After a long career in the army, David Galea wasn't done with protecting
people.
"I was in the army for 32 years, retired from the army and was looking
for a new challenge," says Galea.
"Some of the jobs I had in the army were supporting domestic operations
and consequence management and security and that sort of thing, so this job
working...in emergency management was a good fit for me. It made use of some
of the experience I had and I got to continue contributing." Galea is director
of the Office of Emergency Preparedness in his city.
The Office of Emergency Preparedness conducts risk assessments of events
that would threaten public safety. The goal is to manage things in a way that
everything is put back as close to normal as possible, as quickly as possible.
"That's everything from tornados to floods to anything you can imagine,"
says Galea.
When an emergency occurs, the city's emergency operations center (EOC)
kicks into gear. That's where Galea works with a team of people to coordinate
and support first responders such as police, fire and ambulance, as well as
various other city departments and agencies.
Muriel Provost has similar responsibilities as a manager of emergency preparedness.
She has been in emergency management for nearly 20 years. In her position,
Provost works with people all over the city.
"I've always used the analogy [that] I'm the conductor of an orchestra,
and my orchestra is comprised of all these emergency management partners,
or stakeholders, that make up emergency management, and it's much, much bigger
than fire, police and ambulance, or municipal ops (operations), or public
works," says Provost.
"If something were to happen, and if I were to activate the emergency operations
center, then... all my colleagues would be coming in and we'd be working collectively
together to manage and coordinate the event," says Provost. "And my 'orchestra'
then grows.
"My orchestra grows from me being the conductor to now having representation
from different departments and agencies," Provost adds.
"So it's not just fire, police and ambulance that would be involved, it
would be municipal ops (operations), it would be [water], it would be [energy],
it would be the IT department and human resources and the legal department,
it might be the Red Cross... So my orchestra comes together and we orchestrate
that whole event now together." As you can see, emergency management is largely
about coordinating the efforts of others. That means leadership skills and
communication skills are essential.
"I think [leadership] is absolutely key," says Galea. "The person needs
to be willing to accept responsibility, needs to be motivated and enthusiastic,
able to take the initiative, not sitting back and waiting to be told what
to do."
Emergency management is largely about planning and problem
solving. This requires a well trained and disciplined mind.
"You need to be an analytical thinker," says Galea. "You need to be able
to analyze situations and develop solutions. You can't get the solutions to
problems out of the textbook. Every one is going to be different, so you need
to... have that ability."
Galea says it's also important to be physically and mentally fit so you
can cope with the stress. And you need to get others to do what needs to be
done, often under very difficult circumstances.
"You need to be a team player, able to lead a team, to supervise, to give
direction, to supervise the team in executing what you're after," says Galea.
"And obviously you need to have good background knowledge and be proficient
in your own duties, if you're going to be able to lead other people."
Some of that background knowledge can be found in academic programs. Robin
Cox, a professor for a disaster and emergency management program, says emergency
management has many different aspects to it. This means you can find a niche
within the field that builds on your interests.
"As students look at this field I would encourage them to think about what
they're already interested in," says Cox. "If somebody's interested in the
sciences, for instance, there's a side of emergency management that is very
much based in the sciences, in geological sciences -- earthquake measurement
and developing ways of testing and understanding the geological hazards.
"There are ways into emergency management through engineering, and people
come through... health, through education, through the social sciences, through
psychology, medicine," Cox adds.
Les Boatright got into emergency response management after spending many
years building his career within his organization. He has been with Kansas
City Power & Light for nearly 30 years, and is now their emergency response
manager.
"I'm responsible for keeping our internal plan updated and keeping everybody
trained on it and staffed," says Boatright. "I also go out and work with the
city emergency managers, county emergency managers, and at the state level
too -- so I really work through all the different levels and sometimes I work
with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Association) at the federal level
if there's something going on."
Boatright says emergency management is a rewarding career, but it isn't
for everyone.
"I think it takes a special person to do it," says Boatright. "I don't
think it's something that just anyone can do. There are people that are great
at tearing a car apart and putting them back together -- I'm not one of them....
It takes a person able to see the big picture, to not get down too low and
get too caught up in it."