May 7, 2013
Virtual safety training from Centerville company
By Michael Schaffer Managing Editor The Daily Iowegian
Tue May 07, 2013, 06:14 AM CDT
Friday morning several local public officials and Iowa Rep. Dave Loebsack were given an in-depth look at a virtual training public safety program developed by Centerville-based MediaTech.
John “Rocky” White, MediaTech president and COO, guided visitors through a PowerPoint presentation describing the “Virtual Table Top” software program, described the software and answered questions.
John Arnold, MediaTech product and sales development representative, assisted in answering questions and describing the program.
“VTT” is a web-based tool for conducting enhanced table top exercises. Facilitators and users add custom backgrounds specific to individual locations, place objects features, roads, hazards and equipment in a scene to visualize an emergency scenario and appropriate response actions.
Emergency scenarios “VTT” can replicates includes fires, plane crashes, tornadoes, traffic accidents, chemical spills, chemical explosions, mud slides, active shooters … or just about anything the mind can think of in terms of manmade or natural disasters.
“VTT” can be programed to simulate emergency scenarios so law enforcement, fire, emergency management, city, county, schools, hospitals, business and even private individuals can actually anticipate for and have a plan in place to deal with a tactical, operational or strategic response.
Rep. Loebsack was impressed.
“It’s as close as you are going to get to a simulation with what you have” Loebsack said. “I mean, this is fantastic. I’m really glad I was able to see this.”
Local officials attending were Centerville Police Chief, Tom Demry, Centerville Fire Chief, Mike Bogle, Dien Judge, Loebsack’s south east Iowa district representative, Becky Maxwell, Daily Iowegian Publisher, Jim Senior, Centerville Mayor, Dean Kaster, Appanoose County Supervisor, and Mike Lamb ADLM Emergency Management Coordinator.
MediaTech was founded in 2003. They have more than 4,000 hours of learning courseware, more than 1,000 different scenarios, and 4,000 user account spread across the United States.
Larger users of MediaTech products include the federal government, Cargill, Musco Lighting, and Wells Fargo.
White said 25 percent of emergency managers go “bananas” with “VTT” software. They’ve been looking for something like this,”
White said. “They work with their police station. They work with their hospital. They work with their schools. They work with their fire station regularly. Regularly doing drills at various locations and are very interested in the program.
Arnold said, “VTT” is a way to get people to think about security scenarios.
“We try to create things that could actually happen and get people to think about how they would respond,” Arnold said.
For more information contact MediaTech http://www.mediatechinc.com/?p=503
Original article available at dailyiowegian.com
