Keep My Project Going
Here are the steps that you can take to bring my Gold Award Project to your school!
Step 1: Be Passionate About Helping Those Around You |
Step 2: Check Your School's and/or District's Medical Policy |
Having a passion for helping others definitely helped me with completing this project for my Gold Award. I didn't want my friends and classmates to have to worry about what would happen to them if something were to happen at school, and also giving parents a peace of mind to know that someone can help their child out in a medical emergency at school.
Step 3: Make Sure There is InterestIf most students and faculty are interested in learning how to help save lives and helping with everyday injuries, then those people will be more likely to be engaged in the class, and will be passionate to use those skills in a real emergency. Also, the same people who attended the class and were really interested could potentially band together and assist each other as well as the injured or unconscious person to ensure that the person recovers.
Step 5: Host a CPR and First-Aid ClassFor my project, I made sure I requested my local fire department, North Metro Fire, if they had a class that taught people how to perform CPR and stop bleeding, which they did. I then asked my principal if I could use one of our presentation rooms for the class, since there would be plenty of space to pull out the dummies and practice CPR. Also, there were also tables and chairs that could easily be put together and folded down for easy set up and tear down, since the participants were also practicing packing wounds and placing tourniquets. Make sure that you are able to find a large enough space with tables and chairs that can easily be put together and taken down for easy set up and tear down. This will make the class a lot easier for whomever comes from your local fire department to teach your students and faculty.
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With this project surrounding medical treatment and knowing how to place a tourniquet and perform CPR, schools and districts could already have policies regarding who can perform the actions mentioned above, and what supplies teachers can have with them in the classroom. For instance, teachers who are coaches at my school are required to know how to perform CPR.
Step 4: Contact Your Local Fire DepartmentAn easy and affordable way to learn the skills necessary for emergency preparedness is to take classes through your local fire department. These men and women are professionally trained to save lives with the skills of applying tourniquets and CPR because it is what they are paid to do! More often than not, fire departments are happy to teach the public how to handle emergencies until professional help can take over.
Step 6: Obtain Supplies for a Bleed KitThis step can be done in multiple ways. You could run a drive to collect the supplies you need (see list below) or contact your local Walgreen's or other company that sells first-aid supplies. For my project, I went with running a supply drive. With large corporations, it can take months to get the supplies you need, and that is because those companies need to make money, in addition to complying with your donation request, should they agree to donate. It really depends on your situation and your personal goals with continuing my project. Either way, you will want to be sure that each kit that you make has the same supplies, and the same number of supplies to be sure that you have enough supplies to handle any emergency. Of course, you are not an ER doctor, but it is to be sure that you can start the line of care before a professional can take over.
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Image Courtesy of Rescue Essentials
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