Why I'm interested in emergency management

For a long time I've been passionate about how technology can advance our emergency management community's ability to prepare and respond. 

Having spent the bulk of the last ten years working with the majority of the Public Safety Agencies in Australia, my focus has now shifted back to NZ. I'm keen to get a deeper understanding of the processes and frameworks driving emergency management in NZ, so that I can better understand how my skills and the technologies we have available can provide the greatest positive impact.

I was inspired to join St John as an operational volunteer after news of the Christchurch Earthquake hit the headlines. Previously an Enrolled Nurse I wanted to update my knowledge, contribute and make a difference in my community.  I am now a member of the developing PNth Mass Incident Support Team (MIST) and am keen to see this develop into a professional effective unit. As the wife of a Paramedic I am well aware of how quickly things can change.  I am always keen to find out how things can be done better.  I am a communicator with a healthy caution, good sense of humor and years of parenting and people experience behind me.  Looking forward to beginning my learning in Emergency Management.

Kia Ora.

I have been a Frontline Ambulance Officer with St John for 12 years. I became interested in Emergency Management after my experiences out on the road. I am also the Team Manager for the Major Incident Support Team (M.I.S.T) located in Whangarei.

I'm passionate about developing a response ready Team and have joined this course to manage that and further my knowledge on Emergency management and all it represents.

Kia Ora,

I work for a team within MBIE called Temporary Accommodation Services so we play a small part in assisting those affected by events. I love my job and being able to learn how I can be more ready for myself, my job and my whānau in that crucial time as well as learning more in depth the frameworks and how other agencies ready themselves.

In terms of skills, I have been involved in a few recent responses (COVID response team, a few floods around the motu as well as the recent Papatoetoe tornado), can build relationships with other agencies/people, am CIMS4 trained, a leader as well as knowing how to stay calm in stressful situations.

I look forward to expanding my knowledge during this course.

I grew up attending a church that encouraged us to prepare for emergencies. The idea was that we should be prepared to support ourselves for 72 hours (without shops, running water, electricity, etc.), and that if we were prepared, we could help others in emergencies instead of focusing on acquiring food or water or something. I really struck a chord with me, and I entered a career in the earth sciences, and eventually seismology. I really hope to do research that will help people us understand geohazards better and be prepared for them. My first job (current) took me in a different direction though, so when I saw this course, I thought it could help me step back toward a career investigating geohazards.

I hope to use my skills in seismology to characterise seismic events and volcanism, which can be used to evaluate risk. I think my upbringing with the emphasis on emergency preparedness and self-sufficiency has exposed me to lots of possible emergency scenarios. I have also taken a course in geohazards where we learned about risk communication.

I have spent the last 7 years working in the land survey industry as a surveyor in New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Part of this role involved assessing hazards and risks that affect land, such as flooding and landslides. I am also involved in the local Land Search and Rescue Group. My experiences have shown me that the community is vulnerable to a wide variety of hazards, and illustrated the importance of emergency management.

I am currently on parental leave, and am enrolled to study the Postgraduate Certificate of Emergency Management with Massey University from February-June 2022. Following this, I plan to gain employment related to emergency management and risk assessment in the Dunedin area. I look forward to completing this introductory course before beginning my full time studies next year.

I've been interested in Emergency Management for several years.  I was employed by The Salvation Army for several years and was a member of the Health and Safety team.   Emergency response was a service of the Salvation Army and I was really keen to learn more about this vital service.   I was also fortunate to become a member of the Hawke's Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management team as a volunteer and enjoyed learning a lot of new skills.   I'm working for Lockheed Martin on a military camp and emergency preparedness and response is an area that I am involved in.   I've also been fortunate to complete CIMS4 (Coordinated Incident Management System) course in recent months.

Looking forward to learning more. 

I have been a first responder for about 6 years and have recently taken up the role of Major Incident Support Team (MIST) Manager in Taranaki.

I have always had an interest in helping my community in anyway I can and after being a first responder seeing how St John makes a difference in the community I was keen to join the MIST team to be able to help further. I am keen to further my Knowledge of emergency management so I can be part of building a strong an effective team for St John.

In my day job I work at creating solutions for clients, managing a small team to ensure we can achieve these goals so I believe this will help me in my role.

I have worked for St John as a Paramedic for a long time and thought it was about time that I started to learn more about emergency management. It is a fascinating subject and I feel it is essential in today's world to learn more about emergency management and its implications on our workplaces and society as a whole.

I became interested quite recently after seeing the different opinions and actions of people when they are told what they have to do in order to keep themselves and their communities safe. I am of course talking about our initial response to being locked down, and the change in compliance the longer that it went on. It has been interesting to see how people react to being told they can not go out, and how it plays out in their everyday lives, e.g. self-harm, physical abuse, reclusiveness, desire for company of others. Self-resilience is very interesting! Strong self-resilience leads to being able to positively assist with community resilience.

After having been a volunteer Firefighter for the New Zealand Fire Service for 15 years and involved with, what was then the Wairarapa Ambulance Service, I attended many incidents where different agencies worked together to resolve a situation in a major incident. I have become interested in the CIMS model and community based response to civil emergencies. I have always been involved in the community and with an interest in Emergency Management, undertaking this course seems to be a logical next step.

I'm currently employed as a Senior Search and Rescue Officer at the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand. This involves coordinating Major Maritime and Aviation incidents and response to distress beacon activations in the Aviation, Land and Maritime Environments. Being a qualified Search Mission Coordinator, It is my responsibility to act as the Incident Controller. I believe this experience and skillset will be transferrable to an IMT role for emergency and disaster response, coupled with my operational experience with the Fire Service and ambulance sectors.

I have just joined the Emergency management Team in St John as the Emergency Management Advisor for Central Region, i have been working with the Emergency Management team collaberativily for many years in my previous roles. This course is a good start for me in my new role.

I have a background of 38 years as a medic in the NZ Defence Force, 14 years as a Paramedic in Urban Search and Rescue (FENZ) and 41 years both as a volunteer and fulltime ambulance officer both in clinical and non clinical roles.

I have experienced many emergencies and disasters over the years in many different roles both in NZ and overseas this experience and my life experience enables me to adequately understand the risks that we face and utilise that understanding to build both resilience and response in the orginisation i work for through the skills that i already have or will learn on my journey.

I'm interested in Emergency Management as I have been around Emergency Services for a long period of time and want to give back to my community and be a leader. be the one at the front ensuring that we can step foward when needed and recover to be back to normal the most efficient way

Kia ora,

I developed a real passion for emergency management during a fairly extensive career in the NZ Police, where I worked in various response, investigative and supervisory roles.  Risk awareness, planning, preparation, response and management of critical incidents became a natural default, and is what really makes me tick professionally.   

During the Canterbury earthquakes I was based in the area where the epi-centre of the Feb 22nd earthquake was centred - so I experienced first hand, as a resident/community member and an emergency services responder, the trauma, complexities and challenges of a major disaster - both personally and professionally.  The earthquakes, aftershocks and related incidents were without a doubt some of the most the most challenging yet fulfilling roles and situations I dealt with in 2 decades of policing.  This period really intensified my interest in disaster/emergency management.

After leaving Police, I began a role as a training facilitator and consultant, to help enable the safety and security, and safety culture of teams.  I work voluntarily as a surf life guard and on a surf club SAR team, so get involved in emergency management/response/training etc at that level also.

As well as the practical side of things, I'm qualified in CIMS 2, CIMS 4, and Emergency Operations Centre Level 2, and am an adult trainer.  

Looking forward to the course!

I have have an interest in understanding how I could support my family and help my community in an emergency.

Kia ora koutou,

I have and continue to work in multiple emergency management settings. My 'day job' is as an intelligence analyst with St John Ambulance in Aotearoa New Zealand, with multiple other hats as a volunteer EMT, Surf Lifeguard, Surf SAR responder and LANDSAR volunteer - with a speciality in the incident management side of SAR. 

I have had previous roles in frontline ambulance management and response, oil spill response and local government (who have civil defence responsibilities).

This experience plus my current roles hopefully give me a foundation in the emergency management and disaster space. 

I find these roles rewarding, engaging and ultimately they add value and improve my community.

This course is an opportunity to consolidate and update some knowledge, add to the mental toolkit and ensure that my skills are current. 

It's great to see some familiar names in the thread so far and looking forward to 'meeting' some of the rest of you. 

Nga Mihi, 

Robbie

I am a team leader and training officer for an inhouse USAR team based at university of Canterbury(UC Rescue).

during the past, i have been directly impacted by the floods of 1988 in Greymouth, The Christchurch earthquakes,Tsunami alerts in christchurch and have been through a residential house fire . These events showed the need to be more self relient and able to look after myself and my family as you cant always rely on government(local/national) to be there when you need them

I also am a qualifeid Emergency Medical technician, hold some national certificates in emergency management , have been trained in C,I,M,'s, also hold certificates in adult teaching and am always looking for ways to expand my knowledge of emergency management.

At university I studied Earth Sciences and worked as an Engineering Geologist for 5 years. Throughout both my studies and work I was exposed to natural hazards and the potential impacts these pose on communities. I have recently taken a new role as an Emergency Management Advisor were I am to use my science background to assist with the modeling and understanding of these hazards.

I am undertaking this course to help with my fundamental understanding of the industry and  better prepare myself for work in this sector.

1. What motivated you to take a emergency management course?

1. What skills do you have that you believe will be transferrable to managing emergencies and disasters?

I have been involved in a wide range of emergencies.

Currently I am working alongside MBIE, AVSEC, Defence, Navy with our fight against Covid-19

Hi I'm Dellwyn Moylan

I am interested in emergency management as I have a passion to serve my community and have been through 40 years of volunteering. 

I am currently a volunteer with St John (Caring Caller), Red Cross (Branch member) and Civil Defence.  I am really enjoying the training with CD and thought that this course would further enhance my skills in this area so I can better serve my community.  I am new into CD and we have only done a bit of training but have already worked as part of the Floods in Mid Canterbury last year and assisting with Covid 19.

In my employment I match those who want to volunteer with organisations who need volunteers.  With Covid volunteers may be needed to assist and with emergencies there will be volunteers involved both those trained and spontaneous so any knowledge I can gain from this course will no doubt help in my work.

I am looking forward to this course and what knowledge I will gain from it.  Thanks.

I work in the Ports and Stevedoring industry, not only are we likely to be impacted by most if not all natural and many man made emergencies, we need to be a significant part of the response.

As seen with the pandemic - border workers needed to continue working, in spite of the risks involved.  Much needed supplies would never have made it into the country if we had not.

The same will be the case in the event of an earthquake, or worse, a tsunami.  In order to ensure help and supplies arrive as soon as possible Ports and Stevedores need to be able to navigate the new landscape.

Along with food production, Ports and Stevedores remain operational even in war time, and become significant targets. 

Building resilience into our people and our systems is an important step in supporting our communities and our country, and so because I wish to support my colleagues, community & country, I am interested in emergency management.

The skills I bring are from decades working in a high risk industry which built a habit of identifying hazards and implementing controls.

I have lived through two floods as a personal experience. I also come from a camping off the grid family and know what it is to live without power, internet or just turning on a water tap, and what you need to manage in the elements.

I was in an unfulfilling job and went looking for that 'something more'. I joined Red Cross as a volunteer in their Disaster and Welfare Response team, I identified with their principals and enjoyed the fact I could learn new skills and help people. I then deployed to the Christchurch earthquakes and got to put my training to use in the community. It's hard to say you enjoyed something when it was a terrible situation for so many people but it felt like a 'round peg, round hole' moment.

I then managed an outdoor retail store for ten years, my daily role was preparing people for the outdoors, the right gear, food and water supplies, weather report conversations etc. These conversations often tipped over into home and emergency preparedness.

I am interested in emergency management as it has all the elements of working under pressure, the elements of mother nature, science, people skills, planning but thinking quickly on your feet etc that I enjoy.

I now work for Civil Defence in a community role. I use my previous 25yrs of customer service in hospitality and retail, 3 years in DWST and 5yrs in governance with Red Cross to perform my role. However I don't have 'academic paperwork' to show for all my experience. So I am taking on courses to make sure I don't have any gaps in my learning and show what knowledge I do have to potentially progress onto further study.

The short answer - good \\em capacity is a work requirement.  But this is an area that has always fascinated me, both from a personal perspective as well as the wish to help the community.  And it touches on all aspects of my life - personal, as a board member of a community theatre, providing consular assistance, enabling the work environment, ...

I have enrolled from an interest point of view. I have spend many years in Ambulance and have moved into the Emergency Management in the Capability Advisor role. I am looking for good course to support others grow their knowledge at the same time cement mine.

As an Ambulance Paramedic and Communication Centre trainer with 34 years experience in this field I bring a lot of transferable skills. From being able to think on my feet to have empathy and understanding of the "real world"

I work as a Readiness Program Officer in a diplomatic mission, and I would like to take this course to expand my knowledge of emergency management so that I can better perform my work duties.

In addition, I am studying EM as I would like to take part in disaster response missions abroad in the future, so that I can share my skills with people in need and help vulnerable communities become more resilient.

The skills which could be transferrable to managing emergencies and disasters include soft skills such communication skills, leadership skills and teamwork capacity, as well as "field-related" skills such as my knowledge of risk assessment procedures, sustainable recovery and disaster resilience.

I worked in Consular for 7 years in a Diplomatic Mission in Pretoria and Paris and my role consisted in assisting distressed people face to face from arrests, hospitalisations, destitute, domestic abuse, deaths etc... and Consular has an element of Crisis response and preparedness in the event a disaster happens and we need to assist affected people. I loved this element of my role and I am presently working as a Readiness Program Assistant in London where my role consists fully in emergency management and preparedness and I have developed an even greater love for this work. This is why I jumped at the opportunity to do this course when I was told of it through work as I have never studied this subject before. I definitely wish to pursue a career in emergency and disaster management. 

I have acquired a lot of resilience from my previous roles and also during my current role which I think is a vital skill to managing emergencies and disasters. I think having the ability of thinking ahead and asking all the "What if's" are essential. Caring deeply about our planet and wanting to help people when they are in need and vulnerable is very important and will give so much purpose and dedication to my work towards emergency and disaster management. My great eye for detail and excellent organisation will also go a long way when preparing plans and supplies for any eventuality. It means nothing will be forgotten and everything will be checked and tested appropriately and in time. 

Kia ora all,

Since I was young, I've had a deep interest in humanitarian efforts abroad. Over the years, I've cultivated my understanding of emergency management through diverse roles. Presently employed at a local council, which actively encourages staff to undergo emergency management training, I've participated in CIMS and various function courses facilitated by our regional council. My commitment to this cause was evident when I deployed to the Hawkes Bay in an Operations role following Cyclone Gabriel.

Motivated by a genuine desire to assist those in need, I recognize the escalating importance of emergency management personnel, especially in light of rapidly changing climate issues. Contemplating potential career opportunities in this field, I would like to maximise my effectiveness through ongoing learning.

My professional profile reflects a calm, flexible, organized, and detail-oriented individual who thrives in collaborative environments and remains composed under pressure. While lacking medical or search and rescue skills, I am confident in my ability to make a meaningful contribution to an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in a coordinating or supportive capacity during crisis situations.