Hal Newman

Newman | Stranger Danger

January 3, 2012
Newman | Stranger Danger

I won’t miss 2011. It was a rugged year and I don’t mind saying that I’d have kicked it into a pig-manure-slurry-filled ditch if the option had presented itself. Hell, I’d have put the year to bed in late November because right after that is when I became aware of a whole new meaning...

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Newman | Leadership lessons

December 10, 2011
Newman | Leadership lessons

Stanstead QC | Lessons in leadership often are unexpected. This past summer, our daughters Emma and Sophie played soccer in Stanstead. Stanstead is a small town. In Pointe Claire, where we used to live, there were more than 2,000 kids in the soccer program. In Stanstead, there were probably less than 300. So the...

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Newman | Playlist for The Big One

December 5, 2011
Newman | Playlist for The Big One

Stanstead QC | December 13- Big Update to Announce: The quest to build The Playlist for The Big One now includes an opportunity for artists to submit their tunes to Big Med on Sonicbids. http://www.sonicbids.com/BigMedicine2 For those of you who don’t know, Sonicbids helps bands get gigs and promoters book the right bands. The...

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Newman | You can hear it in their voices

December 1, 2011
Newman | You can hear it in their voices

You can hear it in their voices. They are the first of the first responders to reach the scene. You can hear something in the tone of the first few seconds of their first update transmitted from the scene. No matter how polished and professional they may be just a hint of adrenalin sneaks...

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Newman | Unrepentant believer in the impossible

November 21, 2011
Stanstead Gothic: Hal Newman with rake in hand out on the homestead property.

Stanstead QC | Back when I was the newly-minted director of a small EMS service, my boss called me in for my six-month evaluation. He said, “I’ve got good news and bad news.” I told him to give me the bad news first. “As a leader you’re a real disaster.” Damn. What was the...

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Priorities

November 11, 2011

I am stubborn. My wife warned me not to try and change that lightbulb on my own. She told me I ought to ask our neighbour from across the street to lend me a hand. I waited for her to go over to one of her friends for tea and muffins and then I...

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Back on my path

November 8, 2011
Back on my path

“Each of us has a special contribution to make to the human world. Each of us is born with the package of assets, deficits, problems and blessings needed for that work. Each of us struggles to understand what our task is and how the package with which we have been born suits us to...

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First aid essentials

November 5, 2011

So, I’m building out a home/farm emergency med kit/sack/box and thought it would be a good thing to draw on the wisdom of the emergency management/services crowd. What are your absolute must-have real-world-practical essential individual items for such a kit? What has worked really well? What’s waste of space? What did you once use...

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Small towns. Big challenges for emergency services

August 20, 2011

View “Small towns. Big challenges for emergency services.” on Storify

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When a tree falls…

July 25, 2011
When a tree falls…

–When a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? Well if it lands on your house at 4 o’clock in the morning, it makes one hell of a racket. There was a big rumble, the dog barked – and then let loose with his anal glands [literally scared the poop...

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