RedCross Leadership Course 2 - Day 0

This Blog Post was originally published on adagia.org.

A few years back, when I just started to be a paramedic and ambulance driver, I had the chance to attend Leadership Course 1.

It was about Leadership (obviously), how the RedCross came to be back in the day. Who Henry Dunant was and why he founded the RedCross (Red Cresent and Red Crystal). Also, there was an in-depth course around the Geneva Conventions and what part the RedCross takes in all those things.

I could go on for hours about the topic, but that's not part of today's post. :)

Back in December of last year, I figured it would finally be time to take the second Leadership Course. Shortly after the course dates were announced and I managed to snag the whole week, starting tomorrow (6th of September 2021).

So I was packing my uniforms this morning and drove off to a small town where the RedCross rents a small castle. Besides the castle, there are some larger buildings containing training areas for new paramedics. Several lecture rooms and practice rooms.

There are also some small rooms upstairs build almost like hotel rooms. I've got a room larger than my living room in my apartment. A shower and a separate toilet. Besides that, there are two large Desks to work on and two single beds. As far as I know, I have the room for me alone till Friday morning (I will be leaving on Friday afternoon).

The whole week has a somewhat tight schedule, but nothing that is not doable. There will be three meals a day served for me, so I will not die of hunger. :)

So, it is almost like a vacation (well, I'm using paid off days at work after all), but instead of relaxing I will have to learn a bunch of new stuff and I'm really excited and looking forward to it.

If you're interested, my schedule looks as follows (all times include a 45-minute lunch break):
- Monday: 08:30-18:15 - disaster relief service
- Tuesday: 08:30-18:15 - operational management
- Wednesday: 08:30-18:00 - Planning and conducting exercises, deepening large-scale operations
- Thursday: 08:30-17:40 - Major events and interfaces in use (Police, mountain rescue, federal army, firefighters)
- Friday: 08:30 - 16:45 - Crisis and panic

My plan is to wake up around 6 am, so I have plenty of time to shower and eat breakfast. I think it also can't hurt to take a closer look at the day's topics, as I've already got all the training materials on my iPad.