Post Event Writeup

The event was organized by KATABATIC River Explorers, at Rishikesh. Eminent international training bodies were roped in, to provide world class technical hands on training and certification was provided to all participants.

In all 33 candidates were trained for First Aid & CPR. Dr. Dewan from Medic First Aid International, USA conducted the training. On special request the entire training was conducted in hindi so that all the local river guides who were not comfortable in understanding hindi could get the complete knowledge. The training was very in depth and completely hands on. It went on well beyond the time schedules and objective was to provide a very detailed practice even if time boundaries were exceeded.

For White Water Rescue, Mr. Chandra Bahadur Ale, an instructor from Rescue 3 International, California was brought in. He conducted the course for 17 participants, and gave extremely valuable skills with almost completely hands on experience for various techniques used in rescue during white water accidents of any kind.

International Certifications were provided by:
RESCUE 3 International, California (http://www.rescue3.com)

CPR Certification would be provided by:
Medic First Aid International, USA (http://www.medicfirstaid.us)

5th Feb 07: The training was kicked off by a formal introduction of the trainers by Mr. Amit Singh, Director of KATABATIC River Explorers. A short keynote by Mr. Sachidanand Swami followed. Dr. Dewan divided the group of 33 participants into two groups as per specifications laid down by Medic First Aid for maximum group size which should be handled by one instructor. This is to give ample practice time to participants. The second group was trained on 6th feb 07.

6th Feb 07: On this day the training on white water rescue started off by Chandra Ale, and a parallel session was held for First Aid CPR by Dr. Dewan as well. Participants were introduced to various knots which are used for water activities. Videos were shown to give ideas of typical accident scenarios and how victims were extracted. After the video, participants were taken out in the open and a dry practice was done on land for making anchors, securing trapped rafts and methods to bring them to safety. All skills were practically tried by each and every participant, and care was taken to emphasise on practice rather than theory.

7th Feb 07: The white water rescue training went on the river, and participants were made victims and rescuers in the cold waters of Ganges over a white water rapid section. This was of lot of importance as participants could clearly understand how victims feel and how best they should be rescued. Difference cases and scenarios were created and practical demonstrations were given on rescue techniques applied and after which each participant had to practice it in real situations. Technical experience on swimming through hazardous strainers was important and every participant had to undergo it. At the end there was a practice on simulating a capsized raft and recovering the participants in minimal record time. This is of prime importance as raft capsize is normal in white waters and the recovery should take minimal amount of time. It was a long and tiring day for all.

8th Feb 07: This day advanced techniques were given. Swimming through rapids which were congested by rocks had to be done by all participants. Raft was practically trapped and it was extracted by techniques trained earlier. Deep water river crossings were done by sophisticated methods which used minimal equipment and fast setups.

At the end of the training, there was a valedictory session, in which all certificates were given to participants.