General Nash First Aid Meet

Saturday, 6 March 2010

Hatfield Firehouse

The General Nash District held its Eighth Annual First Aid Meet at the Hatfield Firehouse on Saturday, 6 March 2010.  For the first time in several years, Troop 461 fielded a patrol under the leadership of Senior Patrol Leader Andrew van der Kleut.  During the meet, patrols from the Boy Scout Troops in the General Nash District compete against each other to solve eight (8) scenarios involving situations where someone has injured himself or herself and requires immediate attention. 

This year it was standing room only in the engine room of the Hatfield Fire Company where thirty-two (32) patrols ranging from five (5) to eight (8) members each stood ready to show their knowledge of various first aid techniques and problem solving.  The injury scenarios involved situations from a young Scout with his foot caught in a tree and hanging upside down approximately fifteen (15) feet above the ground to someone who was injured by a falling tree and a chain saw.  There was also a written knowledge test that was designed to measure the Scouts' knowledge of some basic first aid skills and techniques.

Judging the Scouts' responses to the various emergency scenarios were thirty-two (32) adult volunteer judges who scored various aspects of the Scouts' handling of the situations from preliminary assessments of the situation to what to tell emergency responders as well as when to act and when to simply try and stablise the situation and wait for the emergency responders to arrive.  One of the problems required the Scouts to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a mannequin who was supposed to be the Scouts' Scoutmaster who was found outside of their meeting with no pulse and not breathing.  To their credit, none of the 32 teams' first response to that situation was "why bother, call the morgue."

The General Nash District First Aid Meet has been organised by Scoutmaster Jeff Baer of Hatfield Scout Troop 141 and set up by Troop 141 for the past eight years.  The Hatfield Fire Company has also generously allowed the Boy Scouts the use of their Firehouse for the First Aid Meet and our thanks go to them for the use of their fine facility.

This page last updated on Sunday, 07 March 2010