Emergency Preparation

 

Emergency Preparation for
Outdoor and Overnight Events


Preparing. © GSUSA. All rights reserved.

Prepare for an emergency before you leave home by:

  • Earning your Camping License and inviting parent helpers to earn one as well.
  • Remembering your First Aider. For long hikes, backpacking, or long camping trips, an advanced First Aider will be needed.
  • Joining the fun of backpacking learning events to learn the ins and outs of taking girls on a bigger adventure.
  • Planning what to do in case of illness or accident on the event and sharing plans with the other adults.
  • Getting council permission.
  • With parent permission, share serious health issues of girls with chaperones (peanut allergies, asthma, ...)
  • Preparing the adults who will go with you by reviewing what to do in a crisis:

    • After serious injury, fatality or other crisis during a Girl Scout activity, do the following:
      1. Secure safety of self and group. Stabilize injured.
      2. Station a responsible person at the accident scene.
      3. Call emergency care providers (911).
      4. Report all emergencies to your local council in the following order:
        1. Call local service center
        2. Call council Chief Executive Officer
        3. Call Board of Directors Chairman
      5. Refer all media inquiries to the council CEO or Board of Directors Chair. Do not speak to the press; the statement you can make is: "I don't have all the facts, and I'm not in a position to answer any questions. Thank you for sharing your concern, and please call the council office."


Create travel packets for drivers and troop emergency contact person.

Packets should contain the following Contact Information:
  • Names, addresses, and emergency contact of everyone on the trip
  • Girl Scout council emergency contact number along with the Girl Scout Emergency procedure card
  • Telephone number for the supervisor of the campground/park
  • Telephone numbers for emergency care at your travel location (sheriff/police, ambulance)
  • Two troop emergency contact persons' numbers (these people are available to call all the parents for you to let them know, for example, that you're going to be late getting home or if there is an emergency)

Medical/Health Information:
  • Parent permission forms
  • Health forms for everyone on the trip (to be referred to only in an emergency)
  • First aid kit

Travel Information:
  • Map of the site
  • A map or directions of your travel route to and from the site
  • Directions from your site to the nearest hospital/urgent care office
  • An approximate timetable
  • Vehicle identification of the vehicles staying with the group

Each car transporting girls should carry the travel information listed above along with health information on the people traveling in the car.


Reporting Problems

Confidential Incident/Accident Report is used to record all actions taken concerning any incident, including behavioral problems, that affects the health and safety of the girls and in the event of medical emergencies, serious accidents or fatalities.





Let's Review:

1) A troop emergency contact person is important only if you don't have all the parents' telephone numbers.
     A)  True
     B)  False

2) The Girl Scout Council Emergency Contact card should be included in your travel packet.
     A)  True
     B)  False

3) Each car should carry girls' health information so that it can be available if there is an emergency while traveling.
     A)  True
     B)  False

4) Advanced First Aid is needed for campouts in your backyard.
     A)  True
     B)  False

5) Should a serious accident occur, the only statement you should make to the press is: "I don’t have all the facts, and I’m not in a position to answer any questions. Thank you for sharing your concern, and please call the council office."
     A)  True
     B)  False

6) The time to prepare for emergencies is before your trip.
     A)  True
     B)  False

7) By having a cell phone with you, you won't need to get directions to the nearest hospital before your trip.
     A)  True
     B)  False



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