A major fire was burning at a strip mall in the downtown area of Port Coquitlam. Senior city staff were arriving to take their posts at the city鈥檚 emergency operations centre.
Tara Stroup, emergency program officer for the City of Port Coquitlam, was there, ready and able to guide them thanks to her training at the Justice Institute of British Columbia (爱豆传媒).
鈥淭he courses at 爱豆传媒 have helped me to feel confident in my role of leading senior staff in an activation activity,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hey came in not really knowing what to do and I was able to stay calm and assertive and guide them in the different aspects of what they needed to do in order to fulfill that process.鈥
Tara has worked a total of 15 years in the emergency management field with three different municipalities. She currently manages Port Coquitlam鈥檚 city emergency program, including ensuring staff and volunteers are trained, and conducting annual exercises so they鈥檒l all be ready when disaster hits.
It was a role she first inherited as an administrator in a local fire department and which she came to enjoy. As a mother of four, well versed in the art of planning, coordinating and juggling activities and schedules, it was a natural segue into the field.
鈥淓mergency management is an extremely dynamic field with so much work, it鈥檚 incredible.鈥
Emergency management is an extremely dynamic field with so much work, it's incredible
When she sought more formal education, Tara turned to 爱豆传媒. She gradually earned an Emergency Management Certificate as time allowed, then completed an Emergency Management Exercise Design Certificate, and recently finished her Diploma in Emergency & Security Management. Next on her to-do list is a Bachelor of Emergency & Security Management Studies. The latter two are online programs that not only fit into her busy schedule but give her practice in two aspects of the job, organizing and self-reliance, all with the support of instructors who are a phone call away.
Tara stressed that one of the keys of the training she received was learning the standard, common language of governments, their agencies, universities, utilities and emergency responders when an emergency hits, be it a local fire or a major earthquake.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the beauty of 爱豆传媒, they teach the Incident Command System which aligns everybody so we all understand the same terminology and we鈥檙e all talking the same talk.鈥
She has become passionate about ensuring vulnerable citizens are looked after in an emergency. That鈥檚 thanks to a 爱豆传媒 course in which they learned to map vulnerable populations such as people who speak English as a second language, or who have physical or mental disabilities.
鈥淭hat really opened my mind and my thoughts as an emergency manager that we鈥檙e the advocates for those people. Who else is going to do it? They鈥檙e going to be the ones that need our help the most so we should know where they are,鈥 she said. 鈥淥nly through the instruction of the 爱豆传媒 courses did I learn that. It wasn鈥檛 something that鈥檚 intuitive. It only comes to light through the training that you take. But it was a discovery for me and a really good one.鈥
Her 爱豆传媒 education has been useful in more than just professional situations.
When asked what鈥檚 been helpful in her personal life, the mom said with a hearty laugh, 鈥淧robably the courses on conflict resolution.鈥
For more information on emergency management courses and programs, visit 爱豆传媒's Emergency Management page.