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The Wingham Advance-Times, 1975-02-13, Page 17Crossroads Ate weekly Imes le your Ustowet $i .n er,, WiNghaiti Advance. Mot" .and: Mout Forest Conte. dente *read by 33,200 people in the "heartland of Midwestern Ontario". (Based on 3,51 reliders in each of 9,500 homes.) Published every week In The Listowel Banner, The Wingham Advance -Times The Listowel brigade of the St. John Ambulance has only six members left and its future is in doubt, because no one seems to want to join. Retiring divisional superintendent, Willard Schwart= zentruber, feels the brigade is a worthwhile project and he just doesn't understand why people den't. join. with 23 members ready to offer first aid training and public service; first aid being described by the St. John Ambulance as the practical application of common sense measures in time of emer- gency. Since then the objectives have remained the same but the group has dwindled until there are six members left, onlyene of them a female. This is not to -say their service , has decreased in quality, though. Don Town, recreation director for Listowel, has high praise for the brigade. They attend all the— Junior 'C' hocky games held in the Listowel Memorial Arena and with anywhere from 600-1,000 people in the arena, Mr. Town describes the brigade as "invalu-. able to have in the building." He also said that if other events were going on in the arena and he felt first aid service should be available, he would "never hesi- tate to give them a call, I know darned well they would be there." It has come to the point, how- ever, whereth e • 1'i d� �dt _Whet has to get• new members or then+ is a severe possibility that it will be disbanded: The present group has tentatively given itself six months to get new members, and if this is not successful then the brigade will dikeppear. There is no problem with lack of equipment or money with which to operate. The St. John Ambulance in Listowel is well equipped with an ambulance; they receive donations but lack manpower. It is estimated by the present members that for the brigade to be really effective they need at a minimum 20-24 members, split fairly evenly between male and female. Thirty members would actually be better, with 15 males and 15 females. An increased number of members would allow the St. John Ambulance to attend more public functions, like snow- mobile races, more hockey games, etc., than they are presently able -to do. In1973-74 the Listowel brigade sponsored and ran five courses in first aid training. Each of. these courses involved 16 hours, two hours every week for eight weeks. Approximately 18 people attended each course. Out of these 90 people, only five from the first course joined the brigade as regular members. Don't Like Uniform Stuart Parker, the training of- ficer for the Listowel brigade, and incoming divisional superin- tendent, offered several possible reasons why people are not join- ing the brigade: long hours, no pay and the fact that members have to wear a uniform. Some of these may sound like unrealistic reasons for not joining a service club but they are the types of opposition with which brigade members have met when trying to recruit new members. Indeed,. several .people have asked how much they would be paid if they joined. To clear up these types of mis- understandings, perhaps several things should be put into perspec- tive for potential St. John Ambu- lance candidates and the general public. The St. John Ambuiance is, aiid always was, a volunteer organi- zation with no question of wages involved. It was started in the Mediter- ranean during a war, and for 400 years dominated the Mediterra- nean from bases in Cyprus, Rhodes and Malta. The organiza- tion has been effective in Canada since 1881, although the white, eight -pointed badge of the Order of St. John was being worn in, the country as early as the seven - and, The Mount Forest Confederate by Wenger Bros. Limited.—Crossroads—February 13,1977 .- Loss of ambulance service would hurt the community FIRST AID TECHNIQUES—An arm sling - like the one above -- that Willard Schwartzentruber is applying to Lorne Lee, is used to relieve pain and pressure on an injury to the arm. This is one of the techniques taught by. St. John Ambulance when instructing people in first aid. teenth century. Greatly Respected A highly -prestigious history backs the St. John Ambulance and members are greatly re- spected espected and honored. This can be seen by the fact that the second highest award (preceded only by the Victoria .Cross) the Queen or her representative bestows is the St. John, medal. In Canada, investiture into the Priory of Canada of the Most yenerable Order of -the Hospital of St. *John of Jerusalem accom- panies this honor. John Fancett of RR 2, Listowel, a member of the Listowel brigade, is a proud possessor of this award. Despite wartime beginnings, the St. John Ambulance is a serv- ice club just like any other, be it Rotary Club, Lions Club or the Jaycees, trying to help the com- munity. The St. John Ambulance merely offers a more specialized service that requires trained per- sonnel, but like these clubs, the time for public duties is volun- teered. The long hours •can be com- pared to those that are donated by other service clubs at fund-raising functions, Which sometimes occupy three full days of a holiday weekend. To be an effective member of a St. John Ambulance brigade one must attend 12 meetings per year, which adds up to 24 hours, and serve a "suitable number" of duty - hours: -No.- minimum or - maximum is set. The Listowel brigade members have public duty records ranging from 14 hours up to 171 hours for the last year. This averages out to between five and six complete days of service per year. Not really that long when spread out over a full year. The problem of having to serve long hours comes in when it is realized that 10 of these hours' may be at one stretch, onduty at a circus or fair. Reasons For Joining This number of hours is multi- plied for Stuart Parker of Listo- wel who must also put in 16 hours while instructing each Standard First Aid course. He doesn't seem to think it is too much, however. Several years ago. before h� joined the' St. John Ambulance, he looked at all the service clubs available and what they -did for the community, with an eye to joining one. He selected the St. John Ambulance. One reason for joining is because he feels he is actively helping and serving the community, and also he meets different people every time he goes out, not merely the same people meeting after meeting. Other members had different reasons for joining. John Fancett joined 39 years ago during the depression and has served since then. Lorne Lee of RR 2, Listowel felt that there should be someone in every family who is competent in first aid ,techniques. Interest in helping the commu- nity and former involvement with hospital work were two reasons given by Willard Schwartzen- truber of Listowel to explain his St. John Ambulance affiliation. This involvement with the hospital which may be the prompting mechanism for some people to join the brigade, can also be a problem, when the brigade has only six members. Approximately one third of the present St. John Ambulance brigade is associated with the hospital, and if there were an emergency or disaster these members would be expected to work at the hospital, not with the brigade. This automatically cuts down- the number of people to four who are available to work with the brigade. This problem is not evident however except in a time of emergency. The matter of having to wear a uniform is a difficult one as there seems to be.no concrete evidence that people don't want to wear the St. John Ambulance uniform that is required. However, Mr. Parker seems to feel that younger people who might be inclined to join, shy away from the idea of having to wear a uniform, it being a very obvious type of public commit- ment. Other System There are only six members in the Listowel brigade. But this is six more than in Mount Forest or Wingham. Neither of these communities has a St. John Ambulance brigade and the closest one to Listowel is in the City of Stratford. The arenas in these towns have devised their own first aid systems, however. Wingham hat an arrangement with the ambu- lance service in Wingham and an ambulance attendant is present at most hockey games. If there is no one available, then the'ambu- lance service itself is called in if it is needed. c. The Mount Forest arena re- ceives first aid coverage by at= tempting to have a doctor on they premises if possible. It does' tlii$ by giving the doctor a seasofik ticket to hockey games. • Both of these arenas, according,. to the town recreation director; are reasonably satisfied with •. their own system and feel ' it' operates efficiently. Listowere system also' works efficiently when it is able. But the amount of time needed for complete, effi- cient first aid coverage is just not possible with only six St. John Ambulance members. What can be done to boost membership? According to Listowel mem- bers, almost everything has been tried at some time and nothing has worked. In December of 1974, letters were sent out to people in Listo- wel who had taken the first aid course, and former members, asking them to join the brigade - no one replied. Perhaps they feel secure knowing that they have,. taken the first aid course. The` regular St. John Ambulance brigade members point otit, however, that the first aid certifi- cate these people received lasts only three years. - How much practice of first aid skills do they get during this time period? If it came down to "the crunch", could they handle a situation competently? The brigade stresses the fact that being a regular brigade member gives a person the prac- tice he or she . needs in the common sense skills that St. John Ambulance teaches. This prac- tice could be warranted espe- cially in industry where the op- portunity for accidents is high. Reduces Accidents An independent study .conduct- ed by York University, Toronto on results obtained in special re- search projects conducted in three Ontario cities, has proven that St. John Ambulance safety - oriented first aid training for all 6, , f F• r• n ?••• t4dq: a • it("1,2 • 4x , • 4'1- 3+ ,y� N`k, • `v {p0.`i" �� i i A%� �C r� • _ J C �• �`+YG-v .3 Yl r �i! } a4,. 7'b r , u t 'nr '�' .. :t • e a; �E P75 Y �: N. �:+cm-, - F AL`i -.'�' w: �e � ''���'S ttM4 y.<">�et�2l.�yf , .. '., t(�rr..a-r:rµ:Fr:v.�i,w 0.1,- .^s) `hr 4� - 1 {: r• 43 ��y^�+Ta^'is��h^sray<,�`"�'^w�S v�° <i�.�'r�'•. _��. ", aaa•n,t'�'>*.. r:.� b• x,..;+ fi..k.n'��vt '�`„y,�: � �- ;� `1�',�+�"`��' .. a ,:•, � ,r^v�F+'- n_�. LISTOWEL ST. JOHN AMBULANCE ASSOCIATION— Shown here ere..four of the seven remaining members of the ,Listowel St. John Ambulance brigade. In front of the mem- bers are three of the training manuals that are used for in- struction in first aid courses they offer. Leff to right are employees within a company can reduce accidents by as much as 30 per cent. No doubt figures of this type for each St. John Ambu- lance course could also be pro- duced if such a study ,were done in private homes of people who have taken a course in first aid, home nursing, child care or arti- ficial respiration. The Listowel brigade members are going to launch another membership drive, by canvass- ing local schools, offering more courses, the first of ! Which will start February 11, and by keep- ing the brigade in the public eye. They are rather disheartened, "%OM however, by the fact that they are seen around the Listowel area frequentlyon public duty, do re- ceive- publicity in area news- papers, are always offering • courses and still no one oins. Or if they are noticed by anyone while on duty, it's by someone who asks, "Why do they have extra security guards around?", mistaking their uniform for that of a policeman or security per- sonnel. A problem also exists in that Willard Schwartzentruber, Listowel; Stuart Parker; Listo- - wel, Lorne Lee, RR 2, Listowel, and John Fancett, RR 2, Listowel. Missing are Marilyn Morgan and Norman Miller, both of Listowel • the organizers of events where people gather in large crowds, stock car races, fairs, snowmo- bile races, etc., seldom think to ask the St. John Ambulance for first aid service. Not everyone is as well informed or as confident of the St. John Ambulance service as is Don Town of the Lis- towel arena. • It is a free ,service and all the organizer of an event has to do is contact the brigade by writing or by attending a regular Monday meeting at 8:00 p.m. in the Listo- wel Municipal Building. Every effort' will be made to give the proposed event full first aid cov- erage. It is sad when you consider that the brigade lacks public support in two very important areas, that of membership and of utilizing the group that does exist. As. Stuart Parker remarked during discussion, "We supply the service that nobody thinks of." Views from the other i11 side of hockey fence o. i 1 A recent issue of Soviet Union to prove this idea, which seems on this topic: "Muscovites were impressed by the high skill of Park, by his ability to instantane- ously play as a forward, to take part in the successful develop- ment and completion of -attacks. There is no doubt about this but our tastes and ideals are differ- ent." "In my view, the best full- backs in Moscow were Anatoly Gusev, Vladimir Lutchenko and, certainly Valery Vasilyev. "It is practically impossible to gain the upper hand over Vasily- ev neither in free space, nor in close combat," Tarasov main- tains. "True, he is not so smart in dribbling as Park. But he does -not need it- to such an extent. H1`s tactics are based on a constant " high-speed manoeuvre, and his activity is of a team nature by not infringing on the performance of his partner. "On the whole, Valery Vasilyev and his partners were more re- liable in defence than the best Canadian full -hacks," Tarasov hold. A.r SPECTATORS ARE IMPORTANT ALSO—According to Lorne Lee, seen here, the St. John Ambulance does not merely go to hockey games to give first aid coverage for the players, but the spectators also. In fact, the brigade is not allowed to go on the ice to an injured player until asked to do so by an official. Today, a slick paper magazine published by the Embassy of the USSR in Canada, carried the following comments on the now - famous two -country hockey series of a year ago: Anatoly Tarasov is perhaps the most prestigious hockey special- ist in the USSR. He is strong both in practice and in theory. He was one of the leading players, and for many years trained the hockey players of th strongest Moscow Army Club abd the Na- tional Team. His name seems to be,well known to our readers too. His book, "The Hockey of the Future", was published in Cana- da- and in the United States. In one 'of its latest issues the Moscow monthly, Nash Sovre- mennik (our contemporary) car- ried Anatoly Tarasov's article in which, among other things, he discusses the subject that is still topical — the first series of matches between the USSR Na tional and the Canadian Team composed of the best NHL play- ers, Below are given his esti- mates and impressions. The overall score of the matches can be assessed as a draw, to my mind. The matches have shown that the rivals were equal, worthy of each other, that is my general conclusion. But then he added : "I am sure that on the whole our hockey is today stronger than Canadian professional hockey. I would like risky at first sight, by analyzing Canadian and especially Moscow matches." ` Anatoly Tarasov finds argu- ments in comparing different links of the Soviet and Canadian National Teams. Goalkeepers — who are strong- er: Ken Dryden, Tony Esposito or Vladislav Tretyak? In Tara- sov's opinion, the high Standards of Canadian goalkeepers are based not only on their great in- dividual skill, but mainly on the invariable pattern of the playing. This is but natural since for years the NHL forwards have not changed the principled scheme of -the-ria tri e.of_a That- ' -- why the direction of the attack is easily guessed by the goalkeeper. On the contrary, there are lots of unusual intuitive decisions in the playing of the best links of the Soviet National, and it is very difficult to guess in which way, say, Valery Kharlamov will play from moment to moment. That is why a goalkeeper needs the gift of forsight, which is becoming an obligatory component of his skill. Our trainers therefore, create the most difficult conditions for Tretyak during training, when he had to display maximum initia- tive and a creative approach. This way the gift of foresight„ developed, by which Tretyak ad- vantageously differs from his foreign colleagues. Full-backs: A. Tarasov writes Forwards: He estimates Phil Esposito this way : "Esposito im- pressed all of us. Had it not been for this Canadian kite in the field, the Canadian professionals would not have reached half of their success in matches with Euro- peans. This player is a splendid example of persistence and readiness for self -torture. Espo- sito is not too quick, but he is (Continued on page 2) •