Emergency Services for Children
GUESTS
It was a delight to welcome so many guests last week. In addition to the speaker, there were six guests. Bill Allen (father of Susan Van Deren and former Cheyenne Rotarian) was a guest along with Stephanie Watson (Assistant Superintendent of Schools), Charlotte Ryan (who worked the Health Fair), Tammy Applegate, and Peter Jochems. Scott Rulon was a visiting Rotarian.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
President Ron Clark announced that a GSE team from New Zealand will be here May 17.
PROGRAM
Our speaker for the week was Melody Mesmer. She is the EMS Coordinator for St. Anthony’s Central Hospital in Denver. In addition, she is the coordinator for the Central Mountain Region EMS and Trauma Advisory Council (RETAC). When she has time, she also volunteers as a paramedic/firefighter at Elk Creek Fire Protection District in Conifer where she worked for five years as a paramedic.
The topic of her talk was "Emergency Services For Children". She worked on the Gulf Coast for a month after Hurricane Katrina from Mississippi to Florida, and later in Texas. She said that despite all the bad press about FEMA's response, to a large degree FEMA's hands are tied as they cannot respond unless specifically asked to do so by the appropriate state agency. She commented about some of the mistakes that are made in handling emergencies, especially when children are involved. For instance, she talked about the Snaking Fire that was started behind Platte Canyon School. (The same school where Emily Keyes was killed). The school administrators put the children on buses and sent them home never thinking that it was the middle of the day, many of the parents were at work, and some of the homes where they were dropped off could have been in the path of the fire. She also sited a more even recent example during the latest snow storm where the El Paso County Schools closed and sent children out on buses, many of which got stuck in the snow. Numerous kids were forced to be taken into private homes in the area. The irony is that the school they left was then turned into an emergency shelter.
Mesmer also talked about how most agencies are woefully unprepared to handle children, elderly, disabled, and pets during an emergency. She sited instances where after Katrina; some children were not re-united with their parents for up to seven months. She passes out information on creating a 72-hour home preparedness kit. Mesmer said we must understand that sooner or later, an emergency will happen in your community.
QUIZ ANSWER
Harrison Ford has both an ant and a spider named for him in honor of his conservation efforts.
NEXT QUESTION
If a person who studies the earth is called a geologist, what do you call the person that studies the moon? Lunar geologist is not accurate. Try again.
It was a delight to welcome so many guests last week. In addition to the speaker, there were six guests. Bill Allen (father of Susan Van Deren and former Cheyenne Rotarian) was a guest along with Stephanie Watson (Assistant Superintendent of Schools), Charlotte Ryan (who worked the Health Fair), Tammy Applegate, and Peter Jochems. Scott Rulon was a visiting Rotarian.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
President Ron Clark announced that a GSE team from New Zealand will be here May 17.
PROGRAM
Our speaker for the week was Melody Mesmer. She is the EMS Coordinator for St. Anthony’s Central Hospital in Denver. In addition, she is the coordinator for the Central Mountain Region EMS and Trauma Advisory Council (RETAC). When she has time, she also volunteers as a paramedic/firefighter at Elk Creek Fire Protection District in Conifer where she worked for five years as a paramedic.
The topic of her talk was "Emergency Services For Children". She worked on the Gulf Coast for a month after Hurricane Katrina from Mississippi to Florida, and later in Texas. She said that despite all the bad press about FEMA's response, to a large degree FEMA's hands are tied as they cannot respond unless specifically asked to do so by the appropriate state agency. She commented about some of the mistakes that are made in handling emergencies, especially when children are involved. For instance, she talked about the Snaking Fire that was started behind Platte Canyon School. (The same school where Emily Keyes was killed). The school administrators put the children on buses and sent them home never thinking that it was the middle of the day, many of the parents were at work, and some of the homes where they were dropped off could have been in the path of the fire. She also sited a more even recent example during the latest snow storm where the El Paso County Schools closed and sent children out on buses, many of which got stuck in the snow. Numerous kids were forced to be taken into private homes in the area. The irony is that the school they left was then turned into an emergency shelter.
Mesmer also talked about how most agencies are woefully unprepared to handle children, elderly, disabled, and pets during an emergency. She sited instances where after Katrina; some children were not re-united with their parents for up to seven months. She passes out information on creating a 72-hour home preparedness kit. Mesmer said we must understand that sooner or later, an emergency will happen in your community.
QUIZ ANSWER
Harrison Ford has both an ant and a spider named for him in honor of his conservation efforts.
NEXT QUESTION
If a person who studies the earth is called a geologist, what do you call the person that studies the moon? Lunar geologist is not accurate. Try again.
posted by Windsor Rotary Club (link to this post)
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