Bonjour Les Habitants,
I would like to go over some of the tasks the OMHA requires of the my role as the Team Trainer and how as parents you can participate in the safety, health, and general well being of your children.
One of the more critical items that all parents should be aware of and possibly involved with is what is called an
Emergency Action Plan which allows a team to react effectively to a serious injury or incident.
An Emergency Action Plan or EAP involves 3 critical participants that are often at games and practices that can be counted on to implement the EAP if required.
The 3 participants are as follows...
Charge Person
I will accept this role as the one who will assess the severity of an injury and then make a determination to what further action may be required.
Call Person
A volunteer who is often in the stands at games and practices that would be responsible to place a phone call for emergency help when required.
Responsibilities include:
-knowing where emergency telephones or payphones are in the rink being used in case of cell phone issues.
-ensuring 911 is available in the area (not an issue in Ancaster) and knowing local emergency numbers otherwise (ambulance, fire, police, hospital and general emergency).
-have a diagram displaying specific directions of the best route to the arena and to the ice surface (I will help to provide this).
There are some more specifics about this role that I could send to whoever may accept this role.
Control Person
Responsible for controlling the crowd and other participants and other participants to ensure the EAP is executed effectively.
Responsibilities include:
-keeping teammates, participants, and spectators out of the way of the Charge Person and injured player
-discuss EAP with those concerned in a situation and keep people updated and calm.
-know the location of the first aid room and check for additional emergency medical equipment that may be needed (I could help with this).
-ensure a direct route to the ice surface for an ambulance crew. (example: it appears that a wide portion of the boards are removable at spring valley arena. Look for similar access at Morgan Firestone).
-seek any trained medical personnel in the arena if the Charge Person believes the injury is serious and cannot wait for arrival of emergency services.
Anyone who can volunteer for these potentially important positions (Call Person and Control Person) would be greatly appreciated by the coaches and parents so please do not hesitate to do so.
A couple of other things I would like to address is the
requirement to provide to me each players medical information by way of the attached form (
htcp_medical_info_sheet.pdf) so that I can keep a record on the bench in the event of an emergency situation. This information would be kept strictly confidential and can be returned at the end of the season. It is important for example to know if any child has a latex allergy so I would know to pack some non-latex gloves.
Any other special considerations of your child should be explained to the coaching staff so that we can if needed provide a modified approach to our coaching duties. This will often strongly benefit a child's development and would obviously be also be held in strict confidence.
I would also appreciate that if any of the parents attending any games or practices have any special training in CPR, First Aid, or are a Medical Professional to please let us know so that we can look to those people in a situation where time is of the essence as described above. Please note that a team trainer is not required to have any special training although I intend to do so at some point this season.
Thanks for reading,
Kyle Smith