Waiouru first aiders test their skill

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 298, 4 August 1989, Page 21

Waiouru first aiders test their skill

A team of local St John first-aiders took part in the North Island West Coast Regional Closed Competitions, held in Opunake in July.

The team was Phyllip Wilcox, Meryn Evans, Karl Mottram and Ailsley Wilcox, now residing in Wanganui. The competitions were held at the Opunake Dairy Factory, the only venue large enough to hold all 26 teams. Some of teams included as many as 20 members. The start was at 9.00am with Phyllip acting as stand-in judge for the drill section. At 11.15 am, the Waiouru division had their team first. The scenario was two cleaners in a freezer, the first casualty with a suspected fracture of the lower spine area, while the second cleaner was suffering from shoc'c, in this test the team came second. In the afternoon the team split in two with Phyllip, the leader, and Meryn paired off and then Karl and Ailsley. The leader had a patient with an allergic reaction to a wasp sting to deal with and came second equal. Meryn had two glue sniffers to handle, one with a lacerated hand, and came fourth equal. Karl and Ailsley had

two youths that were jumping milk-tanks to care for. They had fallen and the male patient had severe facial injuries while the female patient had a suspected fracture of the clavicle (collar-bone). They came third. At 3.05pm Meryn, Ailsley and Karl were called for the three-man team event. The exercise was in a workshop where a worker had slipped and drilled his hand and had metalfragments in his right eye, a welder had picked up a piece of red-hot metal and received severe burns on both hands while the third casualty was in a state of shock. The Waiouru team did very well and came first in this event and second overall in the aggregate. On Sunday 23rd at 8.00am, the Opunake Church held a parade to celebrate the 50th Jubilee of the Order of St John in Opunake. With the exception of the regional staff and the Opunake Branch itself, Waiouru Family Division was the only group to attend.