On Wednesday 7-August the Emergency Services Youth Academy in Bogota visited the Bogota Swim Club pool to hold its annual Water & Rescue day. There were four stations setup for the Cadets to learn rescue techniques. Three of the station were run by members of Bogota Rescue Squad 46. These Volunteer First Responders explained to the Cadets what their job is when called on an emergency scene. They also showed the Cadets what equipment they would use based on the situation they encounter. The first station was use to teach the Cadets how Rescue Workers go about extricating a victim trapped in a vehicle involved in an accident. Members of had the Cadets dress in full turnout gear for their task. The Cadets were shown how to remove the windows of a vehicle and how to use the “Jaws of Life” tool. The Hydraulic rescue tools are used to remove parts of a vehicle in order to allow for better access to the person trapped inside. Each Cadet was instructed on the tools use, and then removed a part of the vehicle themselves.
Another station was to teach the Cadets how to safely remove a victim from an enclosed space. The Cadets took turns as the crawl team, which would go into the situation to remove the victim, also a Cadet. While the other Squad members, became the Pull Team, which assisted in pulling the victim to safety. The space was made up of traffic bearers and plywood. To add realism Instructors would randomly bang on the plywood of spray water on the crawl team to challenge their focus.
A third Station was the Scuba instruction. This activity unique the Bogota Emergency Services Youth Academy that taught the basic of SCUBA diving to the Cadets. This was used to help teach the Cadets how to move in and unfamiliar environment with confidence. The Cadets dressed in full SCUBA gear and given lessons on how to breath and move under water. Then they circled the South end of the pool, submerged the entire time.
The fourth station was to teach how a person on land can rescue a victim in the water. Each Cadet took turns jumping off the high board so they could be saved by the others throwing them a life preserver. Towards the end of the morning this became an exercise in a demonstration of the some of the main goals of the Academy program. One Cadet hesitated, then refused to jump off the high board. When this started to become a problem Squad Instructor Rivera climbed to the top of the diving board to encourage the Cadet. Instructor Rivera explained to me that the Cadet that the Academy will only make the Cadets do things that they would do themselves. When this was not successful a Squad mate climbed up to offer his help. The two Cadets then talked and thought of a way to complete the task. They sat on the side of the board, took a few breath then dove into the pool below. When the Cadets emerged from the water they were greeted with cheers, and congratulations of the fellow Cadets. This was an example of a number of principals of the Academy. Trust, teamwork, and pushing oneself beyond what they thought they could do and accomplishing a goal.
After Lunch the Cadet had the opportunity to tour a number of different type of rescue vehicles. There were two piece of apparatus from Englewood Hospital. One was a Mass Care Response Unit. This carries equipment and supplies that maybe needed at the scene of an emergency. Also from Englewood Hospital was one of Bergen County’s Medical Ambulance Bus. The vehicle is used to transport multiple patients to a medical care facility. Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck supplied a Paramedic truck and an Ambulance. The Cadets were shown the difference between the two vehicles. The Paramedic truck is equipped to offer first aid and to stabilize a patient on scene. The Ambulance can perform the same functions as well as the transportation of a victim to a medical care facility. There was also a Bergen County Regional Swat Team armored vehicle. The Cadets were told that this would be deployed in active, or dangerous situations. Some of this vehicle equipment included a small wheeled drone, which will go into spaces to small, or dangerous, for personal. Also on display was protective gear, that some Cadet were allowed to try on, and a battering ram that the Cadets could hold to discover its weight.
During the day Police Chief Michael Foligno from Elmwood Park, NJ visited with Program Director Sgt Craig Lynch and Program Administrator Elizabeth Wieskus to talk about the Youth Academy. He toured the Swim Club to see all the activities that were offered on this duty day. He was inquiring to see if this program could be used in his community.
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Vehicle Extraction
SCUBA Training
Water Rescue
Rescue Vehicle Inspection
Select photos from the Bogota Blog NJ collection are now available for purchase.
These may be order from the Bogota Blog NJ Zenfolio store at: Bogotablognj / ESYA
( To help support Bogota Blog NJ with its coverage of Local stories & sports
please contribute at: donate to Bogota Blog NJ )
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