Y Staff Receive American Red Cross Lifesaving Award

American Red Cross May Mission Moment. "As we all acknowledge, emergencies can happen at any time. Regardless of when they occur, emergency situations usually have one thing in common.

During February - 2020, Y staff responded to a medical emergency with a member that quickly escalated into a very serious incident. A male member became ill in the main sauna and rapidly went into cardiac arrest. Due to the quick response of our Aquatic staff who responded first, to the team of staff that provided the rescue care and to all the Leadership staff that jumped into action and took on support roles, the member was resuscitated and left with EMS staff conscious and able to speak. There were two members that were in the pool area during this time that had medical training and also stepped in to assist with the rescue.

One of those members, who works as an EMT, shared feedback during

the debriefing process.

“In my role as an EMT, I have seen a lot of emergency cardiac care situations, many of which involved professional emergency responders. The rescue that was performed by the Y staff team was one of the best run emergency responses I have ever witnessed. Everyone worked as a team, worked seamlessly, communicated well and went through all the proper steps.”

To have a professional give that feedback validated the work done by

the Y Safety Committee during 2019 including conducting monthly

safety drills to simulate real emergencies. With 37% of our Y members

falling into the 55+ age bracket, it has become a priority for our Y to

have a Safety Committee that is focused on being prepared to respond

to life threatening emergencies by creating Emergency Action Plans,

running monthly drills, debriefing and keeping the Y leadership team

informed.

Following the event, in an email to all Y staff, Heather Chandor, VP of

Operations shared her praise;

“This was a team effort from start to finish and I am so proud to be a part of it. Y Staff John Roberts and Lee Leblanc reacted quickly, remained calm, and used their training to act as a team. Nick Dionne and Carla MacKay have trained the Aquatic staff to become confident emergency care responders. Nick Dionne and Melanie Carfora have improved our Safety Drills and prepared the Y staff team to handle any emergency in our facility. The Leadership staff made sure to call the Code 55 on the walkie and over the speakers, assisted other members, managed the facility issues that came up, ensured EMS got through our building quickly, found and called the emergency contact, and made sure the incident report was filled out completely and with accurate details all the way to those staff who made sure we located the members personal belongings.” - Heather

Click on the image below to view the entire Annual Report from September 2020.