Training
October 18, 2015
Looking beyond into student learning, preparedness, and assessment.
Shannon Dere
University of Arkansas
Julie Saldiva
Texas State University
Editor’s Note: This is the second of two parts.
In the first part of this series, we looked at the development and implementation of mock emergency drills. In Part II, we’ll look at the importance of debriefing and assessment.
Mock scenario drills are a great learning tool, so make sure you plan to make the drill as effective as possible. Ensure that your department’s EAP is fully followed in the drill and take time to debrief the student(s) involved in the drill. Debriefing should take place immediately following the drill where the evaluator(s) asks the student-employee(s) involved how they believe they did and what they could do to improve or what they have learned about themselves. This is very valuable as many student-employees will realize that they are not as prepared as they should be or are not as confident in their skills as they believed. Additionally, a debrief should be conducted with the student-employees in the program area in which the mock scenario drill was conducted. This allows all students to learn from the drill and refresh them on the specific scenario drilled. As the professional staff member, make sure you do not necessarily draw attention to the student(s) involved in the drill when debriefing as a group, especially if the student-employee had difficulty in completing the drill. Read more
September 15, 2014
Developing a large scale emergency training day for Titan Recreation
Alison Wittwer MA; CSCS;CPO;
Safety and Aquatics Coordinator
CSU Fullerton
After attending an aquatics conference in the fall of 2011, and enjoying a presentation on emergency training for lifeguards, I had an epiphany. Rather than have each coordinator conduct emergency training for their individual areas of supervision, why not organize an all Rec staff, large scale emergency and building evacuation training the day before the start of the spring semester? A huge undertaking to be sure, with many variables and hurdles to consider.
As recreation professionals, we all understand that organizing and implementing a large scale event from birth to fruition involves many hours of planning and development. So I started with the basics: who; what; when; where; why; and most importantly – HOW? Read more
September 15, 2014
Looking beyond into student learning, preparedness, and assessment
Shannon Dere
University of Arkansas
Julie Saldiva
Texas State University
Editor’s Note: This is the first of two parts.
Risk Management, the big buzz word floating around campus recreation right now, has a lot of recreation professionals on edge but many may not be quite sure of how to go about managing risk properly. One of the biggest risks that campus recreation departments have involves their student staff. Generally speaking, these staff members are expected to work front-line operations and carry out daily risk management practices, including applying first aid and CPR/AED skills when needed. But are we properly preparing our students to succeed in situations where this knowledge and these skills will be needed most?
Many campus recreation programs are taking a proactive step in ensuring that most or all student staff is trained in CPR/AED and first aid, however, many programs stop after the initial certification class. Most of these certifications, regardless of the provider, last typically from one to three years before a renewal is needed. Additionally, many certification providers are not only simplifying the techniques they teach, but also offer online courses where students never have the opportunity to practice their skills. With such a variation of training and certification renewal options, inconsistencies in knowledge and skills are significant, and student staff are likely to forget much of their training. Read more
April 16, 2013
A Student-Based Team Approach to Prepare for Emergencies
Ryan Rudesill, Interim Coordinator of Intramurals and Sport Clubs
Mo McAlpine, Associate Director
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Editor’s Note: This article is Part 1 of a two part series. Part one focuses on ‘Developing an Emergency Response Team’ while the next issue of the Newsletter will cover ‘Red Shirt Reviews’.
Imagine you are working the front desk at a recreation facility and a student rushes to the counter in a panic, informing you that a participant in a group exercise class has become unresponsive. What do you do? How do your co-workers respond? The broader question: how prepared are you and your staff to deal with this or a similar life-threatening situation?
At the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UW-L), this exact scenario happened in the Recreational Eagle Center (REC) when Clare (who has granted permission to use her name) became unresponsive toward the end of an evening kickboxing class. Due to the efficient and courageous actions of student staff members and participants in the class, Clare’s life was saved. The teamwork of these college students with UW-L University Police, EMS, and the medical team at Mayo Clinic Health System was critical to her survival of a sudden cardiac arrest. Most vital was Clare’s relentless fight for her life while surrounded by supportive family and friends. Approximately one month later, she was back on campus attending classes.
Read more
April 16, 2013
A Student-Based Team Approach to Prepare for Emergencies
Ryan Rudesill, Interim Coordinator of Intramurals and Sport Clubs
Mo McAlpine, Associate Director
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Editor’s Note: This article is Part 2 of the series, focusing on ‘Red Shirt Reviews’. Part one discussed ‘Developing an Emergency Response Team’.
In Part 1 of this series we looked at how to form an effective Emergency Response Team (ERT). The current article will describe the role of the ERT in performing ‘Red Shirt Reviews’ – hands-on, mock situations that simulate emergencies. The purpose at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UW-L) is to create a non-intimidating environment with real life situations for staff members to practice and become comfortable implementing EAP’s.
Steps to implement Red Shirt Reviews
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April 16, 2013
What are you doing about it?
Alison Epperson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Health Ed.
Murray State University
Communication today is an extremely broad topic that can cover a vast array of information dissemination. A majority of our communication today takes the form of person-to-person, email, phone conversations, and texting. While technological advances have certainly created significant benefits via quicker routes of information dissemination, they have certainly not gone without their share of notable shortcomings.
Facebook, Twitter, texting, email. Instant, spontaneous, and silent, these forms of communication are effective in reaching the target audience quickly, but run the risk of unintentionally offending the receiver. All forms of communication implies a certain “tone.” As a result, we’ve resorted to adding smiley faces 🙂 to represent positive communication, and ALL CAPS and bold, to underscore a point, while Italics may be used for sarcasm.
Likewise, responding with a simple “K” often implies anger, disappointment or an end to the conversation. Furthermore, electronic methods of communication can often lead to carelessness, and as a result, we may find ourselves saying things that we would not normally say in person, lends itself to dishonesty, increases spelling and grammar errors.
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