Volume 2 April / May 06 Rovering To Excess Emergency Services Vocational Rovers Is a bi-monthly E-Zine by Rovers, for Rovers, about Want to have an exciting and challenging career as Rovers. a police officer, fire fighter or paramedic? One way to accomplish your goal is to join a Editor-In-Chief: Vocational Rover Crew that is involved with emer- Kat Nielsen gency services. In some U.S. states they call them [email protected] junior paramedics. Production Manager Vocational Rovering, as an aspect of Scouting, has Kevin Dunn been around a long time. Only in the last few years [email protected] has it gained prominence with the introduction of EMS, Fire and Police sponsored Crews. Contributing Writers Jerry Crawford As a Scouter and member of Toronto EMS and a Toronto. York & Windsor Crews Jorday Stanley former paramedic, I must admit that the ultimate Photo Provided by Jerry Crawford Katherine Nielsen intent of our sponsorship is to recruit potential para- by Richmond, British Columbia Advanced Care Smoke Blacklock medics and dispatchers. This is because we consid- Paramedic and long time Scouter, Jeff Watts. We Kevin Croft er youth with a Scouting background to be honest, owe a huge debt of gratitude to Jeff for his vision of intelligent and the best candidates for our profes- youth empowerment in his community. Medical sion. The Police and Fire staff agree whole hearted- Venturers and Rovers are still going strong in BC Rovering to Excess is always ly on this as well. looking for submissions from and we met some of them who assisted our medical Rovers, Rover Advisors or staff in Toronto at World Youth Day in 2002. past Rovers. We also desire to have youth in our community who have a good general knowledge of municipal We are also proud to have assisted the Toronto emergency services and who can serve as peers to Submissions should be sent Police Service and Toronto Fire Services in forming to the following addresses: others their own age and provide badly needed serv- a Police Rover crew and Fire Venturer Company. [email protected] ice to their fellow citizens. Since volunteering is a [email protected] huge aspect of Scouting, it is a trait, which our Well, enough of patting ourselves on the back. industry values, in its potential candidates. Documents should be in MS What you really want to know is what Emergency Word format. Services Venturing and Rovering are all about. You can be sure that if you apply to an emergency service for a job and your resume states that you Pictures should bein JPEG It's about Training and Service. As a Medical have Scouting service and vocational experience in format and be no larger then Rover, you will be given three different levels of our industry, your application will be given priority 640 x 480 at 300DPI. If we first aid training - standard first aid/CPR, wilderness need a larger copy we will in the selection process. first aid and survival techniques and emergency first contact you. responder training (St John ambulance or Red Cross In September, Toronto EMS will celebrate its fifth equivalent). Submission Deadlines are the anniversary of sponsoring the Medical Venturers 1st of March, May, July, and Rovers of 1st Downsview and 1st Scarborough September, November and EMS paramedic instructors provide all this train- Groups in the Greater Toronto Council. We are also Janurary. ing. You will benefit from their personal work expe- extremely proud to have had a part in the formation riences as they demonstrate how they actually have of Medical Venturers/Rovers in York Region, Subscribe online bt emailing used the skills they are teaching you. [email protected] Ottawa Region, Durham Region, Peel Region, Essex Windsor Region and many others in Ontario The paramedics and other EMS staff will also pro- This E-Zine is for you. and across Canada. Please support it as much as vide orientation and hands-on demonstrations of you can. EMS equipment and procedures. We also bring in The Medical Venturer/Rover curriculum, which is Police and Fire staff on a reciprocal basis so that now often been referred to by the youthful members youth get first hand knowledge of the other servic- as “MedVents and “MedRovers” is an idea created es as well. When you have certified in standard first aid/CPR, you are ready for the Service aspect. Medical Rovers, because of their extensive training are highly valued by municipal and Scouting groups to provide medical service at public events. You will work in teams of two or three, often paired with a paramedic or member of St. John Ambulance Brigade or Red Cross and you will either man a first aid post/base station or patrol the crowd with a two-way radio and first aid kit. In order to attain the Advanced level of the cur- riculum, a member must accumulate 128 hours of medical service and 40 hours of community service (which is also considered for their high school graduation requirement). Some of the events that our members have serviced are the annu- al Gilwell Reunion at Blue Springs Scout Camp, CJam2005 in Quebec, Toronto City Hall New Years Celebrations, Toronto Winter Celebrations 2005, GTC Willow Valley Area Pack Winterfest, Toronto St. Patrick's Day parade, CNE2004, Toronto Train Rescue Indy Race and many others. Photo Provided by Jerry Crawford cated that their first year was often much easier because of the As a Rover (age 18 and over), you will participate in at least two knowledge and experience they had gained. Durham Region EMS “RIDEOUTS” on an ambulance with a paramedic crew. has even gone as far as having their Base Hospital Paramedic Depending on the skill level you have demonstrated, you often Education Staff out of Durham College provide the training for will be requested to assist paramedics in patient care. their Medical Rovers & Venturers. They also will provide the nec- essary references for those who enter the community college pro- Many of our Medical Rovers have utilised their skills at such gram. traumatic incidents they have come upon as motor vehicle acci- dents and collapses in public places. They have received Scout One of our Rover curriculum graduates, Blair Bigham who was and EMS citations for their heroic actions. featured in an article on page 30 August/September 2005 LEADER magazine has formed a Rover Crew (1st Scarborough B Another exciting aspect of the Vocational Rovering program is Crew) emergency response team at University of Toronto HSERT (High School Emergency Response Teams). A high Scarborough Campus. Blair is in the Paramedic degree program at school forms a “First aid club” and its members join the EMS UTSc and belongs to ACERT (the Association of College sponsored vocational crew as i.e. B Crew. They elect an executive, Emergency Response Teams). He has 40 members signed up and produce by-laws and then undergo EMS supplied first aid training in September they will assist campus police in providing emer- and orientation. Through fundraising efforts and school subsidies, gency medical care to fellow students and staff. they equip their crew with FRS two-way radios and uniforms. Usually the Vice-Principal or assigned teacher registers as a So you can see that Vocational Scouting is one of the fastest Venturer advisor and works with an EMS paramedic to co-ordi- growing and interesting aspects of Scouting in the nation today. If nate the crew. a group exists in your neighbourhood, check it out. If one doesn't exist, ask your Scouter to contact the EMS, Fire and Police The youth, in assigned teams, respond to medical emergencies Services to get a program going. both during school hours and at extra-curricular events such as football, basketball games and dances etc. Check out our website: http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/ems/spe- cial_programs/medvent.htm Our present Deputy Scouts Canada Provincial Commissioner, Kim Derry (who is also Deputy Chief, Toronto Police Service) Vocational Emergency Services Scouting can not only lead to promotes an initiative called ESP (Empowering Student very rewarding and challenging employment, but can provide Participation). The HSERT is an excellent example of how five excellent life skills that will assist you in any profession you may Toronto high schools are responding to Commissioner Derry's ini- undertake. tiative. Jerry Crawford Of great interest to those students who will be graduating from Group Commissioner high school and wish to enter a community college or university Toronto EMS 1st Downsview paramedic program is the fact that many of the colleges now Willow Valley Area recognise the expertise and qualifications that Medical Rovers Greater Toronto Council have acquired. The youth who are presently in the college programs have indi- assigned to me from the U-Haul location in Salmon Arm BC. I Wombat Wanderings short one hour drive, in a car, which I did not have. By: Jordan Stanley Ok, so now you have managed to argue with the U-Haul people on the phone for over an hour, unable to persuade them to allow you How to move across the country by U-Haul to pick up a truck from, say the U-Haul location two blocks from your current apartment. You bum a ride from a really, really good I know it has been a while since I have written. I do have some friend. As you are leaving the dealership, you notice that there is great excuses, but this article is not the place for them. This arti- only enough fuel in the tank to get you out of the driveway before cle instead, is more of an allusion to why I haven't written in a long you stall.