Int'l school teachers learn outdoor first aid
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Instructor Steve Platz gives advice to a group during a fist-aid training session at Chadwick International School in Songdo, Incheon. / Korea Times photo by John Redmond.
By John Redmond
Teachers from two international schools and hiking club members participated in an outdoor education first-aid course provided by the American-based National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) at Chadwick International School in Incheon over the weekend.
Instructors Steve Platz and Shana Lee Tarter from the NOLS Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI) instructed a group of 30 teachers from the Korea International School, Chadwick International School and Team Max on emergency procedures if students are injured during outdoor field trips.
Combining theory and practical training, members were given the choice of being teachers or injured students during individual sessions, while instructors Platz and Lee Tarter assisted.
Though only an introductory course compared with a full 10-day one, it covered injuries from dehydration, heat loss and spinal injuries, to fractured limbs, head injuries and dislocated joints. The focus was on being in an environment where medical services were unavailable. The groups also were given instruction for situations where there is no phone coverage or helicopter access.
Members were instructed on how the injured would most likely react, or in some cases not, with severe head injuries or extreme temperatures.
The two-day event also gave members the chance to watch a screening of the mountain-climbing movie “K2” at the Chadwick campus theater on Saturday night.
Platz is a physician assistant from Wyoming in the U.S. He taught for Cornell Outdoor Education, worked as a critical care technician and instructed for NOLS. He is best known for his lectures on behavioral problems.
Tarter was a student in the first WMI course in July 1990. She joined the WMI instructional team in 1995 and serves as WMI’s assistant director. She has been teaching for WMI in Japan, Australia, Hawaii and Oklahoma.
Chadwick International is a K-12 international school in the Songdo International Business District in Incheon. Facilities include an aquatic center with scuba diving capabilities, a gymnasium with a seat capacity of 1,500, a 700-seat performing arts indoor theatre and a television studio.