We had our first skills day this week. We were introduced to CPR and first aid concepts. It was interesting and enjoyed the presentations and practical work. As much as I hate to admit this, I have never taken CPR or a First Aid class before this presentation, so everything was brand new to me. As indicated the instruction was part class work and part practical. We worked on everything from doing CPR on an adult to CPR on a child and become familiar with the AED. I have to say it was more fun than work. When completing the exercises, I couldn’t help but wonder when or who I would be doing this on in the future. During the Academy, I have heard a lot of stories from experienced officers, and I wonder how well I will do under the pressure of a life or death situation. Like most things in the academy, you are taught what to do and then tested on the concepts while under pressure through various tests and developed situations. I feel confident that I will do fine but until tested, in real life, no one can be absolutely sure of how they will react. All I can say for sure is that I have been well prepared, I know what I am doing, I feel confident in my knowledge and in the practical application of what I have learned and I will complete my duty to the best of my ability. The reason for the training is so that when one is placed in that situation, one reacts in the way that they have been trained. This is very similar to practice in athletics in which I have plenty of experience. One keeps practicing the basics, using the basics in practical situations, and come game time, one is prepared to react.
My favorite part of the class is when the instructors create a scenario and the members of the class had to apply what they had learned. Our group made some small mistakes but over all, we did a great job on the prepared scenarios.
We also had more PT (Physical Training) this week. I find PT fun and challenging. PT has consisted of running, running stairs and working out in the weight room. However, one day this week, the PT was a little different. We went on a run for about 45 minutes. I think in total we ran between 2 or 3 miles. I could be off on the distance. It felt like more than that for a large stretch was mostly up hill. It was fun and I enjoyed the challenge of the run and the self imposed competition between members of the academy. I was a bit tired when we were done. I take this to mean that in addition to the academy PT and the PT I am doing on my own time, I need to work out more. This introduction to running hills will be nothing to what we have been told we will experience when we run up Lookout Mountain. For those of you who do not know what Lookout Mountain is, it’s a large mountain that each Jefferson County Recruit runs before graduation! It is a right if passage and big workout. I believe we will all make it and will have fun doing it.
Until next time…. Which will be soon
Kevin
Katie doing mouth-to-mouth
Me doing mouth to mouth
Me doing mouth to mouth
Jerry with his practice baby
Ish being a burn victim
Me with me and my fake cell phone will pretending to be a victim that hurt himself during arrest control
Our burn victim again
Our class sargent explaining his first aid skills
