Executive Summary: Chicago Meetings
Executive Summary: Chicago Conference
Team Rubicon’s first ever Regional Coordinators Meeting was an incredible success. Over the course of meetings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Team Rubicon’s top leadership was able to develop a thorough roadmap for the organization’s future. Read on to learn some of the highlights that came out of the weekend’s meetings.
Top on the agenda was creating a standard for developing and building TR’s vision of regional teams located across the country. Team Rubicon has begun developing teams on the West Coast, Midwest and East Coast, with the vision that each will be fully geared and supplied, ready for deployment at a moment’s notice. During the meetings TR’s leadership developed organizational standards, Regional Team Billets, gear lists, and a plan for organizing regional volunteers to conduct community service in between large natural disasters.
Team Rubicon also finalized the gear and supplies needed for deployment. West Coast Regional Coordinator Zach Smith, in conjunction with Bill Mathes from the Board of Advisors, presented both the personal and team gear lists that have been developed. Personal gear will need to be provided by the individual volunteer; however the amount of personal gear on the list has been minimized to reduce the cost of deployment on the individual level. Team gear was presented and discussed, with final decisions made regarding multiple ‘big ticket’ items, such as satellite communications, solar power options and tent/sleeping systems.
Zach Smith and Midwest Regional Coordinator Bob Thomann, lead Physician Assistant at Mt. Sinai Hospital, discussed and finalized the medical gear and medication list that TR will need to purchase and/or acquire for future deployments. Team Rubicon has decided to move forward with ‘tactical’ medical supplies that are vacuum packed to reduce volume, thereby increasing the load TR can carry and maximizing the number of patients TR can treat. TR is currently looking to develop relationships with pharmaceutical suppliers in order to reduce the cost outlay associated with purchasing crucial medication. Any leads in this department would be greatly appreciated.
Team Rubicon Co Founder Jeff Lang is developing a curriculum that will integrate Team Rubicon with the National Incident Management System (NIMS), currently used by all domestic disaster response agencies. Top TR leadership will be required to achieve a certain level of NIMS certification, which will allow Team Rubicon to better collaborate with adjacent NGOs during crisis response while still maintaining independent operations.
Some significant changes were also discussed and approved through a voting process. First, Team Rubicon has determined that initially following future disasters it will immediately deploy a 2 person scout team to the DZ. This will allow TR to gain firsthand knowledge of the incident from TR operators that know the organization’s capabilities and who can best assess TR’s ability to impact the DZ from a small unit medical perspective. TR estimates that the average total cost of deploying two scouts will be $3,500 to $4,000. This cost will be offset in two ways. A) it will reduce the “wait and see” time period taken to authorize deployment of a full team; intel will be pre-vetted and accurate. B) TR will not deploy full teams to DZs that do not justify an operation, which took place during the Chile response.
The second significant change in TR policy will be the use of “Proactive Missions” which will provide Team Rubicon training opportunities in between large natural disasters. Proactive Missions would provide TR the chance to test the latest field gear, experiment with advanced wound dressings, develop our organizational model in areas neglected by conventional aid groups, both at home and abroad. International neglect and domestic suffering constitute opportunities for TR volunteers to positively impact their communities and the world. Team Rubicon – a symbol of American soft power – is currently researching opportunities to conduct these Proactive Missions, both domestically and abroad in regions such as the Sudan, Pakistani Kashmir, Southeast Asia and the Congo; they will be considered as long as they do not impede on TR’s core mission – providing medical rescue teams in response to large natural disasters.
Team Rubicon also established its near and long term goals for the future. The goals are broken down as follows:
2010
- Fully establish 3 Regional Teams, each designed for rapid, self-sustaining medical response. This includes all gear, supplies and funding to conduct missions anywhere in the world.
- Reach 10,000 Facebook Fans and 10,000 Newsletter Subscribers (You can help with this!)
- Have $100,000 on hand by the end of the year to conduct Disaster Response Operations.
- Contact and establish a relationship/MOU with the embassies and ambassadors of the Top 50 disaster prone countries.
- Establish a system for organizing regional volunteers to conduct community service initiatives.
- Become a pro bono client for a national PR firm.
- Develop an MOU with Air Mobility Command, giving Team Rubicon access to Civil Air Patrol assets as they deploy globally in response to emergencies.
- Gain grant and corporate funding for 3 paid staff.
- Completely establish the Board of Directors with 5 total members.
3 Years
- Expand to 6 Regional Teams.
- Expand to 10 full time paid staff.
- Develop a network of 30 pilots and aircraft that will be willing to operate on behalf of Team Rubicon.
- Develop Local Liaisons within the Top 50 disaster prone countries, and ensure they have the ability to communicate the situation on the ground effectively to TR.
5 Years
- Own a large plane that will be on standby 24/7, fully equipped and fueled for rapid deployment.
- Achieve financial independence.
Team Rubicon has not gotten this far because it sits around and waits for things to happen. This organization was built around people that were not satisfied with the status quo; people who saw what needed to happen and did it. This weekend excited me in many ways, most importantly because I saw again firsthand the type of people who surround Team Rubicon- from the donor to the first responder. We have big plans for Team Rubicon, and it is my hope that you will continue to follow and support us along the way.
Sincerely,
Jake Wood
President, Team Rubicon
