Personal Perspective Paper

Personal Perspective Paper

Course: MM500 Foundations of Problem-Based Learning

Instructor: Greg Luce

Reflecting back on personal experiences there are many instances in which the decision-making models were utilized. Dating back to September 4th 2005 while under the employ of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), we began to encounter difficulties meeting the needs of the victims.

Servicing the millions of victims for disaster relief assistance became problematic due to the severity and close proximity of hurricanes Rita and Katrina. This problem was initialized a few days after the center was officially opened for assistance. The hurricanes destroyed and/ or flooded a majority of homes in the Lake Charles areas leaving many people homeless. The devastation was enormous and totally unexpected. We were sent to the area by FEMA with very minimal staff totally unprepared for the number of victims that needed our assistance. We were forced to turn away hundreds of victims for assistance daily. Therefore the decision to find an alternative solution was implemented. A few possible solutions were: 1) Monitor the number of applicants that were seen in a day for a week to find the best possible solution, 2) Schedule appointments for any victims that were turned away for a later date.

As the manager of the center, I implemented the decision to monitor a day's work and also schedule appointment if needed. Each applicant assistant was to record the name of the victim, the time that they were seen, and the time the session ended. At the end of each day for a week, data was gathered from the applicant assistants and was analyzed to determine how many victims could be serviced during our hours of operation. By doing so, the outcome of victims that can be seen in a day increased due to time management. If all victims were not seen an appointment was made for them for the next date. Over time the demand decreased because of the system that was implemented. The center became number one in the highest daily turnovers.

Looking back, the decision was very successful for this situation. The victim's were allowed service in an organized manner, which allowed them a sense of normality in chaos. In my experience in this situation analytic thinking and organization