Falck Newsletter No. 3 2009 IN THIS ISSUE FALCK PEOPLE GO RUNNING Falck kicks off FOR CHARITY Falck participated in the Roparun in Abu Dhabi race with their own team. We got the pictures of exhausted but still smiling Falck folks. page 3 FALCK FOLK HELPS OUT IN NICARAGUA Danish rescue officers spend time doing good deeds in a faraway country – and do- nates some retired vehicles as well. Falck’s training centre in Musaffah. page 4-5 Falck and the Critical National once everything has been built and properly Infrastructure Authority (CNIA) upgraded at the joint Falck and CNIA facil- agreed to set up an emergency ity. The accommodation wing can fit around 150 people and the staff will consist of up to PEOPLE IN FALCK centre and clinic at CNIA’s training 50 people. Vibeke Roermark loves to play in her garden facility in Sweihan, Abu Dhabi from “We have already started quite an exten- and relax in front of her 6 June 2009. Starting the same sive overhaul of the equipment. The other Playstation. Oh, did day we installed a helicopter simulator nec- we mention that she date, Falck has also been operating essary for the training of people working is 63? a CNIA training centre in Musaffah, off shore and this is only one example of Abu Dhabi - both are seen as full the upgrades that we are performing at the moment,” says Falck’s Head of Middle East, service operations to CNIA. Marc de Beer. page 8 Karsten Krogh, Communications Officer Clinic and emergency centre Concurrently, Falck has reached an agree- ready been brought in to our facilities down Falck has added the Middle East to its places ment to run a clinic with doctors, nurses, here,” says Marc de Beer. of business in the world. From now on Falck physiotherapists and other health personnel will run the former Navy Safety and Security at CNIA’s military training site in Sweihan, “We have already received a great amount Training Centre in Musaffah in Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi. of positive response and obviously we are - the biggest of the seven emirates that At the Sweihan training facility Falck’s ex- optimistic about obtaining further contracts constitute the United Arab Emirates. It is in- perienced physicians and nurses will provide – perhaps involving ambulance services - in corporated in the agreement that Falck will medical services to both staff and delegates a country that is traditionally difficult to get upgrade the original centre to international trained at the facility. The emergency cen- into business wise. However, it is important standards. Falck now runs training centres in tre and clinic will be equipped with medical to stress that we need to focus on making 13 countries on five continents. equipment and patient related IT-systems of this facility top notch in all departments and At the training centre in Musaffah between the highest standards. thus getting the Falck brand established,” 200 and 300 people a day can be trained “Quite a few doctors and nurses have al- states Marc de Beer. FALCK NEWSLETTER NO. 3 2009 Global intranet to link Falck employees Falck has launched a common global intranet designed to link all areas of Falck across international borders and business areas. This means that all 17,000 employees at Falck will have the opportunity to receive news and info about Falck on the same web. Klaus Kristiansen, Communications Officer Initially, employees who are already on Personalised opening page From the opening page there is access the Falck network will have access to the The new intranet gives the option of a per- to a number of subpages called portals. intranet and it will appear as the opening sonalised opening page. This means that This is where the editors from the spe- page when the user turns on his or her the user partly makes the choices about cific departments will publish news and computer. However, Falck’s IT depart- which kind of news the user wants on the information about the department’s ac- ment is working tivities, etc. These on a solution that pages are primari- will ensure that all ly focused on em- Falck employees ployees in the spe- without Falck net- cific department work access will be – which is why the able to log on to texts are in the lo- the intranet. It is cal languages. still difficult to say when this solution The IT department is ready but the will inform the indi- preliminary solu- vidual Falck coun- tion will be tested tries on when and in a couple of Falck how the employ- countries during ees will be on the August. intranet. However, it is not too early The new global in- for the individual tranet will convey countries to start both news about coordinating with Falck and informa- their business are- tion and instruc- as which units need tions to Falck em- their own portals, ployees. The open- which employees ing page will con- to be intranet edi- tain group news, tors and what kind business area news and specific news for opening page. In the standard configura- of material to post on the intranet. This the country that the user has selected in tion he or she will see group news, news way the individual departments will be his or her profile. Group and business area from all business areas and news from their ready when the intranet is launched. news is in English while country news will specific country. But the individual user can be in the local language. change his or her profile if preferred. PAGE 2 FALCK NEWSLETTER NO. 3 2009 Falck workers forced to run from Paris to Rotterdam! Got your attention there? Obviously, no force was needed here – unless of course the runners felt forced by their own conscience. THE HISTORY OF THE ROPARUN Being the ideal of health, many Falck employees wanted to In 1992, the RO(tterdam) PA(ris) RUN participate in the Roparun – a cancer charity run from Paris to was born. And it came about as the result of a bet. In that first year, 13 teams took Rotterdam – and this year Falck had their own team. part and together they managed to raise 100,000 Dutch Guilders (45,000 Euros). The organization of the event was in the From 30th of May until the 1st of June 2009, a among the runners. Carla van den Heuvel hands of a small group of volunteers. In running team consisting of Falck employees also participated but she chose to ride a bi- fact, the intention was for a one-off event, in the Netherlands ran non-stop in the Ro- cycle at the Roparun – apparently not with- but that was not to be the case. parun. In earlier years, Falck was one of the out a little pain to show for it. The first time was such a success that a sponsors of this challenge for charity. This ye- “When you sit on a bike for many kilom- follow up was inevitable. For the first four ar, however, we had our own company team: eters and hours your backside starts to hurt years the event remained relatively small, ‘You’ll never Falck Alone’ – completely Falck. but you will get over this within a few days. and was organized on a purely voluntary From all Falck departments in the Nether- To overcome cancer will take much longer”, basis. However, as the event grew there lands enthusiastic colleagues have gathered says Carla van den Heuvel, capturing the was a need for an office with paid staff - to form the team. The director of Falck Neth- spirit of the race. even though everything had to be done erlands, Joost Beerthuis and the President of low budget. There are currently 250 vol- International Fire Service, Jorn Zielke, were unteers working for the Roparun Founda- tion, with an additional permanent group of 50 volunteers, who are constantly busy dedicating time and energy to the planning and organization of this event. The route covers approximately 530km. When it began in 1992, the race started on the Coolsingel in Rotterdam and fin- ished in the airport area Le Bourget in the ‘city of lights’, Paris. Since 2004 the route has gone in the other direction, starting in Paris and finishing in Rotterdam. WHAT IS THE ROPARUN? The Roparun is the longest non-stop relay race in the world: it is not only a unique run- ning event but it also has a unique goal “Aim- ing to add life to the days that remain, when no more days can be added to life.” It is a charity run for cancer victims. Please notice that all these fine Falck people are smiling. Must be the beginning of the race. PAGE 3 FALCK NEWSLETTER NO. 3 2009 Falck rescuer making a difference in Nicaragua In March, rescue officer Kim Elkaer from Holstebro, Denmark travelled to Nicaragua to help out for a fortnight. Was is the newest man in a long line of Falck rescue officers to make the trip. This is a short excerpt from Kim Elkaer’s diary. Not for the faint of heart. Karsten Krogh, Communications Officer Sunday, March 8th. A stab wound for the parame- Wednesday, March 11th. Nicaraguan kids excited about their new clothes. dics. Sunday, March 8th out to be the highlight of the day. At one lung-rescue). We got the patient inside the First night of duty point we stopped next to a family with a lot ambulance; drove towards the hospital while Morten and I have just returned from the first of kids.