From Lethbridge to Mazatlan with Amor

Posted by Wayne Stewart
 

Rotary Vocational Training Project 2016

From Lethbridge to Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico with love.

The Rotary Club of Lethbridge is proud to once again stage the second Rotary Vocational Training Project. The Rotary Vocational Training (RVT) Project provides trainers, and medical equipment from Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada to Mazatlán, Mexico.
 
The Los Amigos 2016 project delivered eight vehicles, leaving Lethbridge on April 21. Once the vehicles and crew arrived in Mazatlán, they will be joined by the Rotary Vocational Training team who depart Calgary on April 27, 2016. Training of Mexican first responders occurred  at the University of Sinaloa, in Mazatlán from April 30 to May 3, 2016.  Candidates came from the rural & urban communities. "The majority of the rural population has minimal access to clinical and convenient hospital care", says Wayne Stewart, RVT Project Chair. “Many of the injuries are due to agricultural and vehicle accidents, with a large number of deaths resulting from injured parties needing emergency care from the accident scene to the nearest clinic. We are confident that the training we are providing will save lives for these rural populations."
 
“The Rotary Clubs in District 4150 (Mexico) identified and select the appropriate course attendees.”
 
We had 34 individuals, male and female, participate in the training. These individuals came from the communities who have benefited from the delivery of fire trucks and ambulances delivered by the Los Amigos project.   We want to 'Train the Trainers’ who went back to their communities and train their local teams.”
 
This venture is an international project of the Rotary Club of Lethbridge in conjunction with three core Rotary Clubs in Mazatlán; Mazatlán Oriente, Norte. The Lethbridge Club contributed $5,000.00 towards expenses along with support from the Rotary Club of Lethbridge Urban Spirits. In addition, the Lethbridge Local 237 Fire Fighters Charity donated $5,000.00.  "The Firefighters felt strongly about the educational component, and their contribution guarantees success", said Stewart. Training will be provided by four trainers from Lethbridge and Pincher Creek, Chris Tomaras & Chris Carney City of Lethbridge Fire Fighters and Paramedics, Lynn Brasnett an EMT from Pincher Creek and Danielle Tkachenko a Registered Nurse from Rotary Club Urban Spirits Lethbridge. Chris Tomaras and Chris Carney also demonstrated the use of a fire truck donated to Mazatlan by the City of Lethbridge.
A large number of City of Lethbridge Firefighters have donated extra uniforms in like-new condition. They donated in excess of 100 uniforms and bunker gear.
 
New this year is the donation of a Zoll Plus, Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) to a paramedic unit in Mazatlan. The unit was donated by Zoll and is valued at $1700.00; Stewart says it will be a major donation to the Mazatlan paramedics.
For more information, email:
Rotary Club of Lethbridge
Project Chair
 
Background:
 In 2015 the Los Amigos project delivered an emergency service training program to support critical skill development for the volunteer emergency service workers. The program was delivered in Mazatlán with clubs in Mexico providing support for the project by way of space rental, ground transportation, interrupters, meals, & equipment to guarantee the success of the project.  The training programs success was measured by the number of participants successfully completing the training program. All of the Candidates were enrolled by Rotary in Mazatlán and the final evaluation of knowledge developed by our instructors. Our instructors were all medically trained and experienced volunteers or full-time professionals from Southern Alberta.
 
The project was the first of its kind to be presented in Mazatlán which provided professional training allowing personal from the outlining communities to participate. 
 
The Course material covered over the 4 day period consisted of the following:
  1. Introduction to Basic Anatomy & Physiology, Airway, Respiratory, Circulatory, Intervention and first aid techniques.
  2. Fire Safety Management, Hazardous Material Identification, WHIMS, practical use of hazardous signs. 
  3. Reducing the risk of Transmitting disease.
  4. Extraction from confined areas, Injury assessment, CPR, Rope Extraction for those with injuries,
  5. Vehicle extrication,   forcible entry techniques use of hand/power tools
All presentations were presented in English, with translation to Spanish. All power point and print material presented was in Spanish.
The RVT program was supported by the Rotary Club of Lethbridge,  City of Lethbridge Fire & EMS Service, and the three core Rotary Clubs in Mazatlán; Mazatlán Oriente, Norte.