Fighting Fires and Viruses!

This day was every woman's dream...spend the day with firefighters...woo hoo!
As part of my bi-weekly leadership class, today we learned about Emergency Management Services. The Fire Department hosted the day and they were fabulous.

We started at a local Fire Station where we did a tour. We got a chance to "play" with a CPR dummy and learned the new technique for CPR. They have changed it to 30 quick chest compressions and 2 breathes (i'm pretty sure I misspelled that). We also learned how to use a defibrilator in case of cardiac arrest. I did not excel at the CPR stuff, definitely need more practice. Hopefully I'll never have to use it.

Next we got to do the really cool stuff. We had a chance to gear up in the firefighter yellow pants, jacket and hat so we could play with a junk car using the jaws of life and some really big electrical plyers used to open jammed doors. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this as of right now. My boss did take a picture of me all dressed up but she hasn't sent it to me yet. I did look like a 5 year old playing with daddy's clothes.
The jaws of life weigh about 45 pounds so I did need a little help from the firefighters to keep it in place the whole time. The electrical plyers weigh about 55 pounds and you have to constantly re-place it to try to get the door to pop open. That takes a lot of of you especially when you're wearing heavy gear to begin with AND out in Florida heat.

Next, we headed to the local hospital for lunch and to learn about the decontamination. I had the opportunity to be in the decon demo and dress up in the training "space suit".

In case of mass contamination, all they use is water to decon! Lots of water! You might think to yourself, what will water do? The doctor explained that no matter what the threat is, whether it's a virus or a chemical, the amount of water used in the decontamination process will dilute it to the point where it's not a threat. We also got to use the water hose that they'd use in case of decon (just like the hose in a fire truck) and the force has a strong kickback. I had to lean forward before turning it on so that when it "kicked" me back I'd still be upright.

I was trying to tell my classmate to take a picture of the other guy...she couldn't hear me through the mask, hence my reaction.

The oxygen machine makes the suit blow up. We joked we looked like Oompa Loompas!

For the last education piece of the day, we visited the Communications building where dispatchers work. These individuals dispatch the 911 calls as well as the non-emergency calls to the fire or police department. I always had a certain respect for these people and it was reiterated on this day. Their job is very stressful and there's no slow time. In the few minutes that we were there, they received 4 critical calls including a possible homicide, a police officer in a traffic accident, and an assault (all separate calls). A few of us walked out thinking they get paid too little for what they have to go through. I know I don't think I could do it as calmly as they do.

Finally I'll share a few things I learned. Parents can take their children to the fire station at any time to look at the trucks and talk to the firefighters. Also, firefighters will inspect and teach parents how to install car safety seats in their cars.

In case you didn't know about the Safe Haven for Newborns law, this is the law where a new mother or father can drop off their unwanted baby within 3 days of being born at a designated "Safe Haven" and they will not be prosecuted for abandonment/neglect. Every fire station is a designated Safe Haven. Something I did not know is that newborns that are dropped off do not go into State care, they are automatically adopted. Adoption agencies have a list of qualified parents and in case of a Safe Haven baby, the selected adoptive parents can pick up the baby at the hospital immediately (if all is ok with the baby of course).