Accidents happen. And with all the various activities going on, recreation facilities are exceptionally prone to mishaps. Here is the most important question: Is your staff prepared to deal with any emergency situation?
Katie Theut, the campus recreation and fitness manager at Northern Michigan University, made it a priority to make sure student staff were properly trained for any emergency that could occur.
“We have about 75 to 125 students that will work for us depending on the semester,” said Theut. “We have very large facilities and it got me thinking how are we responding and how are our staff responding to these emergencies. There is not always full-time staff around and they have to be able to activate an emergency action plan and be in charge during an emergency.”
In order to address this issue, Theut developed a comprehensive emergency action plan. Firstly, she created flip charts outlining the proper emergency response for each situation.
“Lets say there is a fire, the building manager who is in charge of the students in the facility can grab the chart off the wall and read through it and that is what the procedure is. It is a quick reference chart,” said Theut.
Before the fall semester begins each year, all staff gathers for emergency action plan training to ensure employees understand each procedure. “All of our students gather for a three-hour training session,” she added. “We review all of our emergency action plans — server weather, snow days, first aid, power outages, university threats, fire, lost child, etc.”
Students then split into teams and work together on a variety of scenarios. “Each group is assigned a primary, secondary and third rescuer,” explained Theut. “They read a scenario and must travel to that specific area in the facility to find the victim (or dummy) and provide care according to our checklist. This includes calling ‘911’ and going through a life like phone call. These are timed so we can ensure that the students get to the victim, the AED and then the first aid kit in less then three minutes.”
While the obvious benefit to having emergency action plan training is preparedness, Theut explained they are also giving students enhanced life skills. “I think that not only is it appropriate job training, but it is also appropriate life related training,” she said. “Students are able to utilize these skills after they leave. It is not just a CPR class, you are going through a drill, making decisions and all in a timed setting with your peers watching you.”
The program has been running for two years and so far Theut has gotten great feedback. She even recently received an email from a pervious student staff member, who is now in charge of a youth group. “They were doing paddle board training and they didn’t have a certified lifeguard present. All of a sudden a kid fell and hit their head. This girl who was a pervious employee had to go in the water and make the rescue. She wrote me the next day saying that she knew exactly what to do because she went through our training. It is one of those things they can take with them after they leave college.”
Theut is able to sleep better at night knowing that even when she is not there, her staff has it under control. “The staff feel a lot more comfortable performing their skills because they know what they are supposed to be doing because they have done it already,” explained Theut. “They have been through all of these scenarios, whether it is first aid, a broken bone or a cardio related scenario.”
Interested in creating an emergency action plan and training program at your facility? Theut admits collaboration is key. “Having your co-workers on board with this is key because then you can use it for different programming areas,” said Theut. “You can use it for kids camps, intramural officials, outdoor rec staff, etc. You can’t just assume that your student staff is able to do this. It is so important to have something in place.”
