Vancouver, BC - Tully Waisman, CEO of EmergeX Planning Inc. (EmergeX) evaluated this year's University of British Columbia (UBC) annual emergency exercise, "Operation Sick Students." This activity was implemented to exhibit the effects of a flu-like epidemic across the campus and to test the effectiveness of the UBC response to a medically based emergency.

This emergency exercise was unique because previous exercises have been based on physical disasters. Also, this was the first time that the Vice Presidents of UBC participated in the annual event. The three hour exercise scenario overview consists of students going to a party on a Friday and one of the guest's is sick. By Monday morning, many students on and off-campus are severely ill. The main objective of the exercise is for the UBC Executive Committee members to establish effective communications with the Emergency Operation Centre's (EOC) personnel to allow for an efficient response to the crisis.

Tully evaluated the exercise based on how well all of the participants effectively communicated with each other and he provided comments on what lessons had been learned from this activity. "This team learned a lot on how to communicate better and how to effectively use some of the important EOC forms at the UBC campus," said Tully.

"This exercise was very successful for the UBC community. I was very happy to be able to participate in the UBC Emergency program and assist in their ongoing preparedness, response and recovery programs," stated Tully. It was really great for him to see that UBC are practicing their emergency preparedness plans for the 70, 000 students on campus.

EmergeX Planning Inc. (EmergeX) is a leading risk and emergency management company. For the last thirteen years, our strength lies in the experience of our team. Our planners and trainers have extensive backgrounds in Risk and Emergency Management, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Environmental Science, Pandemic Planning, Fire Safety, Wildland Interface Fire Planning, Occupational Health & Safety and Crisis Communications.

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