Adult Leader CPR/ First Aid Trained patch?

[Wëlënakwsu]

You may want to consider the BSA's Emergency Preparedness Award insignia. Although CPR/First Aid is one of the Award options and not required... a first aid course combined with the options of an emergency kit and plan, may enhance the first aid course only certification.

[OwntheNight]

KC9DDI,

I don't see how giving staff any special patches or lanyards or face paint or anything would enhance our emergency preparedness. Good training, and having proper emergency procedures in place is really all that you need.

Your right in the fact that having these items does not enhance our preparedness. We definitely want to be prepared for any situation. Our reasoning for using the lanyard system, is to be able to identify quickly the adults who are trained for these situations. Our day camp staff is 8 people. The rest of the "staff" are parents of the boys in camp. Some are registered BSA leaders, others are just parents spending 4 mornings or afternoons with their sons. During our registration process, we've asked everybody who will be attending camp to inform us of any certifications they have and the cooresponding paperwork to go with it. This way, we can try and group them with groups that might not have any training. While all the staff and all the stations will have walkie talkies, some of our stations are 200-300 yds from HQ, and calling for the medical director is first, if you see somebody in the group that is trained, they can step in and begin treatment if necessary.

We ran into a situation last year at camp. We had to activate our emergency evacuation procedure due to lightning and storms in the area. As I was going around telling the groups to head to our designated meeting point, I had Den Leaders, who were supposed to be responsible for a den of 10-12 boys, grab their own sons and head off to their cars and leave camp, while leaving the only other Den leader trying to get the boys to our meeting point. Myself ,as Cubmaster, and the Course Director were supposed to be the authority figures from where information was coming on what to do. While it wasn't a medical situation, the fact is if I have a leader who doesn't want to follow procedures and protocols, how can I trust them if that situation arises, especially if they don't have the training.

I've seen people without any official certifications but an abundance of common sense "jump into the action" and do an excellent job managing a situation until professionals arrived. I've seen people with every certification under the sun freeze up or completely botch a situation despite having an assortment of certification cards and patches.

Actions speak louder than words. I've seen those same people as well, but I've also seen the ones who stand around and don't do anything out of fear of not knowing what to do or believing the stories and rumors of people trying to help others and getting sued or having negligence placed on them for helping out. That's why there are good samirtan laws on the books. I agree that we don't need a doo-dad on our uniform for specialized training, hopefully our training and instincts take over, or even better, that we don't have to use that training ever. It's good to know we have it though.

If the CPR certified get a special patch, then why can't the certified life guards get a special shoulder cord?

Hey, they get the cool red shorts, the suntan, and the best seat at the pool. Shouldn't that be enough for them? 

 

[Plowboy]

I purchased a patch after receiving training on 1st Aid, CPR, and AED from the online source someone listed. However, I put it on my 1st Aid pack. A few of us have 1st aid packs that we've built as part of our Emergency Preparedness work. Our packs are with us at all times when assembled as a Cub Scout group. I put our pack numbers and the patch on my pack so that people know what it is. I figure, if I am the one that needs first aid, someone might see the patch on the bag and know to look in it for necessary supplies. Seems more important use than on my uniform.

[drhink]

"The rest of the "staff" are parents of the boys in camp. Some are registered BSA leaders, others are just parents spending 4 mornings or afternoons with their sons."

 

Just parents? If I applied that rationale, it would mean one of my troop parents that is a vascular surgeon and another that was an Army corpsman shouldn't be asked to help in a medical emergency at camp because they don't have a "CPR Certified" patch! Seriously, if you have a good number of adult leaders that have some level of emergency training, I say good for you and keep it up (ie. stay current)! But if none of those people knows who is in charge and/or there is no agreed upon emergency action plan, I suggest you work on that instead of looking for some kind of visual recognition of who has what level of training.

 

Speaking of patches, p. 298 of the 11th edition Scout Handbook depicted a non-existent "CPR Certified" patch. However, it turns out there is (or was...) one "official" CPR patch Item # 80143, but it's being discontinued so is on closeout on scoutstuff.org. Probably for good reason - it's not very attractive. Not to mention it depicts a scout about to give a rescue breath with his hand in the wrong position. I'm a ARC CPR and First Aid Instructor so yeah, I noticed something like that. I have a stack of those #80143 patches, but nobody has ever wanted one that took a class from me when I've offered them.

 

If it's important to you, for whatever reason, to show you have some emergency training on your uniform, you should consider your CPR/AED and First Aid training as a stepping stone to earning the Emergency Preparedness award. It is the ONLY pin that may be worn on the wearer's uniform shirt left pocket flap. But I've found the easiest way to tell which adults might be ready to assist in an emergency are the ones always lugging around a red daypack or fanny pack first aid kit on troop outings. Training is important, but truly "being prepared" is vital. If you're CPR certified but don't keep a breathing barrier and gloves handy at all times then what? So maybe you could have your designated emergency first aid folks carry a red first aid pack. Visual, and a heck of a lot more useful than a patch, armband, hat, etc.

 

Aside from insignia, I don't get the impression everyone here knows the sobering truth why the BSA is trying to get more adult leaders CPR certified. Statistically more adult scouters die from cardiac emergencies than any other cause of death during scout activities, and by an order of magnitude greater than any scout fatalities. The people that should feel better seeing a bunch of adult leaders that are CPR trained ought to be the other adult leaders, not the scouts, and certainly not parents that do not go on outings. I'm getting old enough that I certainly do not want to be the only CPR certified adult on a scout camp out.

 

Lastly: the ARC Wilderness and Remote First Aid course has adult CPR/AED as the prerequisite, so if you really want to have some adults that have practical emergency training, I strongly encourage you to get a couple leaders to take that course after they are CPR certified. It goes way beyond the ARC Standard First Aid and CPR courses, and actually teaches some emergency incident management skills in addition to medical aid training. But alas, there is no BSA patch for it, just incredible peace of mind.

 

 

[Eagle92]

While I know the original poster is a Cub Scout leader, so he may not have even thought of this, but most of the responses are those who work with Boy Scouts and Venturers, so my question is this: Why are we focusing on adults? Why are we not thinking our Boy Scouts and Venturers are not capable of using the first aid skills they have learned?

 

 

[drhink]

Scoutfish asked regarding CPR certification "Is there an adult patch or insignia available for adult leadership to wear on there uniforms?"

 

I think I answered that in my previous post. Yes, there is a somewhat ugly patch currently still available on closeout, and it is a generic CPR patch for scouts or scouters to wear on their right shirt pocket. And there is an Emergency Preparedness pin that can be earned where CPR/AED & First Aid certification can meet one of the requirements.

 

But no patch, pin or other insignia provides anyone "authority" in a volunteer first responder situation regarding who should provide care. However, on a scout or cub scout activity, there is always a designated leader in charge - usually the Cub Master or Scoutmaster or an Assistant. There are patches of course for those positions, and that's about as close to an "authority" there is in scouting.