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Shawnee Peak's Slopes are Classrooms for Student Ski Patrollers

March 03, 2009 - BRIDGTON -- While most high school kids spend their evenings doing homework and posting on Facebook, Chris Harrington is practicing first aid and emergency care for the Shawnee Peak Ski Patrol.

"It feels really good to arrive at a ski accident scene and be able to immediately put people at ease," said Harrington of Sebago, a senior at Lake Region High School in Naples and a Shawnee Peak student ski patroller.

"They calm down when they see me and my red ski patrol jacket and it's great to be able to aid people when they are upset and injured."

Harrington joined the Shawnee Peak Ski Patrol at age 15, as a sophomore in high school. Now he works side by side with Shawnee Peak's 70 patrollers.

"The student patrol are always accompanied on the scene by senior patrol," said Doug Wall, Shawnee Peak student patrol director.

"People might be concerned if a 16- or 17-year-old arrived solo, but these students participate in aiding, they don't just shadow. They are trained and competent to provide first aid."

It was Wall's idea to start a student patrol three years ago at Shawnee Peak.

"I am a former teacher, so I had the contacts at schools to reach out to the kids, and I had a lesson plan to make this into a reality," said Wall, a 20-year patrol member. "I was even able to get the students high school credit because this is a real curriculum."

Wall said the retention rate for young people at traditional ski patrol training was historically poor because the kids didn't have peers to relate to.

"Here the kids have each other, and we work with their school schedule," he said. "They work very hard between the homework and their time training on the mountain. The majority come back after their first year, and the program has really taken off. We now have 21 students."

Shawnee's student patrollers undergo 140 hours of training, including first-aid courses in the fall, followed by on-snow training every Tuesday night and all day Saturday throughout the ski season.

They learn outdoor emergency care along with CPR, then prepare for a certification exam during which they display emergency and toboggan skills with other patrollers from Virginia to Maine. Last year's clinic was held at Killington, Vt., and Chris Harrington placed seventh out of more than 70 other students.

"These kids do know their stuff," said Denise Pascucci of Old Orchard Beach, a Shawnee patrol and student trainer. "They take this commitment very seriously.

"Our students become very skilled and they are confident, which provides assurance to whomever they are caring for on the hill. The kids are great with patients. I have worked with other student ski patrol programs in Massachusetts, and this is the best."

About 20 of Shawnee's senior patrol assist Wall with student training.

"Sonny Davis, Shawnee's patrol director, allowed me to develop the student ski patrol program," Wall said. "That is a lot to ask a patrol director to take on with all the mountain operations and emergency care that has to be done.

"Ed Rock, Shawnee's GM, has also been wonderful to allow this program to grow. Without their support, donations from the Down East Ski Club and my fellow patrol, it would not exist."

"These kids in the Shawnee Student Patrol program are fantastic," adds John Yeates, a Shawnee patroller from Harrison who has taught lifeguarding and first aid in other locales.

"They are so committed to the job. They're focused on learning skills that they will have for a lifetime. EMT and first aid are skills that serve in all aspects of your life," according to Yeates.

Alissa Leonard, a senior at Oxford Hills High School in South Paris, joined the student program in its first year as a female snowboarder patroller.

"Becoming a patrol has taught me so much about real-life work," Leonard said. "This is adult responsibility, caring for people in critical situations. I have always enjoyed helping people, and this is a great way to do that. I am getting tips and clinics from the best, really experienced patrol."

Leonard is one of eight Shawnee student patrollers going to Bolton Valley in Vermont this March for her outdoor emergency care certification. She's not worried about competing with as many as 100 other students.

"I know my stuff," Leonard says.

Jeff Huston, a five-year patroller at Shawnee Peak, said the training will stick with the students for a long time.

"It brings kids from all over the region and teaches them people skills, leadership and first aid at such an early age," Huston said. "They will make excellent patrol because they will have so much experience.

"This is not Band-Aid application stuff -- these kids go through the same medical program as senior patrol and learn serious assessment of critical injuries and first-aid skills."

"It's really hard to balance both high school and my responsibilities at the mountain with the Ski Patrol," Harrington said, "but I wanted to learn to be a patrol. It has been so rewarding, and now I know I will definitely continue ski patrolling for the rest of my life."

"These student ski patrollers will be able to go to any ski area and work as qualified patrol. They won't have to wash dishes to be able to ski," Huston said.

HEATHER BURKE, Portland Press Herald, February 26, 2009


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