Five days (Thursday night to Monday morning) of games, classes, demonstrations, competitions, speakers, team building, and leadership training. Camp is for OEC students from Spring Lake Park and Osseo High Schools. OEC students learn 1st Aid, CPR, First Responder, and EMT skills in class. Spring and Fall Camp provide opportunities to practice those and new skills. Fall camp gives students their first chance to be victims and rescuers at mass casualty moulages (simulated emergencies). Spring Camp gives students their first chance to work out of an ambulance and respond to calls.
There is so much to camp that is is hard to summarized. Here is my attempt:
Location: OEC Camp has been held at a variety of locations through it's history. But since 2000 camps have been held at Camp Wapogasset located outside of Amery, Wisconsin.
Transportation: Osseo and SLP take separate buses. They leave as soon as they are loaded up after school. The trip takes about 2 hours. Staff arrive by personal vehicles and borrowed ambulances. Upon arrival, students have an hour to move into their rooms/cabins and unpack equipment before dinner.
Lodging: At the camp, students are split up into cabins or into the lodge. Last year boys were in a large cabin and the girls were in the lodge. Rooms are assigned by teams so that you are rooming with members of your team.
Meals: 3 meals a day are provided by the camp staff in the dining hall. Students help with clean up for one meal over their entire stay.
Teams: Students are split up into teams. These teams go to rotating classes together. In the Fall they compete together in the OEC Olympics and in the Spring, teams make up your ambulance crew. Teams are integrated between Osseo and SLP.
Talent Show: Students bring their talent and put it on display at the talent show. Stuff like skits, dance, recitations, jokes, and songs.
Fall Events
Night
Moulages: The defining element of the fall
camp are the night moulages.
After a full day of classes, activities, and speakers,
students are woken up to come to a scene, find their teams,
grab equipment, and provide care to a mass casualty
moulage. Rotating teams are pulled out earlier to be made
up to be victims.
OEC Olympics: Another fall
camp activity is the OEC Olympics. The teams
compete in a variety of events, ranging from backboarding
relays to bedpan tosses. The teams earn points for their
skill but also for their team work. This has been done in
one afternoon, but some years it has been stretched out
over the weekend.
Halloween Dance: Costume contest and dance
on Saturday night.
Fall
Classes
Lifts and
Carries: This essential class will prevent
students from endangering their backs. Back injuries are
the #1 reason for paramedics to leave the field.
Professionalism & Communication: Good
stuff
Firefighting 101: Firefighting and
Extinguishers: This is an intro to firefighting
gear and the job of the firefighter. Students practice
putting out a fire with an extinguisher.
Splinting and Bandaging: This skill review
expands on what the students already know.
Self Defense: This course trains students
in how to get out of a variety of situations.
CPR on the Move: Students know how to
backboard, how to move patients in and out of ambulances,
and how to do CPR. This class puts those skills together
into a more realistic scenario.
Team Building: Using a ropes course and
exercise is fun and teaches students to work together.
Rotating Moualges: Students are presented
with a variety of 2-3 person moulage scenarios, similar to
what they have had in class.
Spring Events
Ambulance
Runs: Each day during spring
camp, a group of student teams will be "on duty"
to answer ambulance calls. They will have a duty shift
where they are called to a variety of scenes where they
will have to provide care for individual patients. They
will find addresses in the map book, act in a professional
mannner, treat the patient, communicate with the hospital,
and transport the patient in the ambulance. These ambulance
runs are run in the afternoon and late in the evening.
Kangaroo Court: Student's documentation
from their ambulance runs are evaluated and mistakes,
maltreatment, or documentation issues are litigated.
Spring
Classes
Radio
Communications: Just that. Radio use protocols.
Team Building: Using a ropes course and
exercise is fun and teaches students to work together.
Firefighting 201: Search and Rescue:
Students suit up and are taken through firefighting
training in how to conduct a blind search for victims as a
team.
Health Careers & College: Students
have the chance to discuss career paths with OEC staff.
Pregnancy and Child Birth
Opportunities In Emergency Health Care (OEC)
OHS, 317 2nd Ave. NW, Osseo, MN 55369
Gary Leafblad, Director
763-391-8519 •
leafbladg@district279.org