The international Eldis 22 camp for fire brigade youths, organized on July 3-9, 2022, gathered thousands of young aged 7-17 from Finland and abroad to Helsinki Malmi Airport to learn new skills and share experiences.
The camp wouldn’t have been possible without volunteers. We wanted to help the camp organization by offering Secapp’s platform to the participants and the camp organization during Eldis. The service was already familiar to many adults at Eldis throughout their work. The participants and volunteers also had possibility to install Secapp on their mobile phones during the camp.
Targeted communication between camp organizers and participants
There were almost 800 adult volunteers at the camp, and most of them downloaded the mobile application. The goal was that at least every group leader in Eldis participants has Secapp mobile application installed, to inform rest of the group. There were about 700 users among the camp participants, who installed the app. Of course the youngest participants may not even have their own mobile phone yet.
All daily communication, information about trainings, waking up participants, informing programs was done through Secapp. More than 100 messages were sent to the camp volunteers during the camp week – approximately the same amount also to the young participants.
“With one message, at least 90% of the people in charge of the fire departments were reached and informed.”
Juuso Gardemeister, who was responsible for the communications of the Eldis 22 camp, is satisfied with the use of the system at the camp. It worked as planned and the information was delivered smoothly. In Secapp is possible to create ready message templates, and that made the communication faster and easier for users also in Eldis organization.
“With one message, at least 90% of the people in charge of the fire departments were reached and informed, which I think was a really good targeted message,” says Gardemeister.
In addition to messages, Secapp’s chat channels were used as chat platforms in various trainings, both for the camp participants who was attending and also separately among volunteers.
“Without Secapp’s application, I think it would have been challenging to send messages to different target groups, of course different parties had their own WhatsApp groups, that didn’t work as well as Secapp”, continues Gardemeister.
Help is in the pocket – if needed
Before the Eldis 22, the camp organization told us that Secapp’s primary purpose is a tool for notifying the youth’s guardians of potential emergencies. As a critical communication and alarming system, Secapp ensures smooth and fast communication in a possible crisis or emergency. If something unexpected happens, the messaging via Secapp is done in a seconds to all participants – also to their guardians. Knowing this also provided security for both organizers and participants.
“Secapp is widely used especially in the rescue sector in fire brigades and voluntary fire brigades, and many of the camp’s volunteers use it in their work.”
There were a few different ready-made message templates in Secapp, in Finnish and in Swedish, in case if something had happened. Then only minor edits would have been enough to the templates, and pressing the send button, says Gardemeister.
The situation management was also easier for the camp organization with Secapp and also the participants were kept up to date on what, where and when is happening.
“Secapp is widely used especially in the rescue sector in fire brigades and voluntary fire brigades, and many of the camp’s volunteers use it in their work. Sure most of these young firefighters will probably get familiar with it in the future as well. This is one of the reasons why we wanted Secapp to collaborate on the camp. It’s not “just a camp application”, the participants can get to know Secapp, which is also used by professionals, in practice,” said Eldis 22 camp Project Manager Valtteri Tervala before the camp.
Secapp supports the young rescuers
Secapp Oy wanted to join as a partner in Eldis 22 collaboration supporting the activities of young people and the future rescuers. Volunteer fire brigades play a big role in Finnish fire and rescue operations, and through the fire brigade hobby, children and teenagers will grow into new experts in that field. Teaming up with different parties and pulling together (or putting out a common ember) are important skills, especially when it comes to saving lives. Through cooperation, the company also always receives valuable feedback from different user groups.
“We wanted to do our part to help the volunteer-run camp organization and make sure that everyone feels safe at the camp,” says Head of Partnerships Timo Harju from Secapp Oy.
Gardemeister considers the cooperation with Secapp successful: the platform worked well at the camp, it was useful and modern. The application also received good feedback on its easy usability and the fact that it provided information to many at the same time, regardless of where they were. Gardemeister also praised Secapp’s support in the implementation.
“We wanted to do our part to help the volunteer-run camp organization and make sure that everyone feels safe at the camp.”
He recommends Secapp to all contract fire departments for internal communication and alarms. In general, for all kind of entities that need to communicate to different groups easily and quickly. He also gives a plus for Secapp’s browser use, which helps quick messaging compared to mobile devices.
“It was a pleasure to work together because we always got the help and instructions that we needed well and quickly,” concludes Juuso Gardemeister.
The international Eldis 22 camp for fire brigade youths, organized on July 3-9, 2022, gathered thousands of young aged 7-17 from Finland and abroad to Helsinki Malmi Airport to learn new skills and share experiences.
The camp wouldn’t have been possible without volunteers. We wanted to help the camp organization by offering Secapp’s platform to the participants and the camp organization during Eldis. The service was already familiar to many adults at Eldis throughout their work. The participants and volunteers also had possibility to install Secapp on their mobile phones during the camp.
Targeted communication between camp organizers and participants
There were almost 800 adult volunteers at the camp, and most of them downloaded the mobile application. The goal was that at least every group leader in Eldis participants has Secapp mobile application installed, to inform rest of the group. There were about 700 users among the camp participants, who installed the app. Of course the youngest participants may not even have their own mobile phone yet.
All daily communication, information about trainings, waking up participants, informing programs was done through Secapp. More than 100 messages were sent to the camp volunteers during the camp week – approximately the same amount also to the young participants.
“With one message, at least 90% of the people in charge of the fire departments were reached and informed.”
Juuso Gardemeister, who was responsible for the communications of the Eldis 22 camp, is satisfied with the use of the system at the camp. It worked as planned and the information was delivered smoothly. In Secapp is possible to create ready message templates, and that made the communication faster and easier for users also in Eldis organization.
“With one message, at least 90% of the people in charge of the fire departments were reached and informed, which I think was a really good targeted message,” says Gardemeister.
In addition to messages, Secapp’s chat channels were used as chat platforms in various trainings, both for the camp participants who was attending and also separately among volunteers.
“Without Secapp’s application, I think it would have been challenging to send messages to different target groups, of course different parties had their own WhatsApp groups, that didn’t work as well as Secapp”, continues Gardemeister.
Help is in the pocket – if needed
Before the Eldis 22, the camp organization told us that Secapp’s primary purpose is a tool for notifying the youth’s guardians of potential emergencies. As a critical communication and alarming system, Secapp ensures smooth and fast communication in a possible crisis or emergency. If something unexpected happens, the messaging via Secapp is done in a seconds to all participants – also to their guardians. Knowing this also provided security for both organizers and participants.
“Secapp is widely used especially in the rescue sector in fire brigades and voluntary fire brigades, and many of the camp’s volunteers use it in their work.”
There were a few different ready-made message templates in Secapp, in Finnish and in Swedish, in case if something had happened. Then only minor edits would have been enough to the templates, and pressing the send button, says Gardemeister.
The situation management was also easier for the camp organization with Secapp and also the participants were kept up to date on what, where and when is happening.
“Secapp is widely used especially in the rescue sector in fire brigades and voluntary fire brigades, and many of the camp’s volunteers use it in their work. Sure most of these young firefighters will probably get familiar with it in the future as well. This is one of the reasons why we wanted Secapp to collaborate on the camp. It’s not “just a camp application”, the participants can get to know Secapp, which is also used by professionals, in practice,” said Eldis 22 camp Project Manager Valtteri Tervala before the camp.
Secapp supports the young rescuers
Secapp Oy wanted to join as a partner in Eldis 22 collaboration supporting the activities of young people and the future rescuers. Volunteer fire brigades play a big role in Finnish fire and rescue operations, and through the fire brigade hobby, children and teenagers will grow into new experts in that field. Teaming up with different parties and pulling together (or putting out a common ember) are important skills, especially when it comes to saving lives. Through cooperation, the company also always receives valuable feedback from different user groups.
“We wanted to do our part to help the volunteer-run camp organization and make sure that everyone feels safe at the camp,” says Head of Partnerships Timo Harju from Secapp Oy.
Gardemeister considers the cooperation with Secapp successful: the platform worked well at the camp, it was useful and modern. The application also received good feedback on its easy usability and the fact that it provided information to many at the same time, regardless of where they were. Gardemeister also praised Secapp’s support in the implementation.
“We wanted to do our part to help the volunteer-run camp organization and make sure that everyone feels safe at the camp.”
He recommends Secapp to all contract fire departments for internal communication and alarms. In general, for all kind of entities that need to communicate to different groups easily and quickly. He also gives a plus for Secapp’s browser use, which helps quick messaging compared to mobile devices.
“It was a pleasure to work together because we always got the help and instructions that we needed well and quickly,” concludes Juuso Gardemeister.
