Rehabilitation Facility Manager’s course emphasises cooperation

As a rehabilitation facility manager, you are not alone! This was a key focus area for the EUROWA Facility Manager’s training which took place online on 1st and 2nd December 2021.

Managers’ training is an important element of the EUROWA-2 project work stream to develop and roll out several new training courses for European oiled wildlife responders and scientists. Originally planned to take place in person, the course was converted to an online format due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The online course was held over two half days, and was attended by 23 participants from 10 countries, including EUROWA network members and technical experts. Developed by EUROWA-2 project coordinator Sea Alarm, the package aimed to provide the group with an initial understanding of how to set up and manage a rehabilitation facility, including becoming familiar with the structure of a Wildlife Branch, the function and layout of different departments, staffing and day to day decision-making, and technical roles on the work floor.

A leadership session was included to look at the more ‘human’ side of managing a facility during an emergency, with Sascha Regmann of network member ProBird, Germany giving some insights into facility design and setup issues in the early days of the Bow Jubail oil spill incident in 2018.

The EUROWA rehabilitation facility manager’s qualification requires lifelong learning. However, this training provided a first opportunity to share some technical concepts and ideas with the network on how to effectively manage a wildlife rehabilitation facility in the event of a serious oil spill in Europe where a large facility would be needed. More experienced network members were also able to share their knowledge with others in the group during the tabletop exercise discussions, emphasising that the manager should not have to operate alone, but rely on their colleagues and peers to support the management process. Read more about EUROWA training courses here.