Cook County Emergency Services holds its 31st Emergency Services Conference in Grand Marais on April 28th and 29th. Dubbed “this great Cook County ‘get together’” the conference attracts local firefighters, emergency medical response personnel, law enforcement, and Emergency Management leadership.
The event is open to the general public and presents the various emergency management services available to residents and visitors and provides training opportunities for local firefighters and other emergency responders
Programs throughout the weekend include:
- Refresher training for emergency responders on the ARMER radio system and a presentation about possible radio replacement options.
- The State Fire Marshal’s office will have Robert Reif on hand to present the resources its office has on offer.
- North Shore Health Ambulance offers an open house displaying the ambulances and equipment it uses. A Lifelink III helicopter will be onsite.
- Personnel from the National Weather Service’s Duluth office will conduct SKYWARN Storm Spotter training.
- Andrea Tofte, Cook County Public Health, will give an After Action Report and Lessons Learned following the extended COVID pandemic.
- Kevynn Schumacher from the Minnesota Department of Health will conduct Psychological First Aid Training.
- Naloxone (Narcan) training to educate on how and when to use these products properly.
- Luke Campbell of the Minnesota Department of Health will speak to the effects on mental health during and following a prolonged pandemic.
- The National Guard 148th Fighter Wing will be on site with their portable communications tower, and First Net will have a Cellular portable communications tower to test interoperability among local, regional, and state communication resources.
- Arrowhead Electric will discuss where its power comes from, what its priorities are during a power outage, what residents/visitors should do during an outage, and it will recap the December blizzard power outage and present the lessons learned.
- For first responders, North Shore Health staff will conduct “Stop the Bleed” training focused on the ability to recognize life-threatening bleeding and intervene effectively.
- Updates from Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management, Cook County Emergency Management, and US Forest Service about spring wildfire outlook.
- The keynote speaker is Chris Heeter from The Wild Institute. Heeter is a motivational speaker using sled dogs and whitewater analogies to breathe life and fresh air into topics such as Cook County’s emergency personnel and first responders.
Admission to most of these events is free and open to the public. A definite schedule of events and their venues will be available in the near future. Registration for the event can be found at https://www.eventbrite.com.
