The Montgomery County First Aid Unit, Explorer Post 742

The Montgomery County First Aid Unit, Explorer Post 742 (the Post, or the Unit) is a youth lead organization which provides standby first aid coverage to private and public events in Montgomery County, MD, Washington, DC and the surrounding metropolitan area. Originally established in 1962 as part of the Montgomery County Chapter of the American Red Cross, the group became an Explorer Post in early 1995 and moved to the Kensington Volunteer Fire Department (KVFD). In 2014, when KVFD’s operational division made the decision that it no longer had room to house the Explorer Post and all of its equipment; Wheaton Volunteer Rescue Squad (WVRS) stepped forward to be the new sponsor of the Post. We moved the Unit to the new WVRS building on Arcola Dr on 10/4/14. This partnership has been a great match. The Post continues to grow and flourish, and many of our members are looking forward to joining the Squad as they progress through their training. The purpose of the First Aid Unit is to provide the youth of the surrounding area with the opportunity to learn about, and gain hands on experience in emergency care. We provide training to the Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) level (the level just before EMT), as well as leadership and team work training. There is a youth command structure in place, consisting of an Officer’s Committee made up of a Captain (the youth head of the group), one 1st Lieutenant, 2nd Lieutenants and Sergeants. The officers are responsible for planning meetings, trainings (both recruit training and ongoing refresher training), maintaining supplies and equipment, planning group activities and organizing staffing for standby events. The Captain is responsible for making sure all this work is completed and maintaining coordination and communication between the members of the Officer’s Committee, and the Unit’s adult advisors. When the Unit sets up a first aid station at an event, the youth officers are in charge of the station and the care provided to the attendees of the event. While there is always an adult advisor present in the station, the officers handle station operations and treat the patients unless our assistance is needed. The events for which we provide coverage range from small 5K runs, to 50-4,000 person company picnics at Smokey Glen Farm in Gaithersburg, all the way to 250,000 – 1.8 million person events on the National Mall. Working with the National Park Service, we routinely provide coverage to the 4th of July festivities on the Mall, the National Cherry Blossom Festival, the White House Easter Egg Roll, the National Christmas Tree Lighting and the Presidential Inaugurations.