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What Will it Take to Make Us Better Prepared For Life’s Disasters?

By Don Adams

Article suggested by Pastor-Genève

In this world of live TV broadcasting, it’s likely few have missed witnessing the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

An overwhelming sense of helplessness permeates the lives of thousands of victims in New Orleans and other affected areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. You need cold steel in your heart and ice water in your veins to not be mournful of their plight.

The pattern of Katrina prior to its cataclysmic route was coined by some to be “nothing to worry about” as it whirled 95 miles per hour gusts through portions of Miami eventually causing about 100 millions dollars of estimated damage. And, this was before it locked its sight on New Orleans.

Why do people pretend certain things won’t happen to them? Like dying prematurely … or becoming disabled … or running out of food and water.

Even when a crisis situation is up close and in our face we tend to quickly dismiss it. For example, the car accident scene we just passed as paramedics were placing severely injured passengers into the ambulance. You could see pools of blood on the street and twisted metal with broken glass strewn everywhere.

Then, once beyond the accident scene we began accelerating to speeds excessively over the posted limits. Out of sight… out of mind.

Why won’t we take these real life experiences seriously enough to prepare for the worst?

On Aug. 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew slammed into South Florida. It wiped out Homestead, Florida City and parts of Miami before continuing northwest across the Gulf of Mexico to strike the Louisiana coastline.

The storm was responsible for 40 deaths and $30-billion in property damage. At the time, it was the costliest disaster in U.S history.

We have only just begun to calculate the cost of Hurricane Katrina. More than likely, it will be beyond our capacity to imagine.

During August and September 2004, Florida was lambasted by Hurricanes Charley, Dennis, Ivan and Jeanne. The damage was astounding and perhaps foretold of things to come - like Katrina.

So, why don’t we better prepare for these dramas of Mother Nature? Why do we ignore the fact that what happened before will most assuredly happen again?

On September 11, 1992 (less than one month after Andrew) Hurricane Iniki leveled every telephone pole and hundreds of trees on the Island of Kauai in Hawaii. Fortunately no one was killed and yet the preparation for this disaster was postponed because it was originally forecast to be less severe.

Planning for any disaster is filled with complications. Various departments of local, state and federal governments often clash due to opposing viewpoints or budget constraints.

Interesting isn’t it? When panic is upon us … when the disaster has struck … more often than not we rise to the occasion. And yet, we frequently fail to prepare for future disasters that could threaten the lives of our own family.

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Health Care Professional Certification Courses - The Cream of the Crop

By Roberta Broyles

Article published by Mark Schlarbaum

Professionals working in the healthcare industry face a lot of pressure from their high stressed day to day work schedules. Growing professionally and learning new things along the way in such circumstances is a challenging task indeed. But those who are able to get time from their heavy schedules must definitely go and get enrolled in one amongst the health care professional certification courses.

Acquiring the knowledge and skills to become a top notch health professional does require professional training. You need to have studied healthcare at the diploma or the degree level for the same. But there are many other qualifications that you can achieve and which do not require such high academic qualifications.

Such health professionals do not work with the core team of doctors and surgeons but are just as important in the scheme of things in a huge healthcare institution.

Today there are numerous courses that any healthcare professional can get enrolled into. If you lead a particularly busy life, you can definitely join an online course amongst the numerous health care professional certification courses available online.

The course that you join will also depend on which branch of healthcare you are associated with. Depending on your line of work or your line of interest, you can join some of the many healthcare professional certification courses.

Alternatively, you can join a generic course like risk management. There are various risk management courses that are offered for health care professionals. These risk management courses are very important in a lot of hospitals. Most healthcare institutions have a risk management office where employees are expected to report certain types of incidents.

A patient and family grievance system should be developed. Employee satisfaction surveys should be launched from time to time and their satisfaction should be cared for. Reviewing and taking care of all patient complaints is also considered to be a part of risk management. One other method is observation. The new healthcare staff is instructed to observe all the procedure and note what they believe is not the right way to conduct a process.

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Are You Selling Yourself Short? 4 Top Tips For Determining Your Real Value

By Lisa Broesch

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE REALLY WORTH?

One of my clients called me as she was attempting to work up the nerve to ask for a promotion. When I asked her why she felt she was entitled, she quickly rattled off a laundry list of items she was clearly proud to share. She told me that she had been with the company 11 years, had been a supervisor for 8 years, taken multiple seminars, developed several processes, led numerous projects, actively Encourages “teamwork,” and has a very good attitude. To which I replied “Ok, but why do you believe that’s worth a promotion?” It wasn’t the response she expected.

I must say, I understood her confusion. Haven’t we all gotten to that place in our career where we feel like we’re entitled to more money, and maybe more “clout?” I know I have, and I know that listing off what I “do” was typically the first place I turned for justification. The problem is, nobody really cares what we “do.” In other words, it’s not the action that brings value to the table, it’s the results of the action. I know, you may be thinking, “What’s the difference?” Well, let me explain and clear up a few common misconceptions.

1. Simply occupying a position for a long time does not make you more valuable to the company. This “justification” comes up more than just about any other. Don’t let it happen to you! In most cases, you’re not entitled to more pay, promotion, or even job security simply because you’ve been in the job longer than anyone else. In fact, with the competition for gainful employment and the need for innovation, it’s more important than ever to constantly update your skills and talents. One of the worst things you can do is to work for a company for 25 years without expanding your areas of expertise.

2. Being “busy” carries no value. I worked with a woman for 18 years who never missed an opportunity to dramatically tell me how busy she was (at work and at home), every time I saw her. Understand, in most reputable companies, employers don’t want their employees (particularly their leadership team) to work themselves into the ground. In fact, as a former executive myself, I much prefer employees who get the job done as efficiently and quickly as possible - leaving them physically and mentally energized for the next project. However, for some reason, we often equate being “busy” with being invaluable. It’s not necessary to tell everyone how busy you are (how can you possibly take on more responsibility?), but it is necessary to deliver results. Don’t confuse the two . . . I wish someone had given me this tip before I spent a decade figuring it out!

3. Companies typically think in financial terms. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely believe that all of the items on her list are essential to her professional development. However, they are a means to an end. The real VALUE comes in terms of the results. For example, “developing processes” is fine, but streamlining efficiencies and increasing productivity are the resulting value of your efforts. You don’t just “take workshops,” “encourage teamwork,” and “have a positive attitude,” you increase motivation and employee retention, and decrease turnover and training costs. See the difference? It’s not the “how you do it,” it’s the “what you’ve done” that really matters. It’s important to look at all the areas you positively impact with your actions (decreasing turnover also decreases overtime coverage and recruiting time, and increases the overall experience of your talent pool). Where are you down-playing what you really bring to the table?

4. It isn’t necessary to constantly grab the spotlight. While you want to ensure you don’t go unnoticed, constantly taking credit, updating everyone on your accomplishments, and vying for high profile projects will only exhaust and frustrate everyone around you. Don’t underestimate the importance of encouraging your coworkers and/or employees, actively recognizing the strengths of others, and leading by example. These are traits that truly improve productivity and morale, speed the success of new employees, and make you a truly invaluable resource. What better way to Actualize your success?

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5 Tips to Finding a Job in Tough Times

By Barry Simpson

As a professional Transition Counselor I see every day the effect of the recent changes in the job market. I also see and hear of those things that work in the job search and those that don’t. Often that ‘aha’ moment comes when a client least expects it and the light bulb comes on over their head. In this article are some of the tips that have helped people in recent weeks and months.

12 months ago it was normally assumed that between 80 and 85 percent of all jobs were obtained through networking in one form or another, today for the majority of positions that is now closer to 95%.

More than ever, those in work are being chased by those out of work to ‘Network’ and in some cases I am being told that the option of a “short meeting” is not on the table as often as it used to be.

Tip 1 Grow your network through an online service like LinkedIn. Stretch your contact list as far as you can and do not use the canned invitation. Create your own invitation and make it personal.

Tip 2 As you work to grow your network make it easy for people to find you. Don’t hide yourself, make sure that you are visible and also that your profile clearly states you are interested in new opportunities.

Tip 3 Create a target list of companies and make sure that all of your contacts have a copy of it. When you are attending a networking meeting insure that your contact has this list well in advance and you explain to them that you are looking for contacts in these specific companies or others that may be similar in size, product set, etc.

Tip 4 Have a set of great networking questions to ask at the meeting. These should include:

* Do you think my resume best fits my goal?
* Do you know any industry groups or associations that I should look into?
* Do you think I am focusing on the industries best suited to my skills?
* What are your thoughts as to the industry direction/trend/etc.?
* What do you see as being the skills in greatest demand at the moment?
* Are there any skills I am missing and should take additional training for?

Tip 5 Treat every networking meeting as an interview. With the growth of unadvertised positions you never know what opportunity may be lurking around a corner. Try to have the meeting in an office rather than a coffee shop, this provides you with a chance to meet other staff members.

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