Integrating Health

Abstract

Health is inherently complex and negotiating its challenges is the epitome of complexity management. To the uninitiated, developing an event health plan becomes a crash course in balancing previously unappreciated risk with an ever growing list of needs and cost. All too often this is complicated by the need to negotiate a seemingly endless number of opinions, organizations and personalities, often while learning a new (medical) language. Managing health in the dynamic and often unpredictable context of crowds is a specialist skill that requires strategic planning and experienced staff, working within effective systems and with appropriate resources. Expenses are real while funds and resources are limited. Health planning is integral to event management, takes time and needs to commence early. Bringing all parties to the shared realization that everyone fundamentally wants a safe and successful event is an important early milestone. Event and health managers need to understand complexity management from the other’s perspective in order to successfully plan and manage events and crowds. An attempt at translation is provided on the following pages.