Bethel Navy JROTC Cadets "Ready to Respond"

By Bethel EMT's and Cadets Alex McLevy and Brendan McNamara

                First aid is a skill anyone can use throughout their lifetime, potentially allowing them to help or save others or themselves.  It is an essential skill in times of emergency and is a significant step in developing responsible citizens.  Every year at Bethel High School, freshman and sophomore students enrolled in the school’s Navy JROTC program receive a training course on basic first aid. The course is primarily taught by the programs two instructors; Lieutenant Commander Mark Dwinells USN (Ret) and Master Sergeant Joseph Meehan USMC (Ret).

          The school also has an EMT program, separate from the NJROTC unit, which guides students through a rigorous Emergency Medical course that ends with the students becoming certified Emergency Medical Technicians under the careful guidance and instruction of Mrs. Sherri Holmberg.

          A few of the EMT students are also Cadets in the NJROTC program.  With the help of several EMT students and the instructors, the cadets were able to show their skills in basic first aid.  This collaborative effort took the Navy JROTC curriculum and combined it with classes in practical application and really made the course relevant, rigorous and realistic. 

          The cadets visited the Bethel Police Department and were given a guided tour by BHS School Resource Officer Tony Farina.  Officer Farina showed the cadets the emergency response system and how to properly make a 911 call without panicking.  This trip was followed by classes spent learning how to put people in a stretcher and properly prepare them for emergency transport, and another class spent learning about the apparatus on the Bethel Fire-Rescue vehicle.  During other classes the cadets learned to use the Automated External Defibrillator (AED), perform CPR, splinting / bandaging techniques, the Heimlich maneuver and treating for shock.  These hands-on activities were then put to the test as the Bethel EMT students set up six stations for the cadets to perform what they learned, doing so under the careful observation of the prospective EMT’s who are all in the process of taking their national registry exams. 

          Overall the cadets performed well and Bethel High School Navy JROTC now has over 130 new qualified First-Responders.  They read about it, wrote about it, clicked about it, and more importantly they did all it takes to learn to perform first aid.  The cadets would like to thank Officer Farina, Mrs. Holmberg, Bethel Paramedic A.J. Matturro, and the other Bethel Fire and EMS personnel for all of their assistance.