The team has been blessed so far this season with no EMERGENCY call outs. Wonder why that is?
Is it fewer campers or younger, healthier ones? Ours is not to question why but to remain thankful for
this.
Having said that, the team has not slackened it’s efforts to remain on guard at all times. The weekly
meetings continue, emergency drills take place, driving the desert in the middle of the night to train new
members how to guide 1st responder vehicles to an emergency situation, testing of equipment, etc.
Besides all this, the team has taken on the task of placing new signage throughout the LTVA (long term
visitor area). These sign posts that you will already have noticed, are referred to as carsonites.
(fiberglass identification posts). The team wanted clearer identification in the LTVA and approached the head ranger
of BLM to ask if we could put reflectors on rocks at the entries to many of the areas of the desert. These would not
only assist the campers, and BLM staff, but more importantly the Emergency Response Team in their efforts to guide
YPG 1st Responder vehicles to an emergency, especially in the middle of the night.
The head ranger not only agreed, but purchased 80 carsonites and reflector material to attach to them. He also
showed us a sample of how the various areas could be marked, i.e. Quail Crossing, Coyote Ridge, etc.
The team offered to supply the manpower to do all this and work commenced the second week of January and will
continue until all 80 have been erected. This is very labor intensive work and if you see these guys installing them,
please tell them how much you appreciate their efforts. So far we have had very positive feed-back on these ID
markers.
The last item I want to mention is AED demonstrations. Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is a
portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias of
ventricular fibrillation and pulseless ventricular tachycardia, and is able to treat them
through defibrillation, the application of electricity which stops the arrhythmia, allowing the heart to
reestablish an effective rhythm. With simple audio and visual commands, AEDs are designed to be simple to
use for the layperson, and the use of AEDs is taught in many first aid, certified first responder, and basic life
support (BLS) level cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) classes.
Demonstrations can take place at our 8:00 a.m. weekly Tuesday meetings upon request. If you would like to get a
group together or just come by yourself, and arrange for a demo, let the contact station know and they will pass it on
to us. Or, if you know a team member, let him or her know.