NPLI team project presentation at EMS World Conference

October 31, 2022

NPLI at Harvard, Cohort 17 “Who Can Help” Project Team Presents at EMS World Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Bradford Newbury, Timothy Fox, Anita Sher, Shane Schreiber, Michael Kent, Michael Lyver, RAdm. Anthony J. Vogt, Dr. Mobarak Al Mulhim

Professional Responders who are first to arrival at a Mass Casualty Incident (MCI), face a complex and potentially overwhelming challenge. Even in a well-coordinated response, the professional responders may not be able to treat all the injured at the same time; they must triage and prioritize the victims. Spontaneous volunteers often heroically step in to fill the gap without being asked, but their courage and commitment often adds complexity to an already chaotic and challenging situation. Current training for professional responders focuses on reducing the complexity of a response to an MCI by “clearing” the scene of spontaneous volunteers and bystanders. This approach does not recognize the reality of spontaneous volunteers, nor does it allow the Professional Responder to take advantage of the skills and potential help and support spontaneous volunteers can provide.

During the NPLI executive education program, the team “Who Can Help?” was formed to develop and implement their Meta-Leadership project.  The goal was to originate a simple protocol that can be used to teach Professional Responders how to build a team of volunteers quickly, assign appropriate task, lead the team, communicate, and network with the team to help save lives!  The “Who Can Help?” project has been presented to thousands of Professional Responders around the globe.  In October of 2022, one of our team members Brad Newbury, presented the project at the EMS World Conference in Orlando, Florida. The attendees were, EMT’s and Paramedics from all parts of North America, as well as several international first responders. Our project continues to make a difference long after our cohort completed the program in 2019.  The work you will do at the NPLI matters, it could change an industry and potentially save future lives!