WAVES Ambulance Offers Free Motorcyclist Down Trauma Class in N.Y.
Class teaches the lifesaving skills needed by motorcyclists following a serious accident
May is Motorcycle Awareness month and to recognize it WAVES Ambulance of Camillus, N.Y., is offering 5 free sessions of a class developed by WAVES to teach the lifesaving skills needed by motorcyclists following a serious accident and before traditional responders arrive.
The class was created at the request of Onondaga ABATE, a motorcyclist education and lobbying organization that recognized the need for training but could not find a class was appropriate for them. Course creator and instructor Daniel Taylor notes that “ABATE initially requested a standard first aid class, but as we spoke with them and learned their specific needs we determined that the average first aid class would not cut it.”
The class that Taylor created in conjunction with WAVES’ medical directors and input from other members drew from the U.S. military’s Tactical Combat Casualty Care curriculum and NAEMT's PreHospital Trauma Life Support. Students learn the importance of early bleeding control through tourniquet application, as well as basic scene control, best practices when communicating with 9-1-1 dispatchers and emergency responders, when and how to move a victim, and what life-threatening injuries may really look like. Through images and videos, students see real and simulated arterial bleeding, as well as other injuries that they learn to treat.
Sonny Schneibler, Onondaga ABATE member, witnessed a crash and saw the gap from time of accident to time of first arriving traditional responder: “The crash I witnessed was scary, but fortunately minor. I left that scene knowing that we needed something to cover those few minutes before help arrived.”
Motorcyclist Down gives students the basic skills to act and react before traditional responders arrive.
The class is being offered free of charge five times during May at WAVES Ambulance, 202 Bennett Rd Camillus, NY, 5/1 at 7pm, 5/10 at 7pm, 5/19 at 10am, 5/21 at 10am, and 5/30 at 7pm. No registration is required; simply show up on the designated date and time. More information is available at www.WAVESAmbulance.com.
About WAVES
WAVES is the primary ambulance service for the town of Camillus, NY since 1975. WAVES provides flight paramedics for the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office Medivac Helicopter, providers for the Camillus Police Department’s snowmobile team, and supports the community through medical resources at special events and public education. In addition to those services WAVES offers CPR/AED, first aid, pet CPR, ACLS, PHTLS and other training for the community.
