A Safety First post doesn't get any better than this! The TS Kennedy's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jeff Cukor took time out of his busy schedule to send a guest blog and photographs. Not only is Dr. Cukor committed to keeping the cadets and crew members safe of our training ship safe and healthy, he is also eager to educate the 22,074 students participating in the Follow The Voyage-Share The Experience Program.
Thank you, Dr. Cukor!
Aboard our training ship, if you need a trip to the hospital your ambulance looks a little different than on land. The Sick Bay medical department along with our trustworthy and hardworking cadet medical officers are the 9-1-1 service aboard! If someone is too ill to safely walk or maybe has a leg injury, our team trains on all types of ways to get you from where you are, to where you need to be – that is the ship’s Sick Bay (hospital).
Sometimes that means a chair that has straps on it to go up and down stairs (called ladderwells on a ship) –Any guesses why someone is wrapped in a blanket when this happens?
(Answer: Not to keep them warm, but to make sure their arms don't fall to the side and to make sure they do not accidentally reach for something and throw everyone’s balance off)
If someone is unconscious, very sick, or has a neck injury, we may even need to put them on a board or scoop stretcher to move them around the ship.
Why do you think it’s called a scoop stretcher?
(Answer: Because you can scoop a patient up in it - the 2 ends of the stretcher separate and then the two sides can slide in on either side of the patient and then be reconnected)
We don't worry about potholes or speedbumps on the road, but our ship certainly rolls and moves with all the swells, so our “ambulance team” has to be skilled and practiced to be ready to go, whenever someone might need us.
Thanks a lot for tuning in – but now it's time for us to go back to Sick Bay.
On behalf of our entire Medical Team; our Nurse Practitioner, Judy, our Paramedic, Jonathan, and our Cadet Medical Rates - Connor, Alex, Will and Riley, we are thrilled to have you participating in the Follow The Voyage-Share The Experience Program.
Dr. Jeff Cukor
Chief Medical Officer, TS Kennedy