Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Content:  

• Literal
• (a) Statement saying: “I, student name, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
• I, Jackie Boyd, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
  (b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component
• For my independent component, I took an Outdoor Emergency Care Class with an instructor by the name of Trevor Samorajski. He helped me out a lot by being the teacher of the class and helping me study for the final. Also, the book Outdoor Emergency Care: 5th Edition by Edward C. McNamara, David H. Johe, and Deborah A. Endly helped me out a lot because without it I wouldn't have been able to follow along in the class and read the assigned sections for homework and study for the class and the final.
  (c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours).   Post it next to your mentorship log.
• Look at blog under Mentorship. Its called Independent Component 1 Mentorship Log
• (d) Explanation of what you completed.    
• During the Outdoor Emergency Care class, I read a book that was over 1,000 pages to help me grasp the concepts of the class. Each Sunday from June to October, I went to class up in Wrightwood for 8 hours where my instructor Trevor Samorajski taught the class several chapters from the Outdoor Emergency Care: 5th Edition book. During these lectures I followed along in my book and took notes on things that weren't clear or weren't in the chapter that I thought would be useful. After the lectures there were certain skills from each chapter that we needed to know and practice, so trevor demonstrated the skills and then we practiced as a class. Outside of class on my own time, I read the assigned chapters for the following week, took notes on the chapters, wrote down all of the vocabulary words/acronyms/mnemonic from the book in my notebook. During my homework time if I had any questions I would be sure to remember them for the next class so I could ask Trevor. On the very last day of class we had two tests that determined if you passed or failed the class and got your Outdoor Emergency Care Technician certification card. The first test we took was a 100 multiple choice test. After we completed this we had another test where we were tested on several skills. We were tested on running 2 scenarios where the instructor read us a case presentation and we had to figure out what to do. Then we were tested on 5 quick skills which were helmet removal, boot removal, splinting a femur fracture, working with oxygen masks, and splinting in general. In order to get your certification card you had to pass the 100 multiple choice test with at least a 70 and pass all of the skills. I passed the class and received my certification card. 
• INTERPRETIVE 
  Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  
  



This is my Outdoor Emergency Care Technician card that came in the mail after I passed the two tests on the last day of the OEC class. 

• The most significant part of my component was receiving the certification card. After completing this 150 hour class and seeing that certification card in my hand showed me how hard I actually worked for it. This is also significant because when you are an Outdoor Emergency Care Technician you can start patrolling, assuming you are 18 and pass all of your on the hill tests like tying knots and taking someone down in a toboggan. Another significant part of my component was actually participating in the class. Even though this class was super long every Sunday, I actually learned a lot of valuable information that will not only help me with ski patrolling but also with my major in college which is nursing. Every Sunday I was in class for 8 hours learning medical terms, procedures, and skills to help me get those 30 hours(which I exceeded) to complete my first independent component.  

This is a picture of some of the notes I took in my OEC class. 

These are vocabulary words that I wrote down throughout each chapter as I sat down and read the OEC book at home. 

Notes that I took in my OEC class as Trevor lectured.

More vocabulary words.

More notes I took in class on the important acronyms that are now drilled into my brain. 

More notes on important acronyms in the OEC world.

More vocabulary words. 

More notes that I took in class.

Another significant part to my independent component was participating in the class and taking notes on everything that I thought was important, which trust me was A LOT! Taking notes on all the important parts was crucial in order to pass the exams at the end of the class. This helped me pass the class because I went back into my notebook and made notecards on the most important parts so I could study for the end of the class exams. 

• APPLIED
  How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 
• This component helped me understand the foundation of my topic more because without the medical background you're just an average skier, you need the medical background in order to patrol.. For example, before I took the OEC class I thought I was all cool and everything because I was on ski patrol but the only medical background I had was CPR and basic first aid. I thought I could do anything within the scope of ski patrol, but now that I have completed the OEC class I realized that I was completely wrong and I know for a fact that I couldn't run every call without the help of my mentor and/or a fellow patroller even with my OEC certification because I know I still have a lot to learn and need to put my skills to the test in a real scenario. Also, the component showed me how hard it is to become certified and it isn't something you just miraculously earn, you have to work hard for it. For example, when I was taking the OEC class I really didn't see how much time I spent working on things in the class and even how much time I spent in the class but now as I look back on it I realized that I spent countless hours working for that certification card. In order to become a ski patroller you need to be OEC certified, ski patrol isn't just a title you earn! Understanding the medical side of patrol will help build the foundation because you run more calls than anything else in the ski patrol life. For example, even before I took the OEC class I knew patrollers spent their days running numerous calls, but I never knew the extent of it. When I was in class, Trevor told me stories of all the calls they run each day at Mountain High. He told me that as soon as you get done with one call you have another one waiting for you, call after call, you don't even have time to document all the calls until the end of the day, and even then you might be staying after the mountain closes to finish all of your paperwork and look it over. Now that I'm OEC certified and doing mentorship hours I know all the calls that we get. We even get calls for tubing park accidents. One day at my mentorship we got a girl in the patrol room that had flipped over tubing and hit her head and leg. Patrollers really do spend the majority of their time running medical calls and the spare time they have they use on making sure the runs are intact for skiers and snowboarders to use and have fun on.