While some of Fort Drum’s Homeschooling on Post (HoP) students turned in disgust, others gathered closer, creating a chorus of “ewwww” and “cool!” and even “it looks slimey!” as Pvt. Ebony Bush, a medic with the 10th Mountain Division (LI) Sustainment Brigade, administered a nasopharyngeal airway to fellow Muleskinner medic Sgt. Jesus Gomez.
The pair had the opportunity to teach an interactive lesson on First Aid and Safety on Monday, November 20 to approximately 15 HoP students, who participate in a weekly home schooling co-op on Fort Drum’s Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield. The children, ranging from kindergarten to fourth grade, are still required to study certain subjects dictated by New York State, which includes a unit on Health, Safety and First Aid, and the HoP program allows them a chance to learn some of those subjects alongside their peers.
“We’ve invited different health and safety subject matter experts to come out and work with the kids,” said co-op teacher Erin Thompson, who organized the event. “We’ve had folks from preventative health, the fire department, and now the 10th Sustainment medics - and they blew it out of the water,” she said. “The kids loved them.”
Gomez and Bush taught an interactive hour-long lesson, teaching different methods of first aid care.
“We went over treating hypothermia, splinting, nasopharyngeal airway, pressure dressings and CPR,” said Bush. “They really liked the hands-on learning and were excited that they got to work with the different things we use. I think they definitely learned something,” she said.
“It was great for us to be doing this kind of community outreach type mission,” said Gomez, who appreciated a change of pace and a chance to help the kids learn. “I was impressed with how knowledgeable they were; they already intuitively kind of knew how to care for people and what that looks like, but we got to help them visualize it and interact with it.”
Thompson said the children responded enthusiastically, but more importantly, learned from the experience.
“My daughter wouldn’t stop talking about it at lunch, she was explaining to her brother how putting the NPA in Sgt. Gomez’ nose would help him breathe on his own,” she said.
Despite the discomfort of getting an NPA on a Monday morning, Gomez said he and Bush “had a blast” with the kids.
“Hoping we get to come back next year!” he said.
| Date Taken: | 11.20.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 11.21.2017 09:58 |
| Story ID: | 256093 |
| Location: | FORT DRUM, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 32 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Muleskinner Medics Teach First Aid to Fort Drum Homeschoolers, by SGT Liane Hatch, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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