Teens Learn to Save Lives With First-Aid Training

TULSA, OKLA. – Each year, the Tulsa Twisters hold a Health Honors (First-Aid) Day. This day allows our Pathfinders to complete the requirements for the curriculum and to earn the respective honors. In past years, we have done various types of scenarios and mass casualty situations to simulate medical emergencies and disasters. The hands-on, real-world scenarios really help emphasize how to take care of individuals experiencing these types of crises. 

This year, Teen Leaders in Training Katelyn Dohlman and Gwen Lorenz, under the guidance of Heather Lorenz, planned the event. Using a template done in years past, they planned the didactic portion of the day using a game of Kahoot, and they organized individuals to play the roles (characters) in each scenario. Amber Ruszenas, our moulage expert, helped to set each scene by creating the “wounds” that could help simulate the medical emergencies. Our Pathfinder squads moved around to each scenario until all were completed. The squads had a certain amount of time to assess the situation and render care/help to the individual experiencing the medical emergency. The squads were scored on giving out first-aid kits for scene safety, identifying the emergency, providing appropriate first-aid measures, verbalizing the risky decisions that led to the injury and reporting to emergency medical services (EMS). 

These scenarios included CPR and choking at a restaurant; carbon monoxide poisoning from a space heater in a dorm room; heat exhaustion/heat stroke from walking in the desert; a snakebite; fractures/splinting/litter carrying; a head injury during rock climbing and a scenario where a babysitter must call poison control.

It is our prayer that by learning how to assess situations and by acting out how to care for the individuals in each scenario, our Pathfinders will be better equipped to handle any type of medical emergency they witness or may be involved in.

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By Deborah Zigo