Text Box: Thanks To all those members who were able to assist with the search for the missing person at Bribie last month. In addition, to those assisted with providing lighting at another activation at Bribie. Members were also kept busy assisting at the recent Urban Country Music Festival. Rescue Helicopter Visit In April, members from Caboolture Group and Deception Bay Group enjoyed a visit to the Rescue Helicopter Base at Archerfield. We’d only been there a very short time, when the crew were called out to a job. We managed to see a short film detailing the work of the service before watching the crew leave. While the visit was short, it was still enjoyed by all those who were able to go. Caboolture Fire Station Visit The following week, nearly all of Caboolture Group paid a visit to the local Fire Station in Lower King Street, for their Elementary Firefighting night. The Group watched a very interesting video on fires and the speed with which they can completely engulf a normal house. Our Instructor for the night, was Steven Ruig and some of the other members of ‘D’ Shift assisted with the training. The Group also got to try a few different types of extinguishers. Another interesting part of the night was having a good look at the new truck that the Station had recently received. All in all, it was a very enjoyable and informative night. Our thanks go to Station Officer Paul Hill, for organizing our visit, and to Steven Ruig and his team. On 26 April, several members of our Unit went to EMQ at Kedron to receive their Commemorative Pins. Each member of the Relief Effort present, was given their Pin by Minister Pat Purcell and the Director-General, Fiona McKersie. Along with SES members were members of the other Emergency Services, Queensland Ambulance Service, Rural Fire Service, Queensland Fire & Rescue Service. Members from our Unit who received their Pins were: Steve Collins, Margaret McDonnell, Matthew Walsh (Caboolture Group), Sharyn Thornton, Christopher Thornton, Aaron Markham, Ben Arthur (Deception Bay). Absent were: Nathan Clarke (Caboolture Group), Mark Thornton and Gordon Thornton (Deception Bay).

Caboolture Unit

 

CaboolturE Group

Deception Bay Group

Bribie island group

May  2007

Issue 15

Caboolture Unit - Engage!

Activations

25-26 April Landsearch—Bribie Island

May—Activation, Lighting, Bribie Island

Inside this issue:

Page 2

Issue 15

Rescue Team Update

With just on a month to go to the State Rescue Titles, the team training has been progressing in earnest. Over the past few months, we have had a number of members participating in the team on training nights and assisting with training.

It was decided a few weeks ago that the final six starters should be identified so that the team could really start to operate as a dedicated six-person team. The team was determined based on a whole range of topics and via the process as has been previously mentioned. I made the announcement of the team members at training just before Easter. It’s unfortunate that in situations such as this, not everybody can be accepted and not everyone will be happy with the final decision. The team can only be six members, and even though some members proved to be very good operators, it just became impractical to continue working with a seven or eight man team. The decision had to be made. It was just one of those things that couldn’t be put off any longer.

We have conducted some very innovative training over the past couple of months, almost exclusively due to the hard work and imagination shown by Mark and Sharyn Thornton. Considering how little training we have had in recent years in rescue skills, the team has been on a very steep learning curve. The training has also gone up another notch with the addition of Damien Keffyn (Caboolture Group) and Captain Rhonda McIntosh (Australian Army), coming on board to assist with training the team. Damien has prior experience in competitions which is proving to be a valuable asset. Captain McIntosh has years of nursing experience, both in and out of the army, in addition to overseas deployment and is assisting the team with their first aid skills.

 One of the most pleasing factors from my point of view is the way the team is starting to operate together as an effective team, with each member recognizing each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

I have seen a strong bond develop between members and a mutual respect for each other’s skills and contribution to the team. I have also seen a fierce loyalty develop amongst some of the members. As well as basic core skills, these were some of the factors that helped to determine the final six. If nothing else, this team will be going to the competition with loads of confidence in each other and especially in Margaret, the Team Leader.

I would like to say a special thank you to all those who have spent countless hours lying in the mud and rocks and concrete just waiting to be rescued by the team during training. Training is more realistic when live casualties can be used, and the input by these casualties at the end of a scenario is very valuable. I would specifically like to thank Gordon, Christopher and Robert Thornton and Cookie, all from Deception Bay, who always seem to turn up for us.

The team representing Brisbane Region as it now stands is:

 

Margaret McDonnell                    -            Caboolture Group                        -            Team Leader

Bob Birkett                                   -            Caboolture Group                        -            Team Deputy

Matthew Walsh                             -            Caboolture Group                       

Dave Bailey                                  -            Deception Bay Group

Aaron Markham                            -            Deception Bay Group

Paul Charman                              -            Bribie Island Group

 

Ice

A couple of years ago, this newsletter reported on a system that had been developed in the UK following the London bombings and came recommended by the British Paramedics.

It’s call ICE.

ICE stands for ‘In Case of Emergency’.

Following a recent medical emergency at the Caboolture shed last week, the point was brought home that ‘ICE’ is becoming more widely recognized as a method of contacting someone in the case of an emergency. It’s as simple as that.

You type the word ICE into the phone contacts in your mobile phone, followed by the name of the person you would like to be contacted if you come to grief. Then you type in the contact phone number.

When there is an incident, one of the first things we do, is look for the person’s mobile phone and look for the word ICE so we can get in touch with someone or at least give the info to the Incident Controller.

When the emergency occurred recently, we immediately tried to find ICE on the casualty's phone, to no avail. We eventually contacted the casualty’s husband who told us he was aware of ICE, but just hadn’t got around to putting it into his phone just yet. He had thought about it earlier in the week, but got side-tracked. He was now going to put it in his phone immediately.

A number of Caboolture SES members already have ICE in their phones. It only takes two minutes to set up and could prove to be a valuable tool.

 Rescue Team Update (cont)

The teams we will be competing against are:

Edmonton                                                 -            Far Northern Region

Townsville/Thuringowa                             -            Northern Region

Whitsundays                                             -            Central Region

Caloundra or Kingaroy(TBC)                    -            North Coast Region

Ipswich                                                      -            South East Region

Toowoomba                                              -            South West Region

 

ALL these teams have BIG reputations and represent a huge challenge for us. But, the team has every intention of doing the very best that they can.

The competition will be held in Cairns over the Queen’s Birthday weekend in June, with the actual competition on Sunday 10th June.

Tex Howarth

Team Manager
Text Box: Always bear in mind that your resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing. Abraham Lincoln Text Box: They called it the Great Escape. It wasn’t great because it had never been done before—prisoners of war had previously escaped. It wasn’t great because of the outcome: the results were terrible for most of the escapees. It was great because of the scale of it made the task seem impossible! Stalag Luft III, a Nazi POW camp, was a huge compound that once held as many as 10,000 Allied POWs. In 1944, a core group of prisoners determined to escape. Their goal was to facilitate the escape of no fewer than 250 men in one night, something that would require the utmost co-operation among the prisoners. An escape so daunting, it had never been tried before. Together, the men engineered the tunnels, dug them, shored them up with wooden slats from their beds, disposed of dirt in creative ways, pumped air into the tunnels with homemade bellows, created tracks and trolleys and wired the passages with electric lights. The list of supplies for the job was unbelievable: 4,000 bed slats, 1,370 battens, 1,699 blankets, 52 long tables, 1,219 knives, 30 shovels, 600 feet of rope, 1,000 feet of electric wire and more. It took an army of prisoners just to find and steal all the materials for the tunnels. Every man who would attempt the escape needed a host of supplies and equipment. Prisoners scrounged for anything that might aid the team. Others worked systematically and relentlessly at bribing and blackmailing the guards. Each person had a job. There were tailors, blacksmiths, pickpockets, forgers, teams of men who specialized in distraction and camouflage, keeping the German soldiers off guard. On 24 March 1944, after more than a year, the escape was attempted. When the first man out discovered that the exit point was short of the nearby woods where they were supposed to be, rather than get one man out per minute, they only got out 12 per hour. In all, 86 men escaped. In the end, only 3 made it to freedom. The director of the movie made on this event commented, “It demanded the concentrated devotion and vigilance of more than 600 men –every single one of them, every minute, every hour, every day and every night for more than a year. Never has the human capacity been stretched to such incredible lengths or shown with as much determination and courage.” Great challenges require great teamwork and the quality most needed by teammates when the pressure is on is collaboration not co-operation. Co-operation is working together agreeably. Collaboration is working together aggressively. Collaborative teammates do more than just work with one another. Each person brings something to the team that adds value to the relationship and synergy of the team. Collaborative teammates complete one another rather than compete against each other. They see themselves as a unit working together and never allow competition between them to get to the point where it hurts the team. Collaborative teammates, by completing rather than competing , trust each other. If you trust each other, you treat each other better. Collaborative teammates concentrate on the team, and not on themselves. If you work alone, you leave a lot of victories on the table. Collaboration releases and harnesses not only your skills but also those of everyone else on the team. A co-operative teammate may not be working against the team, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Text Box: Calendar May 4/5 - Urban Country Music Festival 29/31 - USAR Exercise—Whyte Island June 2 - 4WD Training Workshop 2/3 - Chainsaw Course 9/10 - Caboolture Show 9/11 - State Rescue Comp Titles—Cairns 16 - Floodboat Training 23 - Chainsaw Training Workshop

Issue 15                                                                                                                                  Page 4

Rescue Team Update

2

Rescue Team Update (cont)

3

ICE

3

Motivational

4

Events & Training Calendar

4