BERT conducts water rescue training
With accidents on the highways all too frequent, and other types of emergencies always a possibility, the Belize Emergency Response Team, BERT is continuing its training of emergency medical technicians, EMT. Those who successfully complete the courses can go on to join BERT ambulance teams or simply serve their communities in times of crisis. Today News Five was invited to a BERT training session at the Hangar.
Despite the cool water, the course participants did not mind getting into the water for their first water rescue course. The students, who come from all over the country, are taking part in a five-week paramedic course conducted by the Belize Emergency Response Team, BERT.
In conjunction with Wings of Hope, an air ambulance service which has offered services in Belize for the past fifteen years, BERT invites American instructors to Belize to conduct paramedic training.
Darryl Tower, Instructor, Paramedic Program
“The biggest problem with swimming particularly where there is a lot of water, a lot of shallow water and it is a lot of fun to just dive in. Most of the real serious swimming accidents are as a result of folks diving in and hitting their head on something and then having either a neck or head injury.
What we are doing this afternoon, we are simulating a water extraction with patients that might be in the water with a drowning situation and perhaps with a neck injury. At the end of the simulation, we are also simulating that they are unresponsive and that they may be on cardiac arrest as well.”
Two teams are normally sent out to a water rescue operation. While one group rescues the drowning victim, another team stays on land to receive the patient and administer treatment.
Darryl Tower
“The team in the water is to initially evaluate the patient and see where they stand as far as their cardiac output and respiration and airways and to also get them out of the water safely and quickly. The team on land would be to receive the patient and immediately start whatever lifesaving mechanisms are necessary as far as CPR, clear the airway and maintain respiration.”
Tower says although they may have been uncomfortable in the cold water, he is impressed with the participants’ work. His students come from a variety of backgrounds and were excited about the training.
Angela Francis, Auxiliary Nurse, K.H.M.H.
“I see it as good because we learn a lot of useful things that I can probably use at my workplace or use at home or in my daily life.”
If the students pass the course they become eligible to apply for a license. They must pass a practical exam to become either paid employees or BERT volunteers. Emergency Medical Technician Training lasts between four to five weeks and includes one hundred seventy hours of classroom instruction and thirty-two clinical hours. For information on the next course, to ask BERT personnel to give talks on safety issues at schools, or for classes on emergency training for businesses, contact BERT Headquarters on Sunrise Avenue in Belize City. Besides ambulance service, BERT also provides air evacuations.
