Volume 46 Issue 20

Page 1

March 5 - 8

(please see IAW Peterborough's schedule on page 6)

Environment Check By Anthony P. Gulston

Last weekend First Responders from all over the province came to Trent to participate in first aid seminars and compete in a theatrical set of games designed to test their crisis management and first aid skills. This benevolent battle of co-operation, helpfulness, and skill sharing not only extolled the virtues of those participating, but the virtues of our school as well. The funding was made possible by your student union and the fundraising efforts of conference Finance Coordinator, Conner Brookfield. One effort was a silent auction in which legendary FR (First Responder) and conference Logistics Coordinator “Hot” Tom Colucci was bidden on. The months of hassle and planning were worth it though. The first day of the conference was a series of helpful talks and workshops for FRs. Mike Alcott, Head of Champlain College, gave a talk on normalizing responders’ standards when faced with the influx of international students from countries that have differing standards of care. Peterborough Red Cross Branch President, Brenda McCarrell facilitated a discussion about leadership in general when it comes to First Aid organizations.

Karen Basciano of the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre ran a seminar about how to recognize and properly deal with a victim of sexual assault. And Chris Barry was there on behalf of Peterborough EMS to speak to the relationship between First Responders and ambulance drivers. It wasn’t all Peterborough First Aid All-Stars; conference participants could update or recertify First Aid training, as well as train to become an NCCER compitition judge. The second day of the conference is an elaboratly planned route that takes a participating schools’ FR teams of three and their Trent guides (volunteer runners) to different situations that they must respond too. Each situation is dramatically portrayed and demonstrates a wide variety of problems that a campus FR may encounter. In one scene, a young man is in the OC bathroom beneath the School of Education and he is mutilating himself so that he can be “more beautiful.” The fake blood, fleshy putty and haunting performance from the, FR turned thespian, NCCER volunteer vividly illustrated the need of talking, discussion, and compassion when dealing with people instead of a cold, rigid, clinical approach. “It’s amazing how some people just deal with the symptoms and

First Responders take to Trent for National Conference [Trigger Warning: self-harm] don’t bother working the problem out with you,” remarked the judge of this particular situation. Other scenes made use of the LEC Pit, the Environmental Science Building lobby, Gzowski’s Red Light District, Champlain seminar rooms, as well as SC 137. The scenarios ranged from rough sex in the Champlain concrete stairway to a set of twins being born in the LEC bathrooms. Some would seem wacky, far fetched and contrived but they are not there to strive for accuracy; their goal was to test specific skills a responder needs to do the job. Joy Loo & Sarah Senik, the Competition Coordinators, organized and planned out the routes and scenarios that gave volunteer runners a chance to show Trent off to the visiting responders. The competitions are like First Responding itself; long periods of waiting and boredom punctuated with extremely heightened periods of excitement and concentration. “It’s hard to think things through in the moment,” pontificates McGill Responder Joe. “Now let’s go save some lives,” another responder retorts. In competition, a responder has to vocalize every step of the process so that the judge knows that they are going through the

checklist in their head. The readings from their instruments are replaced by the judges voice. To ensure fairness in the competition, the judges come from other ACERT campuses and there is a referee that mediates any perceived advantage or disadvantage. At one point, a volunteer runner showed their team to a situation via a non-designated route and thus gave an extra vantage point to the intrepid and daring McGill squad. The situation had to be stricken from the judging criteria. When the corn-based blood product is washed off and their first aid packs put down, the responders go from helpful, dutiful medical officers to swankily dressed lounge lizards, slinking around Peterborough’s downtown clubs, campus banquets, and wine and cheese parties. The nourishment and rug cutting are necessary parts of the highly wound work of First Responding. Prolific Absynthe writer, FR and Red Hotness captain, Jen Freele, organized the nosh and good times. The last time Trent hosted NCCER was in 2008 and was one of the biggest conferences, but the scale and scope of NCCER 2012 at Trent was measured in awesomeness, not numbers.

in the paper this week

centre: TCSA Referendums,

TMUNS @ NAMUN, Apartheid Week p.s 2 & 3 - Write ALL the letters p. 4 - Boxers or Briefs? Briefs. p. 9 - Big Oil, Little Responsibility p. 10 - Queering Black History Month

Volume 46

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Issue 20

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March 5, 2012


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