Hi, I’m Paul Darley, and thanks for tuning into our May issue of Inside Darley. We’re just back from the Fire Department Instructors Conference down in Indianapolis, and I have to tell you, it was a great show for us as a company, we introduced a lot of new products, including our new PS 2000 GPM pump that had a lot of interest.
Also, our virtual reality products, both our FLAIM and our new VR Patients had a lot of interest. Our firefighter locator system that’s through AIT, or Ascent – was a big hit. And probably the biggest area of interest was in our EV Fire Solutions, and our new EV plug, as well as our new EV Fire Blanket, were really kind of the talk of the show in many respects, particularly when it comes to risk mitigation. When we look at risk mitigation for whether it’s your fire department, your military branch, or your company, we as a business step back and we look at what are those risks, and we do some contingency planning on those.
One of the risks that’s recently come up is that of a potential another pandemic. And if you can imagine what I think the WHO (World Health Organization) is declaring the current pandemic to be over officially on May 10, 2023. But we as a business we are cognizant of the fact that there might be another pandemic coming in the next decade – perhaps as early as the fall of 2024. We’ve attached a couple of articles for you on that. First is out of Science magazine that just came out in April, 2023 and it’s titled From Bad to Worse. The second article is titled The Next Pandemic. It’s the H5N1 and H7N9 pandemics, and they’re really versions of the avian influenza virus, and will be very similar to the Spanish flu that took place in 1918.
As a business – when we speak of risk – we’re also very excited to bring on board our new chief Financial Officer, Tim Nelson. Tim comes to us as a local here in Chicago, and he’s worked for family businesses for the last 20 years, so we know he’s just going to be a great fit, and a lot of you were able to meet him down at the FDIC Conference over the last couple of years.
We’ve run some thought leadership programs or essay contests, and we’re releasing our next one for this year. This one’s focused on recruitment and retention, particularly with an eye toward DEI – that’s diversity, equity, and inclusion. So we’ve got $6,000 in prize money available. We encourage you to check out the attachment on how you could submit an essay. Those essays are due June 30, so we’d encourage you to move forward on that quickly.
And lastly, for our Defense customers, we’re going to be down at SOF Week, in Tampa next week May 8th to the 11th. Please stop by and visit us. We’re going to be in booth 1004 just as you come in, right by the main doors.
So thanks for tuning into this issue of Inside Darley. If there’s anything we can be doing to assist you, we hope you reach out to us.
Resources:
Science Magazine: From Bad to Worse (PDF)
The Next Pandemic (PDF)
Press Release: Darley Names Timothy Nelson as New Chief Financial Officer
Thought Leadership Essay Contest (PDF)
