Within the Trenches is back with episode 32! This episode was recorded at the National NENA Conference and Expo at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. In this episode I had the pleasure of speaking with Nathan, President/Founder of the Denise Amber Lee Foundation, April, the Michigan NENA President, and Brian with DU-COMM out of DuPage County Illinois. Now, out of all the sessions that were given at this conference I wanted more than anything to attend this one. The session was about 9-1-1 training standards and although it might not sound appealing it highlighted a very important story. The story of Denise Amber Lee is one that everyone should know and learn from. It is because of her story and others that 9-1-1 standards are needed. Nathan is the President and founder of the foundation that is named after his wife and his mission is to see that standards are developed and put into place. According to the foundations official website, it is the mission, “to promote and support public safety through uniform training, standardized protocols, defined measurable outcomes, and technological advances to the 9-1-1 system.” It goes on to say that its vision is, “to be the emotional driving force for changes in the 9-1-1 system in order to minimize human error.” Denise’s story is highlighted on this episode through the audio of a video Nathan played during the session. We also stress the importance of standards in 9-1-1 training as well as some problems with standardizing training throughout the country. This is a very important episode, one that we can all learn from. As always you can email the show at [email protected] and to learn more about the Denise Amber Lee Foundation please follow the links below. Denise Amber Lee Foundation – Web | Facebook | Twitter APCO Standards | Web Episode topics – The story of Denise Amber Lee The mission of the foundation The importance of 9-1-1 standards Some problems with moving forward with standards