Dealing with the mentally insane

I have been on a course over the last weekend training on all the first aid for Ski Patrol. Its pretty hardcore, in Australia we are trained to nearly the same level as Ambulance Personnel or Paramedics. The course overview sheet levels me with a certain amount of scary things: Pain relief (Laughing Gas), Emergency Childbirth and Cervical Spine injuries. We are also trained in Defibillators and CPR. CLEAR!

On the hill we keep in contact using radios, and we have a load of codes to remember - things that we dont want the public to hear, such as type of inury, and I need a sled and a back board please. I discovered that 5150 is the term used by the American justice system for insane. Not much call for that on the slopes I suppose, but I might just remember it anyway.

So we have 2 more weekends on this course, its heavy going especially all the stuff about biology, but its very interesting. They reckon that of all the rescue services in Australia - Ski Patrollers on average see more human trauma than any other, even the ambulance crews.

I realised that apart from the fact its a great way to get out skiing, I have another motivator for doing this. When I was teaching skiing I had a very clean record of not having any kids sustain injuries whilst in my care. This was shattered one day in the US by one of my team going over a hump in the fun park too fast. I realised when I got to him that I knew nothing about what to do to help him. Waiting for a patroller to arrive and sort him out seemed to take forever, and it was such a relief when they did arrive. So I hope by doing this I can help some people out and relieve a few stressed out instructors.