Education/training
Training ignites fire dispatcher's careerSkills building for successOffering thousands of courses and hundreds of programs, Continuing Education at George Brown College makes it easy to discover new career opportunities. Last year, the college helped Colleen Hurtubise pursue her own professional calling. |
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 [ 2007-10-03 ] |
After completing earlier training in fashion merchandising and international trade, and working at various jobs, Hurtubise discovered a job she really liked -- fire station dispatcher.
To build on that interest, she turned to the George Brown's part-time Emergency Management certificate program -- one of a small handful of comprehensive post-secondary training options offered nationwide in this fast-growing field.
This program prepares students to plan for and manage a variety of natural and man-made disasters.
Hurtubise has taken four courses so far -- Emergency Management Concepts and Principles; Hazards and Risk Assessment ; Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery; and Crisis Communication and Information Management.
In the first course, Hurtubise learned how community resources can be networked to manage local, national and international emergencies. "I totally got it. Everything I learned seemed to make sense and fall into place," says Hurtubise, 35. "There was a good mix of theoretical knowledge and practical exercises, where we could practise emergency management principles."
What helped make the course material stick was being part of an interactive class environment. "The fact that almost everyone was working in the field in some capacity led to some interesting class discussions," she says.
Hurtubise says she's benefited from learning from instructors working in areas such as police, fire and public health. "We were exposed to a lot of different perspectives based on their different backgrounds. They really knew what they were talking about," she says.
Already, she says, her training has influenced her current job with Vaughan Fire, which involves dispatching firefighters within Vaughan and King Township. "The training helps me look at my job from a different perspective -- I now see it in a bigger picture," Hurtubise says.
This fall, Hurtubise is taking the program's last course, Terrorism, and plans to eventually pursue work as an emergency manager for an Ontario municipality. "I feel like what I'm learning is what actually happens in the real world," she says, "and I'm sure that's because real emergency managers are teaching the courses."
To find out more about the School of Emergency Management at George Brown College, visit the George Brown Continuing Education website at coned.georgebrown.ca/em.
Continuing Education at George Brown offers over 1,350 courses in a wide range of subject areas including business, fashion, photography, community services, culinary arts, information technology, nursing, trades and more.
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