Quick-and-Dirty Event Planning, a Simple IAP and an Iron Lung for Memorial Day

For Memorial Day, a group of 10 other hams and myself provided communications for the Stockton Rotary Run/Walk to Eradicate Polio Worldwide. What is unusual about this event is that, for a variety of reasons, I was asked to organize and staff the run only a week before it was scheduled to take place. 

That isn’t so unusual or even difficult, except that the timing and location (Memorial Day in Stockton) made it difficult for me to staff the event as easily as I had hoped.

That was a blessing, in a way, as we ended up with just enough people to cover the entire course for a not-very-exciting event, at least from an EMCOMM perspective.

It would have been nice to have a couple of extra “floaters” so people could have taken breaks during the three-hour event. That is something we’ll work on for next year. Likewise, the idea of putting one or more hams on bicycles, just for fun.

We are going to do a debrief with the organizers, so I will report in more detail after that. 

This year, we spent a fair amount of time using the radios to “follow” the leaders as they moved around the out-and-back course, twice in the case of the 10-kilometer runners. Maybe next year the organizers could use our tracking for announcements at start/finish during the event?

I have started doing something at least vaguely like an Incident Action Plan for all our events. This one ran a bit over two pages and if you would like to see a PDF version, click here.

There is nothing magic about the formatting or contents except that is covers all the essential information for those participating in the event and is suitable for sharing with the organizers and supporting agencies, such as law enforcement and EMS.

I do try to include much of the same types of information that comprise a formal public safety IAP. I do this so our operators will become more familiar with ICS concepts and practices, including Incident Action Plans.

If you have questions or comments or would like to share your own simple event documents, I’d love to see them.

For the event, the Rotarians brought out a reminder of the power that polio once held over Americans — a real “Iron Lung,” (above) one of only a handful on display.

Iron Lungs were used to help patients breathe when polio rendered their muscles too weak to do the work on their own. Most patients used an Iron Lung only more a matter of weeks, but some remained inside the devices for the remainder of their lives — up to 60 years.

Rotarians have committed to raising $200 million to meet a $355 million challenge grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. If you’d like to help with a donation, here’s how.

Comments

[Bob Officer]

This is an excellent post and hope many of the event liasion read it. It is nice to now exactly what the event organizers expect for the hams when our feet hit the ground, and it is noce for hams to know up-front and before we commit to working an event, what our respocibilities and expectations should be.

Likewise by sharing this information with the event organizers and in this case police Officers, were we were all on the siame page, from the start.

By having a plan, in writing, before the event, may help generate more returning Amatuer Radio Operators to support events like this. I know next time I hear or see an request for help, I will be just a little more willing to give it a bit of consideration.

It was surprising how many runners and walkers passed by thanking me for providing support and a degree of protection at this event.