Camp 911 gives kids essential safety, emergency tips and experience

Morris Hospital’s Camp 911 kids got to see a helicopter, a SWAT van, and multiple fire trucks on Friday to give them hands-on experiences and lessons on emergency situations.

Wellness Manager Becca Evola said the helicopter is often the highlight of the campers’ days, but they also go through first aid training, stop the bleed training, how to create a tourniquet, and they get to meet and talk with local police and firefighters.

“It’s a good event for your kids to come out to,” Evola said. “If anything comes up, your kids need to know how to act and what agency to contact.”

One of the most popular stations was run by Vanessa Read, an emergency room nurse with Morris Hospital. She explained the kids the difference between a small cut and the wounds she deals with.

“For those type of wounds, we just need to wash it with soap and water,” she said. “We can slap a bandage on it. They stop bleeding on their own. When I’m talking about big bleeds, these are life-threatening injuries that if we don’t stop them, the person could potentially die.”

Read told the kids the first thing to do when someone is hemorrhaging blood is to call for help, then find where the blood is coming from. Then they’re to keep pressure on the wound until they can pack the wound.

“Once I put pressure, I’m not going to keep looking at it,” Read said. “I’m not gonna pump. I’m literally gonna put pressure and hold it. If for, whatever reason, it is still bleeding, you would take a gauze, a t-shirt, a towel, whatever you have, and you literally pack the wound.”

She showed the students how to insert gauze into a wound using their fingers to create room.

The kids also got to learn about firefighting, and how to use a fire extinguisher. The Morris Fire Department had a machine that simulated a fire that would go out as the kids sprayed the fire extinguisher at it.

Deputy Michael Osborne with the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office also showed the kids how his dog, Dani, does the job. He said to Dani, searching is a game. Dani alerts to let him know they detected something, knowing they get to play with their toy after.