Saving lives in more ways than one: KDOT crews attend first-aid and CPR training

By Tim Potter
South Central Kansas
Public Affairs Manager 

KDOT employees recently had the opportunity to participate in critical first-aid and CPR training across the state. 

During KDOT first-aid/CPR training in Hutchinson, Hutchinson Community College
trainer Leann Bravi shows how to give a rescue breath.

First aid tips to remember

Here are key tips from recent KDOT first-aid and CPR training provided by instructors with Hutchinson Community College.

--When you encounter an emergency, pause before approaching and ask yourself: Is it safe?

--If the person is responsive, ask them if you can help.

-Unresponsive patient, chest not moving for five seconds? Call 911, or have someone call 911 while you tend to the person. More steps below.

--Bleeding profusely? Put direct pressure on the wound immediately. More below.

--Possible poisoning? See hotline number at bottom.

--Use common sense. Extensive medical knowledge is not necessary.

--Keep safety gloves and glasses in your first aid kit. Regularly replace gloves before they deteriorate. Use them for your protection. Know how to remove the gloves without contaminating yourself or others.

--Don’t move someone unless they are in imminent danger.

--You should not leave the person you are aiding until other help is available.

During KDOT first-aid/CPR training in Hutchinson, trainer Leann Bravi demonstrates chest compressions

How to revive

--If the person is in cardiac arrest or not breathing, remember that EMS is probably at least nine to 10 minutes away, so the person needs immediate CPR. You can provide life-saving help with a combination of high-quality chest compressions, rescue breaths and an AED (automated external defibrillator), a portable device that analyzes a heart’s rhythm during sudden cardiac arrest and gives an electric shock to restore a life-saving rhythm.

--What are high-quality chest compressions? With the person on their back on a flat and firm surface, get your hands in place, remembering that the heart is centrally located in the chest, says Leann Bravi, Public Health and Safety instructor/coordinator with Hutchinson Community College. For an adult, remember to push down at least 2 inches with targeted pressure from the heel of your hand. For a small child, the compression depth should be a little less, about 2 inches. Let the chest fully rebound with each compression. Give 100 to 120 compressions per minute. Count them. In most cases, it takes more than two minutes for CPR to revive the person.

--When giving rescue breaths, first lift the jaw to clear the airway. Give two rescue breaths at a time in close repetition, using a mask if you have one in your kit.

KDOT District Five employees practice using an AED during first aid/CPR training in Wichita.

--Using an AED: There are different brands, but the same basic steps apply. The device will tell you what to do. Get clear of the patient before you hit the shock button.

--With an opioid overdose that causes a person to stop breathing, “CPR would be your primary intervention,” Bravi says. One way to revive the person is to administer naloxone, a medication that counters the effects of an overdose.

How to stop bleeding

KDOT District Five employees learn how to use a tourniquet during first
 aid training in Wichita.

--If direct pressure from your hand or knee doesn’t work, pack the wound, using gauze from your kit or improvised material like a T-shirt or rag. Poke the material toward the heart. And don’t be afraid to use a tourniquet above the wound. If you don’t have a tourniquet in your kit, improvise with a ratchet strap or belt.

--It’s preventable: “Nobody has to die from bleeding,” Bravi says. “It can be controlled by packing, pressure, tourniquets.”

--Bleeding can cause the person to go into shock. “Probably some of the best first aid a person can give is that ‘calm, comfort, reassure,’” Bravi says.

How to deal with poisoning

--Call the Poison Control Center hotline: 1-800-222-1222.

One of the key take-aways crews in Bonner Springs took away was overcoming doubt about when and how to help using the acronym F.E.A.R: Face Everything And Rise. 

Crews in Bonner Springs watch as their instructor demonstrates how to revive someone in need of emergency first aid. 

ITS Heartland wins NOCoE award at Transportation Research Board Meeting in Washgington D.C.

By Tom Hein, Public Affairs Manager for Sedgwick County

At the 98^th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board in Washington D.C. this week, the National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) presented the ITS Heartland chapter with an award in the category of Improving Agency TSMO Capabilities. TSMO is a Federal Highway Administration toolbox for Transportation Systems Management and Operations.

According to the ITS Heartland’s website, TSMO focuses on actively managing the multi-modal transportation network to deliver improved safety and mobility outcomes. Its philosophy is managing our valuable transportation system in a way that preserves what we have already built by using investments wisely on projects that improve operations.

 

Presenting the award is NOCoE managing director Patrick Son (left) and accepting is Randy Johnson, KC Scout manager and ITS Heartland president, Tom Hein, WICHway manager and project administrator, and consultant project manager Matt Volz.

Kansas DOT is the lead state for the ITS Heartland project. The chapter is a five-state Intelligent Transportation Systems coalition that also includes Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma DOTs, transportation industry consultants and product suppliers.

ITS Heartland’s mission is to improve the quality of life for those transportation uses who live and invest in America’s Heartland, though advanced transportation technologies and communications.

 

The TSMO University Education program created a series of archived webinars and live training sessions. 

The winning project was the ITS Heartland TSMO University Education Program, which created a series of archived webinars and hosted live training sessions on traffic incident management, highlights intelligent transportation technologies that increase roadway safety and improve traffic information sharing. The webinars encourage cross-jurisdictional agency cooperation and provide continuing traffic operations and management outreach to transportation administrators, planners, designers, maintenance crews, first responders and other transportation professionals.

NOCoE received more than 60 entries in four award categories. Other winners were the Arizona DOT for best TSMO project, North Carolina DOT for their response to a major incident or special event (Hurricane Florence), and in the public communication category, Oregon Traffic Incident Management responders for their use of social media.

For more information visit the NOCoE website at www.transportationops.org.

Learn more about the ITS Heartland TSMO program at www.itsheartland.org/tsmo-trainings/.

Movie magic: KDOT produces training video

Most of us aren’t thinking about snow and ice in August, but that’s what several KDOT employees had on their minds last summer as they filmed an educational video.

Retired Equipment Operator Specialist Miguel Padua, left, and Equipment Mechanic Senior Steve Schmidt mix brine.

August was pretty warm for making brine, but to help future KDOT employees learn how to do it, that’s exactly what Field Maintenance Manager Jim Frye had a crew do at the North/East Complex in Wichita.

Frye oversaw a training video about how to make salt brine. The video, when completed, will be featured on the Bureau of Maintenance’s page on KDOT’s intranet as part of employee training. Frye said recently that he thinks the video will be available soon to employees.

Retired Equipment Operator Specialist Miguel Padua loads salt to mix brine.

Bret Mathias, Media Production Technician in Support Services, shot the video with retired Equipment Operator Specialist Miguel Padua, who worked in Wichita, and Equipment Mechanic Senior Steve Schmidt, who works in Salina.

Retired Equipment Operator Specialist Miguel Padua overlooks the machine that mixes brine. 

Padua and Schmidt made brine on camera to teach others the proper techniques to do so.

“This is something we have wanted to do for a while,” Frye said of this particular training video.

KDOT spends a lot of time training new Equipment Operator Trainees.

Districts across the state also offer “snowfighter training” to new crew members to help them learn the ins and outs of pre-treating and plowing roads.

Professional drivers expected to participate in Truckers Against Trafficking training

“Had the call not been made that brought law enforcement out to the truck stop, doctors said she would have died within the next few days,” Truckers Against Trafficking, a non-profit organization that strives to train, equip and empower truck drivers across the country to recognize the signs of Human Trafficking, said. “That call was made by a professional truck driver, Kevin Kimmel, who recognized that something was off ─ something was wrong ─ and instead of turning a blind eye, he picked up the phone. She calls him her guardian angel, he calls himself a Trucker Against Trafficking.”

Thanks to legislation passed last year in Kansas, drivers who want to receive a CDL will now be expected to undergo Truckers Against Trafficking training.

According to TAT, at any given time there are more truck drivers on our nation’s roads than there are law enforcement officers. Because of their numbers, truck drivers can be the ears and eyes of our country’s highways. Truck drivers and truck stop employees could find themselves interacting with victims of human trafficking.

By participating in this training, the trucking industry could be a major component in fighting against the human trafficking industry because they would be better equipped to recognize the signs.

According to TAT, nearly 500,000 trucking industry members have undergone training.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline has received more than 1900 calls from truckers. More than 500 cases of potential human trafficking instances have been identified. Around 1008 potential victims were identified thanks to this training.

Because they can be trained to recognize the signs and report human trafficking, Truck drivers who undergo this course will continue to help save lives, according to TAT.

“If every driver, prior to hitting the road, had this life-saving information and training, imagine how many more calls will be made,” TAT said. “Imagine how many victims will be recovered out of this horrible reality, and how many perpetrators will be arrested.”

You can find more information about this organization at http://www.truckersagainsttrafficking.org/

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, you can find out to recognize the signs by reading our blog on this topic: and you can check out https://humantraffickinghotline.org/

Preparing for winter weather: KDOT employees participate in snow-fighter training

Sunshine will soon be replaced by snow and when that happens, the Kansas Department of Transportation will be ready.

 In preparation for the upcoming snow and ice season, KDOT Equipment Operators from across northwest Kansas completed Snow-fighter Basic Training last week in Wakeeney.

KDOT Equipment Operators from across northwest Kansas took part in the snow-fighter training last week in Wakeeney. 

This is the fourth year the training has been held. Sessions were led by experienced KDOT operators and consisted of both classroom and hands-on activities. KDOT equipment operators learned about plowing procedures, chemical application, front and wing plow usage, spreader operations, towing safety, mechanic training and decision making. 

Earlier this month, crews in north central Kansas also participated in snow-fighter training. All new Equipment Operators, Equipment Mechanics and Engineering Technicians from the area received both classroom work and hands-on training. 

KDOT crews practice using maneuvering the snow plow earlier this month at the Salina Subarea.

So when the precipitation starts, your local KDOT operators will be on the job. No matter what the weather is doing, you can check out www.Kandrive.org for traffic and road information. 

KDOT crews underwent snow-fighter training earlier this month in north central Kansas.