Holly Hanna
Years with People to People: 8
What does OnCall mean?
To me, OnCall means that you have a representative available to you 24 hours a day. Any time you call, day or night, someone answers the phone. Every call is also monitored by the duty officer. That person has extensive background and training to make decisions, immediately deploy teams, or release funds if needed.
Everyone who answers the phone has the ability to launch our larger team that is trained to respond to more serious emergencies. Those team members can be assembled in the program office within 30 minutes, or on a plane if need be, to join a delegation overseas.
What is your goal when you're on duty?
Much of my job is taking action on concerns that have already been flagged, but I also think it's important to monitor all incoming information to head off any potential issues. Anything that could create a negative impact on the delegation, we're coming up with a plan to address. I really see my goal as keeping situations from escalating.
What kinds of situations did you experience during OnCall, and how did you address them?
I think our leaders have done a fantastic job of selecting and guiding their delegations, because this was a very quiet year. Some examples of situations I helped with:
- One leader hurt her leg and couldn't continue with the program, so I facilitated her medical care overseas and her transport home, found a leader to fly in and replace her, and worked with the delegation manager to ensure that the transition was seamless for the students.
- One of our Ambassadors developed an acute ear infection that kept him from flying with the rest of his delegation out of Fiji. We got him treatment, worked with our partners in Fiji to make sure that he had accommodations and things to do in Fiji for the few days he was separated from the delegation, and communicated constantly with his family and his leaders.
- We also had a lot of success this year in coaching parents to deal with disciplinary issues over the phone. Of course there are always a few students who are going to want to push the envelope when they're far from mom and dad, so we work with the leaders and the parents to head off those impulses before they create a real danger to the student.
What do you think is the most important thing for families to know about the OnCall process?
What parents need to know is that no matter when they call the program office, a human being is going to answer the phone and have at their disposal the resources to offer solutions.
Our team of trained professionals is backed by other professionals around the world. Wherever your son or daughter is, we have a partner there whom we have already formed a relationship with. We can call them 24 hours a day. Other student travel agencies don't have people right there on the ground who are going to facilitate solutions for your son or daughter.
Because we have these partnerships, we can translate doctor's orders in any language, we can have interpreters at the hospital, we can facilitate getting cash to your child if it's needed—we make sure, 100%, that your son or daughter has the medical care necessary and that you understand exactly what that care is.
Parents also need to know that our staff goes through extensive training, building each year on our historical safety plans with new precautions and new preparation. We are prepared to deal with everything.
For any emergency that might occur, we would have a team assembled within an hour and a plan in place and communicated to all parties, from delegates and families to global partners and local media. The level of responsibility that we have taken for our students' safety is far above what you see in much larger corporations.
