OEC SouthBay 2020

OEC SouthBay training for the 2019-2020 winter season is complete. Check back here in the Spring 2020 timeframe for information about the Fall 2020 OEC SouthBay course. More information on other courses may be at: http://www.easternsierraregion.org/

On Mountain Training

Candidates -

Some good tips here to keep in mind as you start your on-mountain training this season:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKqRtAvYrAM

Practical Final Exam Success!

Candidates - 

A big congratulations on your success in your final exam this weekend.  100% pass, many perfect scores, and strong accolades from the examiners.  Well deserved.  I'm confident you'll go on to be great patrollers!

And a big thanks for the patrollers & examiners who helped make the event a success.  And, of course, thanks to our host, Novo Construction, and to our chief judge, Mark Galica, for another great job this year.

Now, give yourself a pat on the back.  And then check CMS...

I've added a few pics to the class photo album here.

Final Exams

Candidates -

Congratulations on your success on the written final!  Now on to the practical exam this Saturday.  Some tips:

1. Practical Exam protocol.  Here are the instructions & protocol for the final practical exam.  Download & read carefully.  We'll review in detail in class on Thrusday.  Link to protocol here.

2. Final Exam Location:  NOVO Construction, 1460 O'Brien Drive, Menlo Park, CA. Use your favorite online mapping program to generate driving directions.  Big thanks to Novo Construction for hosting our event!

3. Final Exam Times:  The first wave of examinations will start promptly at 8:00AM.  The second at 10:30.  Mark Galicia, our Chief Judge, has distributed info on which wave you're in.   Contact me if you don't have that email.  Plan on arriving at Novo AT LEAST 30 mins prior to your exam time.  Meet up with your teammates & do some quick assessments to warm-up.

4 Pre-exam team meeting.  We'll meet as a team 15 minutes before your wave starts.  I've got a little "pre-game" speech for you.

Final Saturday Practice for the Final Practical Exam

All -

As we discussed in class, we'll get together Saturday for a practice for the Practical Final.  John Wiser will host and be joined by other patrollers (Big thanks to John & Team).

Saturday's practice will be at Rinconada Park, Palo Alto.  9AM to 11AM.  Meet near the tennis courts (like last time).

Great MCI Simulation Event!

Candidates -

Congrats on a great performance at our Mass Casualty Incident simulation event!   You all handled a broad variety of injuries and some crazy situations and did it well!  Pics below and on the class photo album here.

Now on to the written & practical final exams!  I know you'll do well.

Final Practical Exam Location

As we discussed in class, the Final Practical Exam will be held at Novo Construction in Menlo Park.  As we also discussed, due to the number of candidates to be evaluated, we'll likely go in 2 "waves" - one at around 8:30AM and another around 11:30. Details pending.  For now, Novo offices are here:

Tips As You Read the Book & Study for the Written Final

Keep Your Skills Fresh...

As we discussed in class, practice on  your friends, family, pets...

Mass Casualty Night -- October 30 -- Need Volunteers!

The culmination of our class, mass casualty night, has proven to be the most engaging, most instructive, and probably the most fun class of the entire course.  Great fun for patroller candidates & volunteers alike.

What's Mass Casualty Night?

We simulate an event where we have multiple patients in need of care.  Each patient acts out a unique injury.  The patroller candidates assess each patient and then provide the appropriate care by themselves or by leading a team to do so.   Pictures from previous year's event below.

Why is it unique?

The event is unique in that it requires the candidates to bring to bear all the skills they've learned in class, and do so in a stressful environment that we create.  It's also a great opportunity for friends, family and others interested to see what this Outdoor Emergency Care is all about.

We need your help

To make this happen, we need a large number of volunteers.  This year, we're looking for around 40.  Young and old, we want and welcome all.  We'll provide you some coaching on your "injury".  In some cases, we'll also apply some moulage to better simulate the injury.   And you'll get to act it out as you like, being as high or low maintenance as you like to your patroller-rescuer and their team.

Location

This year, our Mass Causality Simulation will take place at our usual class location: NetApp Sunnyvale.  GoogleMaps location here: https://oecsouthbay.blogspot.com/p/corse-location.html

How to Sign-up

If you're joining us, please sign-up. To do so, click on the link below and go to October 30. Sign up as a "MCI Night Patient Volunteer". Link here:  https://teamup.com/ksbbcadac8c015e175

No doubt this year will once again prove to be very instructive to candidates, and very fun for the volunteers. 

Thanks in advance for your support!

First Aid Kits - Group Purchase

For those that would still like to get one of the Life Safety first aid kits:

1. Call Life Safety @ (408) 573-1900 and ask for Chris.  
2. Tell him you'd like to add your name to the OEC Group Purchase for the Personal First Aide Kit (PFAK).  Price for our class is $125.
3. Chris will take you credit card & add you to the group buy.

Chris will be rolling up the order on Friday 10/25 EOD and will place the order.  We should have the kits in the next 2 weeks.  Jimmy or Chris will deliver to class.

FYI below on the contents of this pretty serious first aid kit:

Scenario Observations

Blunt Trauma Affect on the Brain

Jorge covered this in class.  But a good reminder:

via GIPHY

Scenario Humor

Scenarios are key to our success.  Train hard...

Click here to go to the Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/B3facRdg2eJ/

Written Final Exam Prep - Updated to 2018 Test Bank

[Now updated to the 2018 Test Bank]

It's time to start studying for the final written exam.  Here are tools which may be helpful:

- The test bank questions, sorted by OEC V book chapters, is at:  OEC V Chapter Tests  Answers to each question are located at the end of each question listing.

- We've also used the Quizlet application to create a set of flashcards containing the questions & answers.  It can be found at https://quizlet.com/438835791/2018-test-bank-flash-cards/   (Thanks to Carrie for setting this up for us!).

Lower Extremity Splint Selection

Sager Splint Process

Midterm Commonalities

As we discussed in class:

Backboard SMR One-Pager

Team -

John Wiser has put together a great one-pager on SMR/Backboard process.

Download your version here.

Big thanks to John for his leadership in putting this together.

Heart Attack - Men vs Women's Symptoms

In class this week we discussed heart attacks, and reviewed the different symptoms male/female.  Thanks to Mike Nealon who pointed out this instructive article on the topic.  Thanks Mike.

Link here.

Plan for Midterm & Backboard Sunday

Here's the plan for this coming weekend:

Midterm: Oct 5 

• Start at 09:00
• Bring your own patient
• Bring your own snack
• End appx. 14:00

Backboard Sunday: Oct 6

• 07:45 Coffee, 08:00 Start
• Morning: Skills instruction
• Afternoon: Practical application in a variety of situations
• Dave R. is organizing lunch
• Wear old clothes, bring knee pads
• End appx. 16:00-17:00

Location: NetApp, Sunnyvale.  Directions on the link above.

Ski Season, and Your Candidate Year, Approaches - Get Fit

As Lucy noted & we discussed in class, the better shape you're in, the better your candidate year will go.  There are, of course, a huge number of programs to help you get ski-fit.  Here's a good one from my friends at CMH Heliski.

Our advice - Start now.  Find a good program.  Hit it hard.  Now.

Link to article here.

Perspectives from EMS: Orthopedic Considerations of the Polytrauma Patient

As we cover orthopedic trauma in the next couple weeks, here's another perspective from the EMS world.

https://www.jems.com/articles/print/volume-39/issue-5/features/orthopedic-considerations-polytrauma-pat.html

As always, for OEC work, stick to the OEC protocols, but you may find this additional perspective both interesting and instructive.

Saturday Bandaging & Splinting Practice

All -

Saturday's practice will be at Rinconada Park, Palo Alto.  9AM to 11AM.  Meet near the tennis courts.  Focus will be in upper body & lower body bandaging & splinting.

OPA & NPA Demo Videos

Candidates -

Here are two videos you may find helpful.  Plus the usual disclaimer - stay in your scope of training/practice & always follow the instructions in the OEC protocols & book...


NPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ-fahKPOvc

OPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a00BMlI03s

CPR Class

Candidates -

Bianca Gonzalez will once again do a CPR class for us this year. She's a great instructor and we're pleased to have her do this for us once again. Details:

Date: Sunday, Sept. 29

Time: 9AM to 1PM

Location: Life Safety Associates, 1876 Hartog Dr, San Jose, CA 95131

Course Certification: American Heart BLS.  On completion of class, you'll receive the AHA eCard as certification that you've completed the course.

Cost: $85, payable to Bianca, ideally by Venmo @ her link below

Action: Please sign up directly with Bianca.  She'll need your confirmed attendance & payments 1 week prior in order to order the materials and get things set up for class.

Further Questions: bianca_g02 [at] yahoo.com

Bianca's Venmo Info (@Bianca-Gonzalez-12):

Interesting Shock Calculation

Given today's topic is shock, here's an interesting calculation for your use:

Communicating with a Deaf Patient/Hearing Impaired - Sign Language to Know

Some good knowledge to have in your bag.

Link to article & videos here.

Tahoe Webcam 16 Sept 2019

Interesting/Useful Social Media Feeds

Candidates -

As we discussed in class, there are several social media feeds where you may find interesting & useful information.  Among those to check out below.  Will add more as we vet them.

EMS Related:

https://www.instagram.com/northamericanrescue/

https://flipboard.com/@billb/outdoor-emergency-care-qs6at1ioy

https://www.instagram.com/tc3committee/

https://www.instagram.com/nardoctor/

Weather Related:

https://www.instagram.com/noaa/

https://www.instagram.com/savycenter/

https://www.instagram.com/snow.forecast/


And of course:

https://www.instagram.com/natlskipatrol/

Trauma Care: ABC vs MARCH

All -

As we all know well, our priorities on initial patient contact/care are to establish ABC's. 

Here's another perspective, with roots from recent findings in the military, on massive trauma care.

https://www.ems1.com/trauma-assessment/articles/319159048-EMS-trauma-care-ABCs-vs-MARCH/

As always, for OEC work, stick to the OEC protocols, but you may find this additional perspective both interesting and instructive.

Bandaging & Splinting Guides

Useful reference material/guidance on bandaging & splinting here.

Class Presentation Materials & Photo Album

Candidates -

Here's a link to the Powerpoint & other materials we use in class (posted at conclusion of each class), and to the class photo album:

• Class PPT here.

• Class photo album here.

Assessment Verbalization 2-Pager (Updated)

Here's the 2-page Assessment Verbalization sheet we used in class.  (Now with latest updates -10 Sept 2019)

Link here.

Congratulations on a Successful First Weekend

Candidates - Nice work on completing weekend #1.

As we discussed, top priority now is to fully ingest & become comfortable with the patient assessment "flow".  Focus on committing the baseline assessment procedure to memory and being able to execute it at a moment's notice.  As a wise man once said: "know the flow like you know your name".

The best approach for most is to get as much practice as possible - walking through it verbally by repeating it to yourself often, and getting practical experience with your friends, family, pets, etc. 

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday for the Assessment Lottery, Assessment Exam, and more practice.   As we discussed, our goal is to have Assessment skills solid by end of class Tuesday, and thus have the baseline we need to accelerate into the assessment & treatment of broad set of injuries we encounter as Patrollers.