Taking command of the obvious - 20th Annual John K. Friesen Conference - Growing Old in a Changing Climate: Exploring the Interface Between Population Aging and Global Warming (2011)

This video clip comprises the four presentations of Panel Session 2, “Mitigation and Prevention Strategies: Lessons Learned on the Front Lines” held at the 20th Annual John K. Friesen Conference, "Growing Old in a Changing Climate: Exploring the Interface Between Population Aging and Global Warming," MAY 25-26, 2011, Vancouver, BC. Michael Weston "Taking command of the obvious" - As the title of this session conveys, if we are content on learning lessons but fail to apply lessons learned, then we are destined to have to learn them again. With the far reaching and lasting effects of Climate Change upon us, that would be a waste of precious time and resources. The basis of this presentation is the authors’ experience having worked or supervised well in excess of ten thousand critical emergencies involving seniors and their caregivers, and having directed the nations Aging Network’s response on 18 Presidential Declared Disasters in the United States. Lessons learned from, AND applied, at the frontlines and deep in the trenches include Safe Centers, Mega Shelters, specialized disaster products, cruise ships, and storage units, Capacity Building Staff Surveys and Matrix's are but a few examples of tools that have been used and will be examined to mitigate the potentially overwhelming set of circumstances caused by climate change and associated disasters. We also gratefully acknowledge a grant from the SFU Library's Scholarly Digitization Fund for videography and post-production editing. See webpage for more information on the 20th Annual John K. Friesen Conference: http://www.sfu.ca/grc/friesen/friesen2011/