Community

Haiti Hospitality Workers Train in Emergency Preparedness

MONTROUIS, Haiti (defend.ht) - In late June, a team of emergency preparedness and response experts, led by Haitian-American firefighter and founder of the International Firefighters Assistance, Nathaniel Lasseur, conducted workshops in emergency response to hospitality workers at Club Indigo in Montrouis.

The residential beach resort Club Indigo (photo) had over 200 employees (photo) trained in the two day workshops by Nate Lasseur, Gayl Nye, Kenci Saintil and Gina Demergeau-Lasseur. Trainers delivered lectures, taught skills and simulated hands-on practice in live fire and emergency scenarios.

The IFA also performed a Fire & Life Safety assessment on the property and provided a report with recommendations to the management at Club Indigo.

IFA instructors arrived each day at the training site to review situational and classroom areas and set up for the day’s lectures.

The participants were evenly divided into two groups. Each group rotated through four training stations which consisted of the following modules: Medical Disaster Operations, CPR & Basic Medical emergencies, Fire Safety in the workplace, and Fire Extinguisher Operation.

Medical Disaster Operations: Basic first aid emergencies, Triage

Instructors Gayl Nye, of Florida Heart CPR in Vero Beach Florida and Gina Demergeau-Lasseur, a nurse and Haitian Creole translator from South Florida, delivered a presentation on basic medical operations. The training was intended to teach the students to prioritize what to do in an emergency.

Topics included recognizing emergencies, introducing themselves as rescuers that could help, and learning the basics of medical and injury emergencies. Many thoughtful questions were asked by the hotel staff and who were actively engaged in the training.

The staff practiced bleeding control and bandaging on each other during the practical portion of the class.

Also beneficial was learning to triage a large number of victims in a mass casualty incident. It was explained to the students that in the event of a major emergency or fire at the facility, they could coordinate to assist as many people as possible.

CPR Training: Adult, child and infant CPR and choking

This component of training reviewed the steps of CPR for adults, children, and infants, and choking for all age groups.

Staff members were given instructions on the operation and use of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED), a vital tool in the event of a cardiac arrest at the hotel.

Many of the staff had not had any previous CPR or AED training and were excited and very willing to learn this basic lifesaving skill.

Fire Safety in the Workplace & Fire Extinguisher Operations

IFA Instructor Nate Lasseur, an operations lieutenant and paramedic with West Palm Beach Fire Rescue delivered a presentation on fire safety in the workplace, which included a power point lecture with extensive examples of common fire hazards found throughout the facility.

Students were familiarized with situations that increased the risk of fires, the classes of fire, fire hazards, and obstructions to fire safety and means of egress (escape) as well as evacuation procedures. The students asked pertinent questions relating to their environment.

The class then moved to an outside location to actually extinguish live fires with Lieutenant/Paramedic Kenci Saintil of Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue. The students seemed pleased with this portion of the training and said they felt more comfortable with using the extinguishers after the exercise.

Former IFA students, Haitian firefighters Frandy "Joss" Pierre and Raphael Ketnel from the City of Croix-des-Bouquets Emergency Service also assisted with this training. As a result of IFA's sustainable "Train-the-trainer" concept, many of our community emergency classes are now taught by local Haitian trainers.