Bus drivers in School District 10 are getting a lesson in safety as they took part in an Occupational First Aid, Level One course on Jan. 23.
The eight-hour course taught drivers how to deal with things like small wounds, how to deal with a person if they are unconscious, First Aid CPR, and more.
These lessons come after a revision of the bus driver job application form earlier in the year. Before it was preferred that drivers have First Aid training, now it’s a requirement.
Everyone involed in transportation is taking part, including Art Olson, manager of operations and transportation for SD 10.
“I partake in this myself, and we learned how to deal with assessing the scene, how to check the patient out, do bandaging and cleaning, consciousness, breathing, ABCs, airways, breathing and circulation,” he said. “I think first aid is important for everybody.”
Though the requirement is new, Olson is not aware of any drivers previously trained in First Aid ever needing to use their training, and hopes drivers in the district will never have to.
“I don’t want them to ever have to,” he said. “But I want them to have the knowledge to use it in case they have to.”
