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Management
Maskirovka In the old Soviet
Union, maps were often made with deliberate errors. Towns, rivers, and
roads were placed incorrectly, and entire towns would be missing in some
versions. Moscow street maps were especially inaccurate.
The false maps were part of a plan to prevent foreigners and even the
Soviet citizens from knowing the details of the geography of the Soviet
Union. It was thought that this would increase security, but actually it
made the whole country less efficient.
The false maps were part of a much broader concept called
Maskirovka,
a word that has meanings relating to misdirection, camouflage,
misinformation, and diversion. According to some experts, the Maskirovka
philosophy is still very much a part of Russian strategy, and influences
many parts of the society.
Ever feel like your EMS service is 'Maskirovka'? As if only those who
designed the plan have any hope of understanding how things work? You
get different versions of the 'same' thing, but none of them correspond,
or are clear as to what direction you are suppose to be going. While the
'EMS planners, movers and shakers' do not set out to purposely thwart
your travels, they sometimes do not make it any easier either.
The behind the scenes business end of EMS operations affects
everyone, from the responders to the chief. The managers that seem to
have the most difficulty are those with the smaller volunteer groups. If
the group is lucky, they have a few paid staff amongst the members that
can devote time to rooting out the necessary information. But many of
these groups have no paid staff and volunteer time is limited. Weeding
through and making sound decisions about the business end of an EMS
group is a challenge, for services large and small.
It is our goal that this site will help managers, in particular the
small groups with limited resources. We may even find ourselves helping
out a few of the 'big' guys, who still need assistance from time to
time. It is also our goal to exchange information, aiding those who
desire it, so they do not have to reinvent the wheel of management.
It was our resident Guru's idea to do this site. I am grateful to our
Guru for the assistance, time and effort to be involved in this ongoing
project. Guru does most of the hard work while I sponsor the site and do
the web work. I have desired to do this for
sometime but did not have the necessary knowledge. The Guru has made
this goal achievable.
Feel free to participate. Send in questions, write an article, or
provide information on useful web sites. And if you can take back even
one small tidbit that helps you manage, we will be delighted.
Valerie DeFrance, NREMT-P, EMS Chief
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