Richard Allan Bryant is a world expert in the mental health of people affected by adversity and trauma. He is Scientia Professor of Psychology at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Director of the UNSW Traumatic Stress Clinic and Westmead Institute for Medical Research. His main areas of research are post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and prolonged grief disorder. His keynote will outline current knowledge of the frequency and nature of PTSD in fire fighters as well as the screening and prevention of PTSD.

Cancer is now the leading cause of death for fire fighters nationwide. In fact, fire fighters are diagnosed with cancer at a rate that is more than five times that of the general population. That means that nearly 20 percent of IAFF members can expect to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. This session will provide attendees with information on this ground-breaking research, diagnosis and cancer treatment.

Homegrown Violent Extremism (HVE) is being encouraged from propaganda magazines released by both ISIS and Al Qaeda. These sources encourage and instruct on the use of bombs and fire as a weapon, the use of vehicles as mowing machines and how to select high consequence targets. The FBI Homegrown Violent Extremist Threat Brief will focus on tactics and targets and discuss the threat landscape, as well as potential response to the threats that fire fighters and paramedics should consider.

The IAFF Grants Administration Department oversees the IAFF’s national grant programs, which totals more than $20 million per year. In addition to overseeing national grant programs, the Grants Administration Department assists with questions and requests for information from IAFF affiliates interested in grants for their departments. This session will provide attendees with information on increasing their chances of funding from federal grants.

This session will provide an update on the EMD system that is used by 9-1-1 call takers to quickly narrow down a caller’s type of medical or trauma situation in order to better dispatch emergency services and provide quality instruction to the caller before help arrives. Discussion will include the new “low code” nurse triage system.