Dwight Polk, paramedic program director and senior lecturer of emergency health services, recently presented at the Arrowhead EMS Conference in Duluth, Minn. about exploring the psychological impact of line of duty deaths (LODD) on EMS organizations. Polk regularly teaches and presents at regional and state EMS conferences around the country.

The editor of EMS1.com, a news service for EMS professionals, wrote an article analyzing Polk’s presentation in discussing the inevitability of planning and preparing for a line of duty death in the profession. The article mentioned several key takeaways from Polk’s presentation, including having updated emergency contact forms, protection of evidence in LODDs, engaging the news media as a partner, and using an authorized spokesperson to speak on behalf of the department, among other topics.

Polk serves as a mental health professional for two CISM teams and is a CIT trainer for the Howard County Police Department. He is the co-author of two textbooks; “Pre-Hospital Behavior Emergencies and Crisis Response”  and “Law Enforcement Responder: Principles of Emergency Medicine, Rescue and Force Protection.”

To read the full article on EMS1.com, click here.

In a 4-day Model African Union (AU) summit at Howard University on February 19-22, 2015, 7 UMBC students will serve as ambassadors of the West African country of Togo under the mentorship of Dr. Gloria Chuku. The students will have the opportunity to meet the real ambassador of Togo in Washington, DC for more information/briefing on the country, be addressed by the AU ambassador to the United States, participate in Council and Committee sessions, and at the end receive certificates of participation and awards in addition to 3 credit units in Independent Study in AFST 211: Contemporary Africa or AFST 213: Africa, Culture and Development.