FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact Carlynn Page (800) 960-6236 carlynn.page@emergencydispatch.org

The minutes it took Communication Center Manager (CCM) course graduates to accept diplomas at the 2007 Navigator Conference of the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch (NAED) compare little to the extent they will use their lessons.    “The amount we learned together over the past few months will stay with us for years,” said CCM class representative Ronda Grant, director of 9-1-1 Communications for the Medicine Hat Regional 9-1-1 Communication Centre in Alberta, Canada. “This is an amazing group of people taking a course to better themselves for the public good.”   The course, created by NAED and Fitch & Associates, combines online studies and classroom time to help aspiring, new or experienced managers further develop skills tailored to the 9-1-1 communication center environment. The core curriculum includes studies in human resources, finance, customer and media relations, communication center operations, personal development, administration, legal issues, technology, and emerging issues. The course begins online and continues through two onsite sessions in Kansas City, lasting six days each for a total of 12 days in the classroom. Students devote another 11 weeks between sessions to on-going assignments, readings, and online distance learning a course leader monitors.   Grant jumped at the chance to take the CCM program, fully aware of the intensive commitment spread over 13 weeks. The time was well spent, she reported. “This was a really good place to gain better ideas about how to run a communication center. It’s an all around course for any manager in this type of setting.”   The learning experience, however, does not happen in isolation. Camaraderie develops through an emphasis on teamwork and constant direct and distance contact. At the start of the course students are assigned to teams that ultimately deliver an end of program presentation based upon an assigned written paper on a topic of their choosing. Grant’s group chose an investigation of funding formulas used for developing communication center fees, while other topics among the groups included morale building and fostering working relations among the different age generations.   Jay Fitch, president, Fitch & Associates, said the competencies center around four themes – developing teams, building working relationships, enhancing a lifelong interest in learning, and sharing a vision for 9-1-1 communications. “These students are dedicated to jobs they love and their time spent with the CCM was a job well done,” he said.   A total of 35 students graduated in the 2007 Class of CCM. The next CCM course begins October 15, 2007, and runs through February 1, 2008.   For more information about registration, call Sharon Conroy, Project Coordinator, Fitch & Associates, LLC, at (816) 431-2600 ext. 4922 or her email at sconroy@emprize.net. General information about the CCM program is available from the NAED at (800) 960-6236 (USA and Canada) or 801-359-6916 (International). Ask for Carlynn Page.