A basic emergency class offered at Cheyenne’s East and Central high schools teaches students the fundamentals of responding to emergencies
By Becky Orr
Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Cheyenne)
Copyright 2006 Cheyenne Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Students in Marlene Shaw’s class at Cheyenne’s East High plunged their hands into buckets filled with ice cubes.
Each wore a glove on one hand, which they covered with a plastic bag. Their other hands went into the ice uncovered and remained there only for a brief time.
The activity was to help illustrate effects of hypothermia, which was the focus for the day.
As the hands came out pretty quickly, instructor Marlene Shaw explained how the students’ bodies responded to the effects of the ice.
“What do the nail beds look like?” she asked.
The exercise is part of a basic emergency class offered at both East and Cheyenne’s Central High.
Students learn fundamental steps to respond to emergencies. The information helps some to prepare to take the state’s first-responder exam.
A first responder is the first tier of a medical response system that includes emergency medical technicians and paramedics.
Charlie Retz, 18, is a senior at East High. He helps out with the emergency class and took the class last year.
He is a first-responder for Laramie County Fire District 2. “I’ve always had an interest in first aid and trauma services,” he said. Both of his parents are nurses.
“It’s a great class,” he said of emergency course. “The students can give lifesaving aid.”
Students in the high-school courses learn CPR for both infants and adults. They learn the importance of observation and how to assess patients. They know what to do until help arrives.
Shaw said the students get plenty of time to practice different mock emergency scenarios in class.
At Central High, students in Jean Zlomke’s class recently divided into teams.
They practiced taking respirations and pulses and worked with a mannequin to simulate a person choking. They also observed their partners’ pupils to see how they reacted to light.
Central student Tyler Woods, 15, said he wants to be a doctor, so the work is valuable.
Sam Cook, a junior, said the hardest part of the class so far is administering infant CPR on the mannequin.
The emergency course has been around for years, Zlomke said. “It’s a very popular course. It is one of the basics that they need to have to get into different areas of health occupations,” she said.
The course gives students powerful information. Zlomke said students have told her about emergency situations at home or elsewhere where they have helped out.
About half the students who take the class go on to get their first-responder designation.
Others want the skills because they are interested in a future in medicine or because they want to take other classes that require the basic course.
“They learn basic backboarding skills. A lot of the stuff is critical information to have. We really focus in on those beginning steps,” Zlomke said.
They can use the skills to help them become police officers or firefighters, whose careers require such knowledge.
A tremendous number of students who have no intention of going into emergency care also take the course, Zlomke said.
Shaw said that some take the course for necessary skills to be a lifeguard or a babysitter. “It does open some opportunity for them,’ she said.
J.C. Hughes, 15, a student at Central High, is not interested in a medical career. “I want to start babysitting,” she said. She said the information could come in handy on the job.
Students get credit at Laramie County Community College for taking the course
Spring Followell, 17, is a senior at East High. She takes the class because she wants to be a nurse. “I think it’s interesting. I want to help people.”
Shaw said the class gives students practice and hands-on experience. They do exercises where the students demonstrate their knowledge of the skills.
“We’re giving them a life skill,” she said. “They become heroes in their own building.”