Tuesday, June 16 – Day 3 Training

Making Parks Safer

Another schedule smack-down. The schedule we've got here is pretty exhaustive. I'm hoping I'll be well prepared for the internship after covering so many topics and getting so much training! We spent the morning covering communication and cultural competency. Skills like good listening just don't come naturally to some people. I think more people are gifted in talking than listening. Seems like people in the program here are all quite good at listening and speaking, which was refreshing

After a break for lunch, we launched into Injury Epidemiology. There are some really surprising bits of information about the level of fatalities and injuries that occur in our nation's parks. Most alarming to me are the stories of incidents where people do things like stepping into blatantly dangerous situations, then having a serious injury or fatality, and in turn, suing the park service. Jumping across a waterfall is just a bad idea. Walking around engineered items like guard rails and fencing are clearly bad ideas. The fence or physical barrier was installed for a reason, likely as a safety precaution. Worse yet are the folks that jump into raging river waters for a swim without ever knowing the river isn't even suitable for enjoyment from within a water craft such as a raft, canoe, or kayak. I'm certainly glad to be a part of the new program of Public Safety Management Interns that will be flocking into the parks this season. Apparently, we are part of the pilot program; a lot of interns will be doing the first ever assessments of risk and injuries in the parks where they're assigned. Fortunately for me, I'm the second one to visit the Virgin Island National Park as a Public Safety intern. There is already a Risk management Assessment tool in place (hopefully it is still being used), so I should be a bit ahead of the curve.

Interesting factoid (I seem to have a lot of these lately): the cause of most deaths in parks nationwide is drowning.

It's movie night tonight! Yeah We'll be watching “Touching the Void.”

In other news, my stopwatch broke. It seems to still have a working display, although it only shows me random numbers and no time. Also, none of the buttons make the display change from the assortment of numbers that are now showing. I will have to investigate how to get a new stopwatch, nothing is more valuable than a second-hand when trying to assess a patient's heart rate or noting the time during a response to a medical or traumatic incident.

I've sold 2 books today and hopefully will be able to share the novel with at least five more people while here at Mt. Rainier. Caitlin finished the novel recently and happily reported that she loved it! Based on what she told me, the last 100 pages or so were quite gripping and enjoyable!

A few moments remain until dinner is served. I will happily engorge myself on some delicious delights and settle into a nice chair to watch the movie. Afterward, I think it's time for another shower. I've realized the camping lifestyle makes it far too easy to skip showers all-together.