Trauma injuries often lead to death or disability. Not only does the Netcare trauma division undertake extensive awareness and educational initiatives through its on going traumatic injury prevention (TIP) programme, but also recently held a trauma day with a twist and a test.
The aim of the day was to show appreciation for the brave men and women working in the field of emergency services, who so often risk their own lives in order to save the lives of strangers.
“We wanted to honour the people who deal with trauma on a daily basis,” said Amanda Klette, trauma programme manager at Netcare Union Hospital.
The ‘twist’ was a competition to honour heroism with a series of friendly and extreme challenges to test rescue skills and endurance. “We opted to follow the format of the Scott Safety Firefighter Rescue Challenge, an internationally recognised challenge,” added René Grobler, trauma programme manager at Netcare Milpark Hospital.
“The challenge involved a fixed five-level scaffolding structure and required participants to complete four unique challenges within the obstacle course. They had to do this while wearing full personal protective clothing and equipment including a fully functioning self contained breathing apparatus. Participants took part in teams, as well as individually, and were scored using international scoring systems to determine a winner,” Grobler explains.
“Over 200 participants from around Gauteng competed in the challenge. The teams who entered included private and provincial emergency services, professional fire fighting teams and nursing staff from Netcare’s emergency departments. The spirit among attendees and the overall atmosphere was phenomenal, and the event was a tremendous success,” Klette noted.
As an added bonus, Dr G. Oosthuizen, president of the Trauma Society of South Africa, wrote a letter in which he thanked all the members of the emergency services for taking on the extreme challenges that their work demanded.
“What we do is by no means a normal job. The demands are incredible. We sacrifice sleep, family time and hobbies in order to spend long hours attending to the injured. We get exhausted and we take emotional strain from the horrendous things we witness,” he wrote.
“Today I salute all of you who are part of the trauma care family, whatever your profession. Together we strive to restore our patients to their families, to their careers and their lives. I thank you all for the sacrifices you make on a daily basis, and thank you for making South Africa a little better every day,” Dr Oosthuizen concluded.
Katlego Tabana, also part of the Netcare Unions Hospital team, showing his skills as he partakes in the Scott Safety Firefighter Rescue Challenge at this year’s trauma day event
Ends
Issued by: Martina Nicholson Associates (MNA) on behalf of Netcare trauma division
Contact: Martina Nicholson, Graeme Swinney, Meggan Saville or Pieter Rossouw
Telephone: (011) 469 3016
Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]