Bernard Groot (1959) grew up in Paramaribo between 1960 and 1970. He is the vice-director of Crisis Control.
Bernard Groot has been the head of the department of emergency disaster and disaster relief of the Municipal Health Service of Drenthe for more than 10 years. Before that he was the head of the provincial department of the Foundation of public health of asylum seekers Northern Netherlands.
He studied medicine in Rotterdam and specialised in Environmental Health. As an Environmental Health Physician, he worked 5 years at the Municipal Health Service in Rotterdam. He is also a Master of Public Management and a professional trainer. At present he works on his PhD of the gold commander in the Netherlands (www.crisislab.nl).
Bernard Groot has a lot of experience in emergency management in the Netherlands. For example: he was responsible for full preparation of the flu epidemic in 2009 and the resulting vaccination campaign in the Safety Area of Drenthe. Also, he was one of the architects of the new Incident Command System of the Safety Area in Drenthe. As the head of the department of emergency disaster and disaster relief he always pursued an active exercise policy. His project to establish a fast, simple, specific, safe and secure biometric population registration system in 2008 was nominated for the Public Safety Award.
From 2010 onwards Bernard Groot frequently trains several organisations such as municipalities, hospitals, nursing homes, municipal health services and the private sector. The training programs cover all phases of emergency management: pro–action, prevention, preparation, repression and after care. He is a passionate worker and a highly committed trainer.