Edmonton firefighters preparing for Ukraine mission offering life-saving training, equipment
CTV
A group of Edmonton firefighters will soon make the trip to Ukraine to bring equipment and help train first responders there.
A group of Edmonton firefighters will soon make the trip to Ukraine to bring equipment and help train first responders there.
Firefighter Aid Ukraine (FFAU), a local charity, has assembled a group of translators and firefighters who will share lifesaving skills with their Ukrainian counterparts in the new year as the Russian invasion of that country continues.
The group will teach a modified version of the NATO standard Tactical Combat Casualty Care course, something volunteer Stephen Ferry says is important since many new Ukrainian first responders have stepped up to serve for the first time as the conflict began.
Ferry, a current firefighter and former military medic who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, says the course will be structured in a way to train the initial participants, who can then, in turn, train others.
"It's like a train-the-trainer model," he explained. "We show them how to do it, and then we show them how to show others how to do it."
One of those critical skills is a program called Stop The Bleed, which focuses on halting severe hemorrhages after traumatic events in public spaces.
"If we can't control deadly bleeding, nothing else matters, particularly in a traumatic incident," Ferry added.
