Sustaining My Project

Well, this is it. This is my last post on my Gold Award blog. When I started my project, there was no safety plan that incorporated the disabled students at my school. In addition there was no way to evacuate someone who is disabled (or temporarily disabled from an accident) from the second floor in an emergency.

Now? There’s both.

By training a select group of students to use Med-Sleds, I have accomplished my Gold Award project. Thanks to La Jolla High’s new principal, he is going to help me implement the training in the P.E. classes so that every student can be trained. I have scheduled a meeting with him to discuss it.

In order to finish my project, I had to

• attend district ADA meetings,
• meet with Jim Solo to see his safety plan,
• organize three separate Med-Sled Trainings,
• and much, much more.

There is a new safety plan that incorporates disabled students, which was nonexistent before my project. Also, there are construction plans to make the campus more accessible that are scheduled to begin in 2015. Although I will probably not be there to see it completed, I can be certain that someone else in a wheelchair will.

 

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Meeting with Cindy Marten on 3/29/14

On Saturday, March 29th, I met with Cindy Marten (the Superintendent of my school district) about sustaining my Gold Award project. She’s supporting me to get Med-Sleds in all San Diego Unified schools with multiple floors!

 

Amount of Time Spent at Meeting: 1 hour and 30 minutes

 

Day in a Chair on 3/24/14

Thank you to everyone who participated! It was a huge success!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amount of Time: 2 hours (handing out wheelchairs + after school discussion)

 

All ready for Day in a Chair!

 

Med-Sled Training on 3/19/14

Fourteen students and four staff members met after school to get trained on the Med-Sleds. There were four sleds and they got in teams to practice putting students in the sled. After everyone had practiced in the hallway, each team put a teacher in a sled and lowered him safely down the stairway.

After the training, we had a raffle to decide who would get a wheelchair on Monday, March 24th for Day in a Chair. Each student received a certificate and coupon for a FREE burrito from a local taco shop called DonCarlos. The burritos were donated by the owner.

 

Amount of Time at Training: 1 hour

Amount of Time Blogging: 30 minutes

 

Facebook Posts Regarding Med-Sled Training / Day in a Chair

These are a variety of Facebook posts from March 4th to March 18th.

 

Meeting with Jo Stahnke on 3/18/14

When?: March 18, 2014; 4:00 p.m.

Where?: Girl Scout Resource Center in Balboa Park

Who?: Jo Stahnke (my Girl Scout Gold Award mentor)

What?: show her my final report thus far and give an update on Med-Sled Training / “Day in a Chair”

Discussion: made sure I had the necessities to put in my final binder

 

Amount of Time Spent at Meeting: 1 hour

Amount of Time Blogging: 30 minutes

 

Med-Sled Training Sign Ups on 3/14 and 3/17/14

At lunchtime on Friday and Monday, I had a table for students to sign up for training. A friend helped me sign students up. Students were enticed to get trained by getting a FREE burrito upon completion. I also posted on Facebook looking for volunteers. Students also knew to sign up on these days because I had it put in the school bulletin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amount of Time Signing Up: 1 hour and 15 minutes

Amount of Time Blogging: 20 minutes

 

Guest Blogger: Lindsay Crowe

1) I think Med-Sleds would be helpful for the future because if there is an emergency on the second floor and somebody is stuck up there, there needs to be a quick and efficient way to get that person to safety. Just because somebody cannot get him or herself out of danger alone does not mean leave them there. Everyone should have an equal chance of getting to safety and Med-Sleds could save a person’s life.

2) All schools that have a second floor should have Med-Sleds because not everybody has the advantage of quickly evacuating a dangerous area. Not only people in wheelchairs, but also people who are injured or cannot move fast enough will benefit from having something such as a Med-Sled to prevent further injury or even death. Many people do not understand how difficult it is for some people, but imagine being in the middle of an emergency situation such as a fire and feeling so helpless because there is nothing available to get you safe.

 

S.L.E.D. Team Logo

Thank you to Mrs. Repp for creating this logo for my S.L.E.D. Team members. Unfortunately, I was unable to do anything with it (make shirts, pens, etc.) due to not being able to have any costs without originally putting it in my Gold Award proposal.