Maj.Gen.Expert Rashid Thani ALMatrooshi has confirmed Dubai Civil Defence strategy set to safeguard Handicapped People. This strategy comes in line with the steps taken to achieve the initiative “my community is a place for all” Launched by H.H.Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid ALMaktoum, Dubai Crown Prince, aiming to reach a handicapped friendly community, and to convert Dubai into a fully handicapped environmentally friendly by 2020, through certain projects and programs which aim to maximizing the participation and integration of this important category into the society, and to eradicate hindrances that could prevent their smooth integration into their social circumference, as creative and productive members.
“ Being a partner in ongoing human and civilizational development our country witnesses and stressing on the strategic importance of protection of lives and properties which is the core business of Dubai Civil Defence, we have started to implement informative and training plan for all fire and rescue teams on skills they should acquire in order to deal with people with special needs during fire emergencies, in addition to preventive awareness programs to be deliver to them” he added.
Proposed intensive training plan will takes two months to train 1142 fire and rescue men from 18 fire stations, plus Headquarters’ staff. First stage of the plan contains different axes including; strategies and skills of direct communication with different types of handicapped people. In addition, special knowledge of the nature of the essential ideas and feelings required to deal with them, handicapped daily challenges, and disability misconceptions which should be avoided are also covered. Plan include as well, different scenarios and examples on how to handle special needy people in risky environment, and potential field difficulties that might arise while rescuer is handling disable during fire or other emergency.
Later, Gen. ALMatrooshi explained:
The DCD’s plan is integrated to ensure the safety of handicapped people during emergencies is achieved, based of the principle of cooperation with Handicapped rehabilitation department at Ministry of Community Development, and on the highlight of its training program, and on our accumulative experience gained from the joint work with Handicapped rehabilitation centers in other emirates, and fire safety requirements which are mastered by fire and rescue men.
We are fully aware about the necessity of teaching fire and rescue men the skills and techniques of effective communication with handicapped people as a pre-step to enable them rendering their rescue services to people with special needs.
The plan which is proposed to train fire and rescue teams on communication skills with people with special needs, ways to rescue them from risk sites, is considered one of the components of the sustainable plan to train Civil Defence fire stations firefighters and within the curriculum of Emirates Academy for Civil Defence Sciences’ basic courses.
As we believe, Disable person is indigenous part of the society, we need to know the best methods to communicate with him during normal conditions and emergency situations, where he will be under fear feeling pressure from fire and any other life threating risks. Therefore, disable rescue skills must be perfectly mastered.
