[SaraHap] SARA Happenings December 2010

Thu Dec 16 14:03:46 MST 2010

Hi All:

SARA Happenings is issued to foster communication within the Search and
Rescue community in Alberta. It is going to 237 e_mail addresses that are
listed as the primary contact of SAR Alberta member groups or which were
requested to be added to the mailing list.

Subscription and unsubscription information is at the end of the newsletter.

------------------------------
*

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
*

Good day fellow SAR providers

Once again the Christmas season is upon us and with a short break in our day
jobs coming up there is sure to be travel involved for many of us, be it
across town or to exotic destinations to be with family and friends. We at
SAR Alberta ask that you plan your trip carefully and prepare for that
unexpected thing that has a habit of showing up when you least expect it.

In the past weeks I have made it my personal mission to help with the
insurance. Jen from Jardine Lloyd and Thompson and I took a list of SAR
teams from the province and split the list. I felt that as the president it
is my responsibility to ensure that each and every team was contacted and
given the chance to apply and to make sure no one was excluded. It is this
open line of communication that is the basis of our continued success at the
provincial level to represent the teams throughout the province.

One challenge that was encountered was that some of the member organizations
contact information with SAR Alberta and on the web site was not correct
which resulted in us having to contact more than one person to get the team
info that we needed. I would urge all team executive to please visit our web
site at www.saralberta.ca  and check to ensure that your organizations
information it is correct and up to date. If changes need to be made please
send them to Daryl at daryl.black at incidentleadership.ca

Please remember those other surrounding teams, the RCMP and other agency’s
look to this resource as a way of contacting teams for help in times of
need.

The following is an update from Ray Gilmour, the deputy minister, advising
that the position of managing director has been filled. Tom Sand the manager
of training will be the SAR liaison for AEMA.

"I am very pleased to advise that Mr. Dana Woodworth has been appointed to
the position of Managing Director of the Alberta Emergency Management
Agency, and will join the Agency on Monday, November 22, 2010. Dana brings
an accomplished background with the Canadian Armed Forces, including an
assignment as the Commanding Officer of the Kandahar Provincial
Reconstruction Team from 2007 to 2009, and a series of leadership positions
within the Canadian Forces and most recently in the private sector.

Dana's collaborative leadership style will help strengthen the Agency's
partnerships in support of Alberta municipalities and government
departments.  I know that he looks forward to working together with you to
provide Albertans with the assurance that their communities are supported by
a highly effective, integrated and coordinated emergency management system
before, during and after emergency events."

Ray Gilmour

Deputy Minister

The work with FESTI is continuing with Daryl being very involved and
providing lots of input. It is good to see AEMA values the input of SAR
professionals into the FESTI program which creates a strong partnership with
the two organizations.

The web site is coming along but as we all know that it is a work in
progress. It is the vision of all executive and board members for it to be a
tool to be used by all SAR providers in the province and an up to date
conduit of information. Please visit the web site and see what you think,
make sure your team’s information is current and feel free to send
suggestions to myself or your board rep.

Rodney and I had the pleasure of attending a fundraiser in Ardrossan that
was sponsored by the Alberta Trail Riding Association. The guest speaker was
Terry Grant who most people know as Mantracker. It was a fun evening of
story telling and question and answers about the show. The thing that
impressed me is the commitment that Terry has towards Search and Rescue and
getting the message out that SAR is a worthwhile cause and needs to be
supported. Rodney and I manned a booth at the back and sold pictures to be
autographed and tee shirts. When all was said and done we had a total
donation of $475.00. Hat’s off to Lisa from the ATRA for including SAR in
their function.

Have a happy holiday season

Sincerely

Don Drebert

President  Search and Rescue Alberta

------------------------------
*

2011 SAR ALBERTA: CALL FOR CANDIDATES
*

OFFICERS ELECTION

The Following SAR Alberta Officers are up for Elections next year:

President

Vice President

Secretary

If you are interested in running for one of these positions the nominations
forms and information on each position may be found on the SAR Alberta
website or maybe obtain by contacting the SAR Alberta Secretary at
mwtracks at netzero.net

Nominations forms due in by April 20, 2011

------------------------------
*

BOARD UPDATE
**

New Email Addresses for SAR Alberta Executive and Board Coming Soon
*

In an effort to streamline and simplify communication we have arranged to
have generic mailboxes created for the SAR Alberta Board.. For now we are
test_driving the process so not everyone is on it yet but in the future you
will be able to simply type in president at saralberta.ca (for example) and the
email will go to the current president. This means YOU don’’t have to update
your distribution lists, SAR Alberta will take care of that for you. You’’re
talking, we’’re listening. Currently we have president at saralberta.ca,
vicepresident at saralberta.ca, treasurer at saralberta.ca, and
secretary at saralberta.ca.
*

Fire Emergency Services Training Initiative Update
*

Submitted by Daryl Black, Vice_President, SAR Alberta

This is a very pivotal and exciting time for search and rescue in Alberta!

The purpose of this story is to provide answers with regard to some
questions around SAR Alberta representation as well as a bit more
information with regard to what the FESTI team has been up to.

The questions surrounding FESTI are excellent and show that the membership
is thinking about how important it is to be properly represented and that
SAR Alberta is the ideal forum and mechanism to make that happen. The
project has been on the go for a long time and a lot of background work has
been occurring. Now that hard work is paying off.
*

Training Delivery Working Group:
*

I have been the representative on the Training Delivery Working Group. This
group is made up of a wide range of representation from across police, fire,
EMS, SAR, industry, municipalities, Alberta Advanced Education, Solicitor
General and others. The mandate of this group has been to identify:
* *

*1.* System_Wide Training: These are courses and topics that are
interoperable and should span across multiple disciplines (SAR, Disaster
Social Services, Amateur Radio, and Fire Service, Emergency Management as
well as police and EMS). This list has been reviewed with a sub_group
representing a range within SAR discipline. We are currently working on that
list and it will be circulated when it has been worked on a bit more. In
general there are three levels: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. The good
news is that most of the courses proposed are covered off in our basic
training in first_aid, SAR and Civil Emergency Response. Courses include
ICS, Critical Incident Stress management, evidence handling to name a few.
This means that we are way ahead of the curve in our well_trained SAR
community.
* *

*2.* SAR_Specific Training: a focus group has been established representing
a wide range of the SAR discipline to include GSAR, heavy urban, technical
etc. This group is looking at the system_wide training above and determining
who within SAR needs those courses and to what level. The levels proposed
are:
* *

*Support*_ aka Admin. Not an active field searcher i.e. person who makes
phone calls, works at the ICP or Base.
* *

*Searcher:* Field worker. Boots on the ground.
* *

*Search Manager/ Incident Management Team member.* Those who manage and
direct the strategy and tactics.
* *

*3.* Training delivery methods best suited for the particular discipline and
content: A big component is how we get training out to emergency workers in
the province. Concepts around regional and cross_discipline training (i.e.
if Fire Service has an ICS in an area then load the program with SAR,
police, disaster social services and amateur radio) are being reviewed in
addition to leveraging technology (on_line training, video conferencing) as
well improving our instructor_led course delivery in terms of capacity and
capability.
*

Accreditation, Certification and Standards Working Group:
*

For clarification, FESTI is looking at, in most cases, the minimum
requirements for a particular role. This means that if a group or region
wishes to exceed said standard then there is flexibility to do just that. As
well, FESTI is taking into account the different requirements some regions
and groups may have with regard to specific training so it is not mandating
a one_size fits all approach to providing SAR service in the province. To
that end SAR Alberta has been working on standards for some time and that
work is continuing through our Standards Committee and its Chair, Allan
Tomalty.

There are lot of moving parts for this project and you are encouraged to
visit http://festi.alberta.ca/  for backgrounder information.

*Have a Group Newsletter?*

Share it with the rest of SAR Alberta!

Many of you have excellent newsletters that you circulate electronically
amongst your members and partners. In SAR Alberta we are recipients of some
of those newsletters and though that it would be great if we could
facilitate wider scale distribution so we all can learn what each other has
been up to. With that goal in mind and if you don’’t mind sharing please add
*vicepresident at saralberta.ca* <vicepresident at saralberta.ca> to your
newsletter distribution lists and your newsletter will be posted on our
website.
*

The Website Needs Your Help!
*

It has been a huge challenge with regard to our website and membership
contact information. Much of the issue has been around SAR Alberta not
having your most up_to_date contact information (not the whole issue so
we’’re clear) so we’’ve gone through the site again. Now it’’s your turn.
Please go to the SAR Alberta website and review your team’’s information.
Why? Not only is it important for administrative purposes but operationally
more and more of our partners and fellow SAR groups are looking to the
website to get callout numbers and procedures. . If there are changes then
please send those changes to *secretary at saralberta.ca*<secretary at saralberta.ca>

Daryl D. Black

President

Incident Leadership Canada Inc.

(780) 569_4269

*www.incidentleadership.ca* <http://www.incidentleadership.ca/>

"Bringing Order to Chaos Through the

Art of Leadership and the Science of Human Factors"

------------------------------
 *

SARA HAPPENINGS SUBMISSIONS
*

Our regular publication date for mailings of SARA Happenings is the middle
of each month. Please note that the deadline for material is the 14th of
each month.

Does your group have an event posting for the SARA Happenings mailing? If
so, please send information 1_1/2 months prior to the dates you wish
advertised. It will then give ample time for those reading it to respond.

Please send all material to the editor; Chris Hoare at
choare at shaw.ca<%C2%90>PLEASE DO include contact information for
members to gain further
information. PLEASE DO NOT send me any .docx files; thanks.

To subscribe or unsubscribe visit
http://castrov.dyndns.org:8080/cgi_bin/mailman/listinfo/sara_happenings
enter your e_mail address and click on "Edit Options". Automatic
subscribers will need to click on "EMail My Password to Me". You can
subscribe and unsubscribe on the same page.

-- 
My fantasy "Rast" to be released by MuseItUp Publishing in March 2011.
"Arrival", "Deadly Enterprise",  "The Wildcat's Victory", and "The Wildcat's
Burden" are available here --
http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/eAuthor.php?Name=Christopher%20Hoare

See my website at http://www.freewebs.com/chriskander/ and blog
http://thewildcatsvictory.wordpress.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://castrov.dyndns.org:8080/pipermail/sara-happenings/attachments/20101216/4851aebc/attachment.htm 