where this is, but this
> person does not know what they are doing, no background in EM or in any
> emergency services at all.

The good news is that when (and hopefully in your case if) things hit the
fan, your friend will be taken seriously for exactly 0.02 seconds by anyone
who matters. In the meantime, be logical but not too passionate in your
dealings with this supervisor, and plant the necessary seeds to make your
justifiable and sustainable ideas become his - and then praise the daylights
out of him! <smile>

Robert, your "friend" of course is not really the problem, merely the effect
of a bad decision by the appointing entity. While some of your focus should
go to enhancing your supervisor's skills and perspective, the bulk of your
efforts must be to establish rock-solid criteria by which his future
replacement will be recruited, selected, appointed, established, trained,
empowered, evaluated and retained. That is the long-term solution, and the
time to start acting on it is today.

FWIW, if I could go back in time, I would probably not buy stock in Google,
Yahoo or IBM - nor would I invest in beachfront property in Malibu.

I would instead take controlling interest in one of the many "Mobile Command
Post" firms that are seemingly able to cast a spell upon leaders in
communities with no need for their products, all but forcing 24-member
Police Departments that are 776 miles from the nearest metro area to buy a
stocked to the moon 40-foot mobile command post to protect a region with no
Tier 1 hazards. If you could see the EM goofs that surround these displays
at trade shows and grab all the available literature, you'd think P.T.
Barnum was Nostradamus <grin>.

Best Wishes,

Brian

ann_stangby@yahoo.com

2005-07-03, 12:34 pm

Bob,

We have the same thing where I am at. The EM director does not know a
thing about emergency management and the second in command knows even
less.

The worst part, just as in your description, she is a political
appointee, without any background in EM and/or emergency services and
the number 2 guy is nice, but he is a boob. He is here because they
don't know what to with him in the fire department, so they sent him to
EM.

Just work around him. If you really care, when you have the chance, try
and advance your own ideas and issues past him.

If you know what needs to be done, getting it done is what is
important.

The ends justify the means.

If it wasn't for me and the work that I've done we wouldn't be prepared
at all.

As an added piece of advice keep building your resume, especially your
certifications relevent to EM. Write articles, make contributions to
textbooks.

When the time is right make sure you are positioned so that people know
who are and what you can do.

Mangrove Man

2005-07-03, 12:34 pm

Have him put all of his direction IN WRITING. E-mails will do. Just be
sure to have a paper trail. DO NOT do anything without WRITTEN direction.
(Apologize for the added emphasis). I have worked for Bozo's like this
before and the only way to protect yourself and the community is to have a
written record of his requests, direction and actions. You can even write
the direction yourself, e.g. "Frank, Per our conversation today, I would
like to be clear on your direction to me on the command vehicle. It is my
understanding that you desire ..." Eventually, you will get his attention
or someone else's and hopefully, it will work in your favor. Otherwise, if
it causes too many problems for you ... hey, man, it ain't worth it. Life
is too short to drink cheap wine and to work with buttholes.

Good luck and keep the Pepto handy.

Best regards,

Mangrove Man
NREMT-B

<gartland_robert@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1120084321.930826.122160@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hello everyone,
>
> I am an EMT-I and I recently got re-involved with emergency management.
>
> I have had experience dealing with emergency management issues before
> becoming involved in EMS, and now I am working part-time in EM to help
> out our county.
>
> My problem is that the person in charge of EM is a political appointee
> and I am at wits end. I don't want to say where this is, but this
> person does not know what they are doing, no background in EM or in any
> emergency services at all.
>
> We are trying to do planning and needs analysis and this guy wants to
> just go off and buy stuff...lets get a command trailer...lets get a
> decon trailer...
>
> I am concerned because we need to do a training calendar and we need to
> do a complete needs analysis, see what other resources we already have
> in the county, etc.
>
> Everytime I try to talk with this person he goes off on a different
> tangent...'we need to have a command presence...a command post vehicle
> will put us out front of the other agencies...we have no capability for
> WMD...we need a decon a trailer...
>
> While I agree a command post vehicle will be nice, he just wants to
> open a book and order a truck!
>
> I keep asking him 'what do we need?!' he he keeps saying we need a
> command post vehicle.
>
> he looks like a 3rd world dictator when he walks around, badge,
> uniform, citations (for what no one knows), and 2 portable radios, a
> blackberry and another cell phone.
>
> Some suggestions on how to deal with him?
>
> I have suggested he take some of the state EM programs which are very
> good. He has taken two or three of the FEMA on-line programs but he is
> well over his head, and he really needs more training and experience.
>
> Some days I just want to quit, other days I just hang in because this
> is where I live and I care about my neighbors.
>
> Any suggestions I would appreciate.
>
> Bob
>