April 07, 2011
Wallace Eddy, Associate Director, Risk Management
Carrie Tupper, Assistant Director, Aquatics
University of Maryland, College Park
As we plan for emergency response, there is one area we often neglect: the post emergency experience, which includes: (1) documenting the incident and our response to it, (2) communication (including dealing with reactions of staff and managing communication activity), and (3) evaluation – learning from our experience. Part of any emergency response plan should be a follow-up protocol that addresses the above points.
Read more
April 07, 2011
Ryan Lahne
Assistant Director, Facilities and Operations
Washington State University
Editors Note: Not all new ideas are necessarily better ideas. Some student training strategies are timeless — they’ve worked in the past, and they’ll work in the future. The following article describes some ‘tried and tested’ training strategies that have withstood the test of time, and continue to be highly effective training tools.
Emergencies come in all shapes and sizes in the recreation world. For injuries as minor as a cut to cardiac arrest, most college recreation facilities rely on 18-22 year old student staff members as the primary responders for most situations. In addition to handling injuries and medical emergencies, student staff are frequently relied upon to evacuate facilities during fires, determining if a softball game should be called due to lightning, or just dealing with uncertainty that goes with a power outage. Regardless of the type of emergency, training and practice are the most important keys to make sure these young staff members are prepared for all situations. The following describes three simple, inexpensive and proven techniques to better train and prepare staff.
Read more