×

Names and Notes, July 2, 2017

Hampton Inn awarded TripAdvisor Award

Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Marshalltown has received a 2017 TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence Award. Now in its seventh year, the achievement celebrates hospitality businesses that have earned great traveler reviews on TripAdvisor over the past year. To qualify, a business must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five, have a minimum number of reviews and must have been listed on TripAdvisor for at least 12 months.

“It is an honor to be recognized with a TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence Award,” said Elizabeth Wilke, general manager of Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Marshalltown. “We are proud of our team, and we are thankful for the guests who have taken the time to review our property with excellent ratings.”

Vannatta attends Homeland Security Training

Paramedic Steven Vannatta, UnityPoint Health-Marshalltown EMS manager, recently completed Healthcare Leadership for Mass Casualty Incidents training offered by the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Ala.

The CDP – operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency – is the only federally-chartered Weapons of Mass Destruction training facility in the nation. The HCL training is a four-day course that addresses disaster preparedness at the facility and system level, preparing professionals for any incident that results in multiple casualties, including mass shootings.

Vannatta says it’s essential that healthcare providers prepare for the worst – even in a city like Marshalltown.

“One of the worst mass shootings in the history of the U.S. happened in Newtown, Conn., which has a population of 28,000, that’s the same as Marshalltown,” said Vannatta, a 28-year veteran EMS provider who holds numerous certifications through FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security including mass causality preparedness. “What we see almost daily through our media outlets is not just a ‘big city’ problem, it is an ‘any city’ problem and the people on the front lines- law enforcement, EMS, fire-all need to be on the same page with regards to training and how we approach a mass casualty situation.”

The HCL training is a four-day course that addresses disaster preparedness for any incident that results in multiple casualties. Apart from mass shootings, this can be the result of a natural disaster, an accidental or intentional release of a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosives hazard, or a disease outbreak that results in an epidemic or pandemic.

“Disasters are going to happen, we have no control over that,” Vannatta said. “But through continued preparedness efforts, our counties’ responders will be able to handle any situation that is presented to them, whether it is a response requiring a single resource or a multidisciplinary response requiring multiple agencies.”

The CDP offers more than 40 training courses focusing on incident management, mass casualty response and emergency response to a catastrophic natural disaster or terrorist act.

Training at the CDP campus is federally funded at no cost to state, local and tribal emergency response professionals or their agency.

——–

Submit local business news

The Times-Republican invites businesses in its circulation area to submit brief items concerning their employees or businesses for the Names & Notes column, which is published on Sundays.

Potential subjects of these business briefs include announcements of new businesses, branch acquisitions, departures of longtime employees, employee recognitions or new hires. Submissions will be edited and run on a space-available basis. Items must be received by 5 p.m. Thursday for consideration in Sunday’s column.

Submit brief articles and JPEG headshots to: Names & Notes, Newsroom, Times-Republican, 135 W. Main St., Marshalltown 50158, or call Kathy Beane at 641-753-6611 or email news@timesrepublican.com

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today