FIRST RESPONDERS: Volunteers celebrate first anniversary
By Tanya Gaughan
Apache Staff
IVCCs First Responder Team, the only community college team in Illinois, is celebrating its one-year anniversary.
In the past year, the team has answered 32 medical emergency calls, including calls from a diabetic experiencing low blood sugar and for seizures, bee stings, cuts and burns.
The most dramatic emergency, according to coordinator Ron Groleau, was an accident on Illinois 251, near the campus, when the team was sent to assist the Oglesby Ambulance squad. A bus full of children collided with a car, requiring the team to maneuver collars around the children’s necks and transfer them to stretchers.
When emergency calls like that comes in, “it is an adrenaline rush,” the coordinator said. “The radio could go off at any minute and every minute counts.”
The IVCC team is trained to assist and stabilize a person until help arrives from the Oglesby Ambulance Service. Each person on the volunteer team has taken a First Responders course, which is taught on campus each semester. They must pass state exams to be certified by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Team members go through an annual CPR recertification and a quarterly defibrillator recertification. At regular meetings, they also practice their skills.
Each semester one student is chosen and trained for the team, Groleau said.
Anyone interested in joining should contact Groleau in A216, phone 224-0482.