Philipsburg – Fire Officers, Ambulance Officers and Police Officers took part in a
joined leadership training for middle and senior management officers from February
28 to March 4 at the Government Administration Building. The leadership training for
middle management and upcoming leaders within the emergency services is called
JOLA, short for Junior Officer Leadership Academy. The training for the senior
management is SOLA (Senior Officer Leadership Academy). This leadership training
was organized through cooperation between the Fire Department, Ambulance
Department and the Caribbean Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC).
The theme of the JOLA and SOLA trainings was “21st Century Emergency Service
Leadership” and contained sessions on:
Leadership Philosophies like servant leadership and transformational
leadership.
Understanding emotional intelligence.
Conflict Resolution.
Understanding the importance of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the
workplace.
The training included a week of classes with group activities, individual assignments
and role playing. Participants got to improve their knowledge on management and
leadership, exchange experience and their network and at the end participants
received a certificate of participation.
Both JOLA and SOLA trainings were provided by the instructors Reginald Freeman
and Dr. Kwame Cooper, who are experienced in providing these trainings within the
Caribbean since 2008 at the Caribbean Association of Fire Chiefs. Reginald D.
Freeman is the CAFC Training Director and the Fire Chief of Oakland, CA. Dr.
Kwame Cooper is a retired Deputy Fire Chief with over 38 years of experience in the
Los Angeles, CA, Fire Department and Community Safety education.
The course is organized by the Fire Department and Ambulance Service and is geared
to lifelong learning and continuous growth and leadership within the emergency
services. Participants are leading officers from emergency services ranging from the
Sint Maarten Government Fire Department, the Ambulance, the Police Department,
the Airport Fire and Rescue and Fire officers of the Fire Department of Bonaire, St.
Eustatius and Saba.
The candidates and management of the Fire Department, Ambulance and the Police,
were very impressed and satisfied with the training. The instructors also expressed
their gratitude to the government of Sint Maarten, for granting them the possibility to
provide this training, which will result in a higher level of functioning of the
organization.
