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St. John Rescue Prepares for "Season" - With much new construction continuing island-wide and the high season for tourists winding up, St. John Rescue has found a simple a way to help the community be prepared. Members developed information sheets for on-island rental villa 'guest books' for the coming year as a community service project. Hundreds of information sheets have been distributed to villa rental companies on the island and individual villa owners too. Included are instructions to help guests get help quickly via 911 in an emergency situation. If you have a rental property and would like a copy for your own guest book, leave a message for St. John Rescue members Karin Schlesinger or Jennifer Tyler via the St. John Rescue phone line at 340-693-RESQ. |
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VITEMA Hosts Open House - St. John Rescue participated in St. John VITEMA's Open house in early September, during Homeland Security Awareness month. The event brought Rescue members together with ARES and VITEMA representatives to exhibit safety equipment, updated emergency communication and hurricane preparedness videos and pamphlets to the public. |
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St. John Rescue Purchases Moulage Kit - Since regular training is critical, especially on a quiet island like St. John, St. John Rescue regularly does hands-on training. A moulage kit is essentially a theatrical makeup kit with specialized, plastic 'wounds', 'blisters' and other materials used to simulate real-world emergency medical situations. Coming upon a simulated incident where a moulage kit is in use feels very real. Spurting wounds can be simulated with the use of small pumps and artificial blood. The moulage kit is valuable training tool for the fledgling Rescue Organization and was purchased with donated monies. St. John Rescue is always looking for volunteers willing to be 'victims' for their training exercises. |
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| Rescue Vehicles in Parade - For the first time ever, the Coral Bay Parade had two proud entrants from St. John Rescue. Parade bystanders cheered as their own Rescue-2 vehicle followed Cruz Bay's Rescue-1 vehicle down the short parade route. The Rescue vehicles were given the honor of bringing up the rear of the parade, with sirens going and lights flashing. They were hard to miss. Rescue volunteers were also present for any over-heated, dehydrated parade goers. The colorful event went off without a hitch. Love City | ||||||||
Triathlon a Success - Community events marked the beginning of September and St. John Rescue members were there, ready to help. The 6th annual Love City Triathlon brought athletes from St. Thomas St. Croix, Tortola, Puerto Rico and St. Maartin to join St. John athletes in this growing event. Along with St. John Rescue members, there were over 45 volunteers including St. John Radio (ARES) volunteers assisting athletes and ensuring their safety along the route. |
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Replacement
Coral Bay Transport Vehicle Sought
- St. John Rescue is in need of a new Rescue vehicle for Coral Bay. The
old ambulance, dubbed Rescue-2 (R-2), is worn and constantly being
fixed. While grateful for the gift of the vehicle a couple of years ago,
the growing Coral Bay community needs a more reliable primary solution.
The rescue organizations Coral Bay vehicle is an important backup to EMS
when they are tied up or in need of extra patient transport capability.
R-2 was originally donated to St. John Rescue in sad shape. It was made
road worthy and retrofitted through the efforts of many volunteers, some
visitors to St. John. See
Past News Archives for more historical information. |
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New Multi-Function EOC Building Concept Gains Momentum - August 2004. With on-site inspections and ongoing meetings between all parties, much progress has already been made to turn this idea into the next major project for St. John Rescue. The current VITEMA building located at Susannaberg, on Gift Hill, St. John and which functions as the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is outdated, too small and not secure from severe weather or vandals. Property and Procurement owns land and a partially constructed building next door to the current VITEMA building and has agreed to cooperate with the other agencies to finish construction. Property & Procurement wants to finish construction of a much-needed heavy equipment repair facility on the existing first floor. The EOC will be on the yet unbuilt second and third floors. This is an excellent location for the EOC. The land and building are available. It is not in a residential area, it is centrally located on the island, it is near the Myrah Keating Smith Clinic and it will provide superior radio communications across St. John, to St. Thomas and St. Croix and to the mainland. This project was Proposed by St. John Rescue with the approval, support, assistance and
cooperation of St. John VITEMA, St. John Administrator, Department of Property and Procurement, U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, St. John Amateur Radio Emergency Service, The American Red Cross and St. John Rescue. |
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| New St. John Radio System WPZN825 Ready for Shipping - August 12, 2004. President Marty Alperen has been notified by Rapid Wireless that the long awaited St. John Rescue island-wide radio system has been successfully staged in Florida and is ready for final shipment to the island just in time for peak hurricane season after a short delay from the shipper due to Hurricane Charlie. St. John Rescue member volunteers and friends have been preparing the radio tower locations on St. John and elsewhere in anticipation. Installation is expected to begin within a month. The goal of the major radio project is to drastically improve communications across the islands rough terrain, and to reduce 'dead spots' where radio and other communications are traditionally difficult at best. This major project for the fledgling St. John Rescue organization required raising $55,000 for the equipment and significant cooperation with the National Park Service, Virgin Island Government agencies and private individuals on multiple islands. Expect to hear more about this momentous project in the coming weeks.. | ||||||||
Heightened Cooperation with VI National Park Service - August 2004 two recent events show clearly how the heightened cooperation between St. John Rescue and The VI National Park Services is benefitting the entire community. The VI National Park Services has offered St. John Rescue space in it's Mamey Peak radio tower site, for use with the new St. John Rescue Radio/repeator system (see separate article). Without that cooperation, the implementation would be very difficult indeed. |
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John Bowman Now Rescue Chief - John Bowman, has officially assumed the Rescue Chief role effective August 1st, 2004, following the long-planned stepping down of Chief Bob Malacarne. Bob will continue to be an active participant in St. John Rescue, taking on the new role of Liaison Officer. He will also be leading an effort to start a Junior Rescue organization for the island. John Bowman, a long time member of St. John Rescue and most recently Assistant Chief and Training Officer is well prepared to assume the tough role as Rescue Chief. His proven experience and dedication to the organization made him a natural to follow "Big Bob" Malacarne's big footsteps. Congratulations to both gentlemen! |
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Campers Get Hands-On Rescue Demonstrations - St. John Rescue members visited overnight campers participating in Camp Defy recently at the VIERS facility on the south shore of St. John. Approximately 20 at risk youth from St. Thomas and St. Croix learned first hand everything from how to take their own pulse, to how the volunteer rescue organizations on their own islands work during the afternoon. St. John Rescue Chief Bob Malacarne and squad member Karin Schlesinger demonstrated the use of various tools including the Jaws of Life, KED devices, and stethoscopes to the 9-12 year old campers. The youthful participants worked together as teams, assigning a team leader and a 'patient' as they learned to properly assess scene safety, load a patient onto a backboard, and transport the patient to the emergency vehicle. Both campers and Rescue members had a wonderful afternoon. |
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Vehicle Airbags Training For Rescuers - Six St. John Rescue Members participated in a day and a half training seminar on St. Thomas in late July, hosted by St. Thomas Rescue. Topics included how to safely approach and extricate individuals from vehicles with airbags. Members learned that some vehicles now come equipped with up to 18 airbags, air curtains and other devices, which can be deadly to rescuers unless disabled or avoided. The classroom session included a live demonstration of side and front airbags deployment and the resulting smoke and residue. "The investment to have this kind of quality training from stateside expert was well worth it" a St. John Rescue member noted. The cost - $2000 for St. John Rescue's contribution to the St. Thomas/St. John joint event, did not include members travel. Caribbean Auto-Mart graciously provided access to a variety of vehicles on their lot Sunday for a training session. All participants came away with knowledge that matters and with a greater respect for the need for continuous training and preparation. |
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St. John Carnival 50th Year Celebration - St. John Rescue participated as usual during the Festival Parade. The day was a busy one for the organization as they responded to eight separate incidents in a 6 hour period. Presence is important and most St. John Rescue Members were out in force this year to provide assistance throughout the parade route. |
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| Memorial Day Weekend (Sunday) Friends of The VI National Park Sponsors Beach to Beach Power Swim - the first of it's kind event featured three separate events. St. John Rescue provide support services for this event, on May 30th and participants had lots of fun too. Next year some members hope to participate further by swimming! | ||||||||
| May 15th - MKS Walk - The Annual Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center Walk was held on May 15th in early morning. The walkers followed a route from the clinic to Cruz Bay, accompanied by St. John Rescue members. | ||||||||
| St. John Rescue Adopts Inter-Agency Response Protocols - As St. John Rescue continues to grow and improve it's capabilities, it's also been working closely with the VI Government agencies it supports to develop new protocols beneficial to the community. The protocols include access to rescue vehicles and extrication equpment by trained Fire Department personnel, improved communications interactions with the VI Police Department, quick notification of incident response via radio codes, etc. | ||||||||
| STJ Rescue's New Radio System Has Target Install Date - After much research and testing, St. John Rescue is poised to begin installation of it's own island-wide communications relay system starting in June. Combined with the recent FCC issuance of a unique license to St. John Rescue (call sign: WPZN825) St. John Rescue will no longer need to share frequencies with St. Thomas Rescue. This will simplify communications on St. John, especially when both islands have incidents n progress at the same time. The new radio system is also intended to minimize 'dead spots' on the island, which are areas where radio and other electronic communications are impossible. The new system is expected to drastically improve communications, scene safety, and incident responsiveness by all resonding island agencies. | ||||||||
Rescue-2 Vehicle Gets
New home in Coral Bay -  Thanks to the heroic efforts of both St. John Rescue members and volunteers from the community, the new home of our salvaged Rescue-2 vehicle has become a reality. The VI Government allowed use of this unused property location for the purpose. It's location near the Fire Department in Coral Bay provides easy access to trained personnel and greatly improved response time for incidents on the East End of St. John. Coral Bay, due to it's rugged geography and gwoing community has increased need for quick response. Prior to Rescue-2 and our Coral Bay Company, our only respone vehicle had to traverse across the island, which could take up to an hour to get to a remote incident scene. This entire project has beem funded by generous community contributions and a close working relationship with the VI government. |
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