January: A Month Filled with Action

This month has been filled with a lot of things related to my senior project. First and foremost, I did some mentorship hours in the very beginning of the month. During these hours I helped put fencing back up because it fell due to the thin snow coverage. I also had to pick it back up again because someone came crashing into it and knocked it down. I also helped put up the sight seeing rope to block the snow players from the skiers and snowboarders. I also helped someone in patrol take inventory on the medical supplies to see what we had plenty of and what we needed more of. I also picked up obstacles because the snow coverage is getting thin so there were a lot of rocks. It was a relatively slow time during my mentorship with no injuries or rescues.
Another thing that has happened this month is I finally got my Outdoor Emergency Care Technician certification card. This is really exciting because I first need it for my Independent Component 1 and I get to show it off to my mentor and other fellow patrollers. I'm hoping with this certification and me turning 18 over the summer that I can get a job as patrol at Mt. Baldy or Mountain High for when I come home over breaks or even at a ski resort in Montana.

This is my Outdoor Emergency Care Technician certification card that I got in the mail recently. 

Next, I have been rereading my Outdoor Emergency Care book for extra research to help me out with my 30 minute presentation. I also got another book from the library called Coping with Concussion and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury by Barbara Hill and Diane Stoler. This book focuses on concussions and Traumatic brain Injuries that I'm using for regular research checks. I also found a website, http://www.trauma.org that focuses on different types of trauma like thoracic and abdominal trauma.

The new book that I got from the library that focuses on concussions and traumatic brain injuries. 

My Outdoor Emergency Care book that I'm rereading for information for my 30 minute presentation. 

I have also done my third interview. I interviewed Kelly Wolff
and asked her about her experiences being on ski patrol and being a RN. She gave me a lot of great answers and stories that were interesting. I had a great time interviewing her.
I have some plans for the upcoming months. I plan on contacting my OEC instructor, Trevor Samorajski that I also interviewed for the first interview. During the first interview he mentioned that at Mountain High, where he works, they do shadow a patroller days and I would like to participate in at least one of those. I just need to contact him to see when they are.