Provision of trainings and informal courses are essential strategies towards achieving the goals of Makati City's Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan, of which the community will have capable first responders both for medical emergencies and technical rescue. Annually we roll-out short-term training courses and a training program for emergency medical technicians (EMT-B), and while theoretical knowledge has since been well-navigated in the program, the challenge remains in hands-on learning or in full-scale simulated exercises that require learners to apply what they have learn. The following challenges have since been observed and is being continuously addressed in the following manner:
1. Availability of certified trainers that can dedicate their schedule for teaching and hands-on learning - Since instructors for our medical-related programs also function within their respective departments, and also prioritize emergency response, it is true as in the presentation that the risk of falling short of instructors happen. In most cases, the doctors and other health professionals with training/teaching capacity are also usually performing lead functions for activities. With this, the City has employed more training of trainers program, and periodical instructor briefings to orient on the obligations in assisting in required training activities of the city. Just recently we have also moved towards the issuance of Office Orders that inform the respective departments/offices of the City Government, of who belongs to the official roster of trainers/instructors, and are provided with advance schedules of activities.
Under the DRRM Office, the Search and Rescue Teams, though yet to have training accreditation, are given in-house trainings to gain teaching skills, and are likewise exposed to assist/facilitate trainings.
2. Participant Retention - most trainings, while required at most to be attended, often have a challenge in participant retention and concentration. As we usually train adults (ie employees, barangay responders, private sector response teams) who all have their respective functions apart from actual response, there is also the challenge of their 100% commitment to finish the course, or retain the information into continuous practice. There remains to be a challenged to not take hands-on exercises seriously unless their is genuine interest, for some, these trainings are taken as a requirement from their department.
To address this, we provide commitment forms that enable departments/office to review the training overview and ensure commitment of the participant with the acknowledgement of their department heads. The forms also contain penal statements for non-completion, however, this does not guarantee nonetheless that participants stay or retain information especially when simulations or exposure begin.
Another adjustment made for this is to schedule hands-on exposure on a different day (usually the following day or the following week) that allows trainees to be able to solely practice skills and be coached without being bombarded with theoretical information. However, with this set-up, we also get challenged with ensuring that the trainee will still show-up or remember what has been learned.