Readyman

[dedkad]

I think what the Readyman badge teaches for Webelos is really important, but it's a lot of information for the boys to learn. Unlike other badges I've done where we go through the requirements and I check them off as over and done with, I have really been working on retention on this one because this knowledge is very important. Today we had a fun meeting where the boys were presented with some simulated first-aid cases and had to treat them properly. I printed out a bunch of gross pictures of cuts, burns, nose bleeds, snake bites, bugs, frost bite, and road rash. The boys would take turns being the victim and I would tape the appropriate injury on them. Then the "medic" would come in and identify what the injury was just by looking at it and simple statements from the victim like "I burned myself on the grill." Then they had to treat it properly with the first-aid kit I had on hand plus other items that I through in to confuse them.. Although they still have a long way to go to be proficient in all the treatments for various injuries, they definitely had a good time learning about something that can sometimes be a dry topic.

[qwazse]

Sounds like fun - as long as none of your decoy items was a chain saw!

[Austinole]

That's a great program. Readyman is one requirement that I do several times. I think my son has done it 6 times from summer camps, day camps and den meetings. I repeat readyman in Webelos I and Webelos 2 years.

[Tampa Turtle]

Break this one up over several meetings. Best done outside if possible. My guys (if I recall it was a while) loved the wound drills and mock ups...the gorier the better (the Mom's expressions were priceless). "Impalement through the Stomach", "Eye hanging Out", "Amputation above the Wrist".

 

Best response (over a hypothetical burn victim) "First I go over to the side where he can't see me and throw up. Then I go back and get to work..."

 

Keep testing them after completion especially if they are camping. It is an accident prone age and they probably will have some minor burns and cuts to practice on. When our now SPL was a Webe he burned his hand on the cast iron pan handle NINE times before he finally got the message.

[OhioCM]

That's a great idea, dedkad. Readyman is unique because in most of the badges the academic portion involves learning in a way that is familiar to them from school. Forrester and Naturalist for example, the bookwork is learning about trees and life cycles, etc. Not "what would you do in this situation". We did this technique at summer camp last year. If you just ask the scouts while sitting around the table, what would you do to treat a cut or what would you do if someone broke their arm, you get some glassy-eyed stares and a lot of ums and ahs. But, if you lay on the ground and pretend to bleed and say "these are the supplies you have on hand - how can you help the injured person?" it turns out they do know what to do.

 

Their favorite activity from summer camp was actually making a stretcher from a tarp, tree branches, and lashings, and hauling each other around on it.

[Polaris]

So glad you posted this. When my oldest completed Readyman, the WDL scheduled an EMT to lecture to the boys. Boring. I was going to call this week and do the same for youngest Scout Son. This is WAAAY cooler. Hmmm....thinking....I see lots of corn syrup and red food coloring. Lay out several victims and explain and practice triage.

[King Ding Dong]

So glad you posted this. When my oldest completed Readyman, the WDL scheduled an EMT to lecture to the boys. Boring. I was going to call this week and do the same for youngest Scout Son. This is WAAAY cooler. Hmmm....thinking....I see lots of corn syrup and red food coloring. Lay out several victims and explain and practice triage.

Yep, after the corn syrup you can start on the bee stings.

[dedkad]

So glad you posted this. When my oldest completed Readyman, the WDL scheduled an EMT to lecture to the boys. Boring. I was going to call this week and do the same for youngest Scout Son. This is WAAAY cooler. Hmmm....thinking....I see lots of corn syrup and red food coloring. Lay out several victims and explain and practice triage.

Just getting an EMT to speak would have been much easier, for sure. I spent hours prepping for this, but the enthusiasm the boys showed during the lesson made it worth it. It wouldn't hurt to have the EMT lecture, then do a follow-up at the next meeting with the fake victims to see what they learned.

[Stosh]

So glad you posted this. When my oldest completed Readyman, the WDL scheduled an EMT to lecture to the boys. Boring. I was going to call this week and do the same for youngest Scout Son. This is WAAAY cooler. Hmmm....thinking....I see lots of corn syrup and red food coloring. Lay out several victims and explain and practice triage.

When I was an EMT and did the preso, it was never a lecture. Had the ambulance there, lights, siren, air splints, back board, KED, c-collars, the whole nine yards. After a hour, the parents had to drag the boys away kicking and screaming!

 

If the EMT isn't sitting on the rear deck of an ambulance for his "lecture" he isn't doing it right.

 

Got a chance once to call in Life-flight for a pack meeting.... Nothing neater than directing in the craft to the baseball field after dark. Flares, flashlights, the whole ball game. (Actually it was a legitimate training run for our unit and Life-flight The ball field next to the school was the local target. We just requested a change of training date to match the pack meeting.) After an hour, the pack leadership had to drag the boys AND THEIR PARENTS away kicking and screaming.

 

Stosh

[AKdenldr]

We did a visit to local air guard search and rescue. Too cool all the things kids get to do in a community because they are scouts.

 

Webs also liked a rescue relay. Any time you can run in Webelos was popular.

[IM_Kathy]

my boy scouts still love this stuff. About every 4 months we do a "first aid challenge". Sometimes it's relay of treating different things. Once we staged a car accident in the church parking lot (no cars damaged in the process just parked like they had hit) Ketchup packets make for good enough blood although the boys got to see real squirting blood when one of our adults passed out and smashed open his head one meeting.

 

we have patrol award ribbons that are home-made that go on patrol flags just like troop/pack flags and first aid challenge is one of them.