Making INTERNATIONAL Programs as Safe as THEY SHOULD BE

Navigating health, safety and security in international settings requires education, training and experience. Lodestone Safety International provides that education and training.

Standard and customized trainings for administrators, faculty, field staff and students are our primary focus. Let us provide the training to make your particular programs as safe as they should be.

Standard Workshops

Navigating Health Safety, Security and Risk Management Abroad (1 or 2 days)

The training will provide an overview of the international hazard landscape and the risk management strategies available for international programs. We’ll begin from the perspective of what international trip leaders need to be able to do and what skills, understanding and information access they need. The workshop will include most recent data, standards and best practices.

The curriculum will include information acquisition and vetting strategies, cross cultural implications for safety, and emergency response. We’ll look at program structure, policy making and training for staff and program participants.

Participants will come away with a more informed perspective as well as actionable tools for reducing risk. The format consists of small group work on scenarios interspersed with content lectures. Participants will receive a readings packet prior to the training.

Goals:

• To present a comprehensive overview of international risk management for education abroad
• To provide practical, actionable tools to assist faculty and administrators
• To enhance practitioners’ ability to reduce the likelihood of health, safety and security events and to more effectively mitigate the harm from such events

Emergency Response and Crisis Management Planning Workshop (1 day)

This workshop for administrators begins with an overview of the necessary components of an international Emergency Response & Crisis Management Plan (field protocols, administration protocols, family plan, media plan, etc.) followed by a progressive series of tabletop scenarios. Each stage of the unfolding incidents are worked by the participants to test existing plans and to identify opportunities for improvement. Group work is interspersed with short presentations on safety vs liability, legal and insurance considerations, stakeholder considerations, crisis communications, the goals of emergency response, etc. We’ll round out the day with an interview exercise after creating a list of vulnerabilities and talking points.

International Group Leadership and Program Management (1 day)

Leading international programs calls for additional roles and skill sets than those typically exercised at school by teachers and staff.  Additionally, program leaders and their students will be in circumstances qualitatively different from the typical school day. This training will look at the process aspects of international programming. Specifically, we’ll look at setting tone, goals and expectations. We’ll discuss how to structure orientations and how to talk about the rules. We’ll work scenarios regarding “misbehavior” and mental health issues.

Mental Health Issues, Facilitating Students and Managing "Misbehavior" Abroad (1 day)

Mental health issues, student behavior and judgment are high on the list of significant concerns for health, safety and security among education abroad practitioners. This training will review the latest thinking on the issues and work through strategic approaches for reducing the frequency of incidents and responding more effectively. Curriculum to include:

• Emerging adults: models for working effectively with students
• Student screening: content, process and the legal landscape
• Student orientations: what works and what does not
• Preparing students for a non-OSHA world
• Educating students to avoid predators
• Prevention: proactive work before and early on in a program can reduce incidents and save work later in the program
• Psychotropic medications: what you need to know
• Behavioral policies and incident response
• Mental health disorders and emergency response

Travel Medicine Courses

Travel Health for International Programs (1 day)

This one day program is intended to assist trip leaders and administrators to make informed decisions about health and medical strategies for their programs operating overseas. We will survey the data on traveler illness and injury and look at how to access information for particular destinations. We’ll look at prevention and avoidance of travel related health issues and diseases. We will look at the options for strategic response planning for injury and illness, particularly when traveling in low and middle-income countries. Curriculum will include content presentations interspersed with tabletop scenarios and assessment and decision-making exercises.

Travel Medicine First Aid (2 days)

This is a travel medicine course built over a wilderness medicine framework and is conducted with Wilderness Medical Associates International. There are several full lectures but most of the curriculum is embedded in Patient Assessment System drills and debriefs. All scenarios will be internationally based and will include attendant decision making for accessing available medical care. Curriculum includes all basic first aid as well as Basic Life Support (CPR), an allergy & anaphylaxis workshop and coverage of travel medicine fundamentals such as destination epidemiology, pathways of disease, strategies for disease prevention and medical facility assessment and decision making. Certifications include Basic Life Support (CPR), Travel Medicine First Aid and Allergy/Anaphylaxis Workshop. All course materials are included in the cost of the course.

Travel Medicine First Responder (8 days)

This is a travel medicine course built over a wilderness first responder framework. There is a full curriculum of readings, lectures, Patient Assessment System (PAS) drills, demonstrations, filmed simulations, and debriefs. All scenarios will be internationally based (as opposed to wilderness activity based) and will include attendant decision making for accessing available medical care in challenging international settings. The general curriculum includes the PAS, Basic Life Support (including CPR), anatomy and physiology, principles of assessment and treatment, epidemiology, environmental hazards, pathways of disease, vaccinations, chemoprophylaxis, assessment of medical facilities, etc. Specific topics will include common tropical diseases, traveler’s diarrhea, altitude, hyperthermia/hyponatremia, wound care, burns, etc. Curriculum will also include 6 advanced scope of practice protocols: cessation of CPR after 30 minutes, high risk wound cleaning and impaled object removal, spinal assessment, the administration of epinephrine for anaphylaxis and asthma, and the reduction of simple dislocations. Certifications include Basic Life Support (CPR), Travel Medicine First Responder and Allergy/Anaphylaxis Workshop. All books and course materials are included in the cost of the course.

Customized Programs

• Faculty Training: Navigating Risk Management Abroad
• Administration Table Top Crisis Management
• Student Orientations