Club Management: Is your club ready for an emergency?

[Mr Epee]

Emergency care – those sport-related instances where medical or health care is provided to an ill or injured person on a sudden, immediate, or unexpected basis

National Athletic Trainer’s Association recommendations

1. each organization that sponsors athletic activities must develop and implement a written emergency plan

2. the plan should be developed by organizational personnel in consultation with local emergency medical service providers

3. personnel should be trained in CPR and/or automated external defibrillator, first aid procedures and know how to prevent disease transmission

4. identify emergency equipment and its location

5. identify a suitable emergency care communication system and method

6. have a specific emergency plan for each venue

7. identify personnel involved with the execution of each emergency plan

8. identify who will document what happens during the emergency

9. rehearse the emergency plan at least annually

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How well does your club meet these recomendations?

[bmcfencer]

I'm certified in first aid/CPR and... we can call Public Safety. Not sure what we would practice, really.

[Beowulfman6]

1) ?
2) ?
3) yes, me and I think one other person are first aid/CPR/AED certified.
4) yes, I have a first aid kit in my fencing bag (not very good though).
5) yes, 911.
6) no
7) no (necesasry?)
8) no (necessary?)
9) no (necessary?)

There are a lot of no's, but I think the school probably has emergency action plans and stuff that we don't have specifiacaly for the club. I would question the necessity of some of these. All things considered I think our club is reasonably prepared to handle emergencies.

[DJ Apostrophe]

of the three coaches at my club... one is a current paramedic and another used to be a paramedic... so we're probably good for most situations... heck... we even had a heart attack at the club, and fencing continued as normal... it was a couple years ago, I was fencing at the time, and didn't even realize what had happened... since they handled it with calmness and professionalism that can only come from seeing that situation many times while they were riding ambulances...

-w

[Tomas N]

Good thing to think about. We don't have a plan. Besides random acts of god, what life-threatening possibilities should we prepare for as fencers? Other than heart attacks and broken blades that puncture vital organs, I can't think of anything off the bat. Anything else we should prepare for?

Tomas

[Mr Epee]

Sprains, tears, fractures, concussions, heat stroke, etc...

Any normal sport injury.

Not having a written plan can really bite you in the ass, if you get a lawsuit on your hands... foreseeability...

[epeeisky]

I am advanced first aid/CPR trained. I could take care of most health emergencies that would happen at our club. I have a decent first aid kit in my fencing bag that would take care of most problems at club. However, I don't think that there is a written plan in place.

[HookUpandFence]

Originally Posted by Tomas N

Good thing to think about. We don't have a plan. Besides random acts of god, what life-threatening possibilities should we prepare for as fencers? Other than heart attacks and broken blades that puncture vital organs, I can't think of anything off the bat. Anything else we should prepare for?

Tomas

Electrical issues - I just heard about a foilist that leaned a against a wall plug. She is okay, but her lame lit up like a fireworks display. It _could_ have been very bad.

[mrbiggs]

Depends on the emergency. If there's a volcano, we're 99% ****ed.

[NoFleche]

Another thing to add -- have your club fencers sign a standard "Consent for Emergency Medical Treatment" form and get emergency contact numbers (spouse, etc.) for each fencer.

[Ordway]

If you have beginners in your club, it is important for the experienced club members to actively promote safety by stepping in whenever they see a beginner doing something unsafe. This should not be left to the coach, who has lots of other things on his/her mind - any member should feel obligated to speak up if something unsafe is happening. Of course, it is best to speak up in a manner that doesn't make the beginner feel stupid! (But safety does come before self-esteem, in a pinch.)

So, if I see someone gesturing with a sabre in hand or raising the tip around non-masked folks, I will tell them to please not do that (and often add the comment "I'm really paranoid about that since I got hit in the face with a sabre once by a teammate. Fortunately nothing bad happened, but it could have been awful." Amusingly, the last time I recounted that anecdote I got a wide-eyed look and the question "So... what did you do to him?" Apparently I can be scary sometimes, and I think the presupposition was that I'd, I dunno, cut off his head and posted it on a pole as a warning to others.)

The other major beginner safety hazard is them walking across active strips or standing in the way of people doing footwork or taking a lesson. It does take time to recognize that fencers "occupy" long strips of space in the gym, not just the few square feet where they happen to be at that moment.

My club is pretty good about this. Everyone watches out for stuff. The experienced fencers watch out for each other too, for the little things that can lead to accidents, like the reel sliding forward, or bits of tape that could be slipped on, etc.

[Mr Epee]

I doubt that warning people not to stab each other in the face constitutes an emergency plan.

[Mr Epee]

SouthernSword,

Thank you for that post... it's awesome to see that you, and your club, have put so much effort into this important, but commonly neglected, area.

Written polices show that you have acknowledged the known risks, assessed how to prevent them, and planned the best response in the event they should occur. It also shows that you have the knowlege to respond with reasonable care. What does having no written policy say about your club?
It may say volumes more than you thought.

Very very true.

[Mauler]

I used to ride with a Paramedics squad in one of busiest boroughs in NYC area. On paper, our average response time was among the best and we were commended on it... especially thanks to the steady improvement. In reality, there were way too many cases where the system didn't reach the emergency within ideal time.

Despite "advance deployment" strategy that places ambulances throughout various points in the area (instead of nicely parked in garage where it's most useless), and despite motivated urgency of eager Paramedics/EMTs, oftentimes you just couldn't get to where you needed to be fast enough.

There are still some parts of the country where there is no 911. Back in my days, that area was huge. And then there are areas where you could be 3 miles from your destination and you just can't get there within 20~30 min, even with the siren blowing, and driving over sidewalks!!!

For several years, I lived less than 400 ft from a small village volunteer firehouse/ambulance squad. But if I called 911, I would've been connected to a system that's 15 miles away. The fencing club was even closer. In case of emergencies, it was faster for someone to run over to next door than get on the phone.

Well thought out and rehearsed plan saves time. When you call 911, all you're doing is initiating a process that connects the system with an emergency. Even in the best case scenario, that still takes time. Sometimes a very long time. And that's assuming that first step is even taken within reasonable time.... which may not happen in disorientation among those without a plan.

Presence of any sort of first response also helps the odds tremendously. Just having a set of eyes, ears and hands on location with any level of training at all is of an immense help to the system that just isn't there for undetermined number of minutes. This is true for ANY organization.

When the system reaches you, will they have to spend minutes and minutes fumbling through information that could've been ready for them? (i.e. EXACTLY how to reach the emergency ASAP upon arrival on location; maybe one elevator takes FOREVER while the other's super fast?) Concise and relevant information to be communicated about the actual emergency? How 'bout any quirks in local landmarks or common directions to your location that can be misleading? Properly emphasized and communicated, that can save valuable minutes. So can a bunch of folks standing by to point "THAT WAY!" at every corner.

And it's not just for uber-critical emergencies either. Even if it's just for minor accidents, whatnot, presenting and practicing a planned and rehearsed protocol greatly enhances the professionalism of your club to your members. As service providers in a recreational sports industry, this is yet another way to earn confidence in your customer base.

[remise]

I have fenced at several clubs in the Maryland area that did not even have ice or bandaids. This is a good point, as I have wondered myself what would happen if someone was injured and needed first aid.

[Schiavona]

Very good thread! There are resources on the web to help your club write a risk management plan. My club is in the process of doing this right now. If your club has a website, your plan should be posted.

[counterattack]

Funny you should make this thread. We were bouting last Thursday at Stanford and in runs a guy from the karate club. He is looking for a first aid kit and an ice pack. We tell him we certainly don't have any ice, but I'll look for a first aid kit. I looked high and low, in the armory, in the coaches' offices, on all the various walls, in the locker area. No luck. There is no first aid kit, even of the most rudimentary sort at our club. Apparently we used to have one in our old facility. Upon learning this, I immediately imagined a broken blade, a pierced student, and hell to pay.


Needless to say, I am guessing we don't have any sort of plan. If we did have such a plan, we certainly haven't got bandaid #1 with which to implement it. I really should prod somebody to do something. At the very least we could write a policy that says "club policy requires fencers to not sustain injury, any violations will lead to your body being dragged out onto the street."

[Mauler]

Counterattack,

I'm visualizing the situation you descbribe... and imagining how many minutes were wasted while this guy who was "sent out for help" stood frozen waiting for another club's member/representative to search for something that may or may not be there...

Essentially, for the duration of that search, he was a resource that was removed from the process.

In an emergency, you either know the process/resources or you don't. Emergency is not a time to be figuring out where/what/how... which, I believe, is the point of this thread. It's ok, even if something's not available, if you know that fact beforehand. Because when the time comes, you would know exactly what you have at your disposal, and what you do not have.

It's very common for martial arts or fencing clubs to be led by those who are experts in the activities themselves, but lack the expertise in actually operating an organization (i.e. club). So what you experienced is probably not unusual at all.

Definitely something to think about....

[Fencergrl]

This is thread is probably the most useful (as well as scary) thread to be posted in some time.

I am going to talk to my coaches about putting together first aid kits (if ones do not already exist). Thanks for bringing this to our attention Mr. E.

[daveappr]

Mr. E- I couldn't agree more with Fencergrl's previous post. After reading this thread earlier today, I set out at club to review all members emergency contact/ consent for treatment forms, checked the first aid kits, (and if any members of our club are reading this - we need more ice packs), and checked on emergency protocols. Sadly there are none but that is in the immediate process of being taken care of. There is no substitute for preparation, and a quick response, to even the most mundane or seemingly routine injury.