So I used to have a boss who said something really funny.
He used to go, “Everybody says they want to help us” and then bemoaningly he would seem to repeat that a few times.
The next part which he didn’t need to explicitly say was that “But no one does!”
It was the words, but also much the tone–yes, the walls could be caving in, the ship could be sinking, everything going up in flames, and of course, everyone is there looking on, shaking their heads pitifully, and seemingly stretching out their hand in an offer of help.
For this boss though, the help couldn’t come fast enough or with enough resources to help resolve all the issues going on at the time.
I suppose first and foremost, we have to help ourselves.
Secondly, there needs to be a core understanding from the beginning of what is really doable and what is simply fantasy fare.
Third, if help is on the way–great, but it’s got to be timely enough and come with enough raw horsepower to make a genuine difference.
Finally, sometimes miracles do happen and everything works out great–the day is saved–but even then so much underlying damage has been done that you need to rebuild from the core foundations again.
And for the next time, you’ll need to ensure capabilities beyond what was ever imagined before. 😉
1) you are a dissident living in a country that suppresses basic human rights
OR
2) you are a person seeking to help others suffering under authoritarian regimes
THEN
consider signing up at Movements.org, an organization that connects people in need of human rights help with those wanting to provide assistance.
After you create a profile, which is given a star rating depending on a vetting process, you can post requests for help or offers of services to help others.
Available services for “advice, contacts, training, and services,” include those from:
– Lawyers
– Journalists
– Technologists
– Translators
– Policy Makers
The great Soviet Jewish dissident, Natan Sharansky, who spent 10 years imprisoned in a tortuous gulag, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Movement.org is a “transformative approach to an old problem” for collecting and trying to get information on human-rights abuses to reach the free world and to seek justice and freedom.
While dictators looks to suppress freedom of speech and information flow, social media is combating it, and Movements was provided a grant from Google, I believe, to do just that. 😉
Great new iPhone App by the San Ramon Fire Department called FireDepartment.
This life-saving iPhone app notifies citizens trained in CPR (that have opted-in) of a cardiac emergency occurring in a public area near them.
An article in Government Technology (May 2011) explains that citizens can “start administering CPR before first responders arrive at the scene.“
The problem it addresses is that generally it takes about 7 minutes from a heart attack to death, and it can take about just as long for rescue crews to reach victims.
So, if there are qualified people in the vicinity that can help in the the crucial minutes in between, they can literally save lives.
This is how it works:
1) Emergency dispatchers receive a call for help.
2) They enter “CPR assistance needed” into the dispatch system.
3) First responders AND local citizens with the CPR app (within 500 feet of the emergency) arealerted.
4) Location-based technology in the iPhone directs you to not only where the assistance is needed but also to where the nearest automated external defibrillator (AED) can be found.
“If you’re at Starbucks and next door at the deli someone goes down, you’re getting a notification.”
Currently, the app covers San Ramon County’s 155 miles, but there are plans to make it available as open source code to other jurisdictions across the country as well.
The app was developed with the help of Fire Chief Richard Price who previously was a software engineer and is bringing a new technology focus to life-saving emergency response.
There are also iPhone apps that walk you through performing CPR, such as CPR-Choking and CPR Hero.
Hopefully, we never need these apps, but it’s good to know people and information are there to help just an iPhone app away.