ERRC Newsletter - Volume 1 Issue 3

The Word of the Hon. President of E.R.R.C.

We are edging mid‐2013 and after an exceptional 2012, the

Emergency Response and Rescue Corps (ERRC) is gradually

buildingitscapacityinmanyareasandsubstantiallyspreadingits

social obligation. These activities characterized the irst six

months of 2013. ERRC has embarked on amassive campaign to

assist theGovernmentofMalta to introduce regular irst aid and

ire warden courses, emergency evacuation systems and more

importantly have adequately trained personnel in its ministries,

departments and entities the eventually of an emergency. These

activities have also increased in the last half year, particularly in

theparastatalandprivatesectorswheredemandforERRCcourseshasreachedanalltimehigh.

ERRChascontinuedthemassivetrainingprogrammewiththeArmedForcesofMalta(AFM).Weare

notonlyproviding the tools forournation’sArmedForces toreach thenecessaryEuropeanUnion

trainingstandardsbutmoreimportantlyarmingtheAFMwiththecapacitytobecomeself‐suf icient

andself‐traininafewyears’time.HereinstructorsEtienneMicallefandMarioSalibaarespearhead‐

ing this training programmewhich is being offered free of charge fromERRC and inanced byEU

programmes.

AnotherimportantsectorERRChasconcludedjustlastmonthwasthespecializedtrainingofferedin

theformoffourcourses,mainlyrelatedtovetcareforhorses,dogsandanimals.ERRChasbrought

togethertheMaltaPoliceForce–HorseandDogSections,theCivilProtectionDepartmentofMalta,

theAnimalWelfareDepartmentandvolunteersoftheERRC.Forthe irsttimeinitshistorytheMalta

PoliceForceHorseSectionwasroped intosuchacoursealongsideothersections in theForceand

otherrelatedDepartments. Thepresentationofcerti icatesbytheMinisterforJusticeandNational

Security,theHonEmanuelMalliaonthe28thJunewasagreatscene,seeingsomanybodiessections

whoupholdthelawtogethercelebratingtheircollectiveachievementforthegoodofournation.

ItwasaproudmomentformeasHon.PresidentandallERRCvolunteers,especiallyEtienneMicallef

whoworkedsohardtoseethisdreamcometrue.

Santa and the elves


The Annual General Meeting of the Emergency

Response andRescueCorpswasheld on Saturday, 27

April. The Annual General Meeting highlighted the

workandprojectsdonebyERRCduring the last year.

ThisincludedEUProjectsconductedbytheERRC,such

as the Tactical Medic and Calm Waters. The former

provided training in Tactical Medicine to the Armed

Forces of Malta while the latter involvedmembers of

the Civil Protection Department as well as ERRC

volunteers.Furthermore,theERRCmanagedaproject

tobuiltwaterwells inNicaragua incollaborationwith

the Samaritan International and other activities

involvingyouths.

E.R.R.C. Annual General Meeting

Throughout the Christmas period the

ERRCvolunteers,SantaandElveswere

busyentertainingschoolchildren,doing

fundraisingattheArkadiashoppingmall

andevenmanagedtogounderwater. A

dive with Santa was organized on the

26th Decemberwith the aim of collect‐

ingfundsforIstrina.

Ambulance service


This year, the EmergencyResponse

and Rescue Corps, has offered

ambulance and irst aid service

duringvariousCarnivalActivitiesin

Gozo, including Xewkija andNadur.

The SpontaneousCarnival inNadur

last ive days, the busiest being

Saturday evening, in which the

Emergency Response and Rescue

Corpsvolunteerswerepresentwith

two ambulances and a number of

volunteers. Volunteer Doctor

Maureen Bezzina Sultana was in

attenandce.

Saturday night at Nadur's Carnival

was the busiest. Cases ranged from

simple injuries, which requiredmi‐

nor irstaid,tomoreseriousinjuries

like Fractures and Head Injuries,

some of which required

transportationtohospital.

The Emergency Response and

Rescue Corps would like to thank

Nadur and Xewkija Local Councils

which entrusted the safety of those

present during the Carnival

ActivitiesandthePoliceForcewhich

contributed to the safety of the

Corpsvolunteerswhilecarryingout

irstaid


Training to the AFM

Amedical irst responder course was delivered

aspartofthetrainingforthenewAFMHelicopter

Rescue Swimmers. The 15 day long course,

covered several aspects of trauma and acute

medicalcare.Therescuersweretrainedinspinal

immobilization (on land and in water), casualty

packingandextrication,airwaymanagementand

use of supplementary oxygen, resuscitation

including the use of AED, wound care and

management, patient monitoring and so forth.

Some training also took place in Comino. The

ERRC is pleased with the standard achieved

duringthetraining.

ERRC attends an International Search and Rescue Conference


During the16th to the18thofApril,AnthonyGrech,

one of our ERRC instructors, attended the

internationalTechnicalRescueConferenceorganised

byRescue3UKinCardiff,Wales,UK.Suchconference

wasspreadon3days.WaterRescueInstructors,Boat

HandlingInstructorsandRopeRescueInstructorshad

aseriesof lecturesdeliveredbyguestspeakers from

all over the world (including New Zealand, the

Netherlands,andalsoUSA).Theselecturesdealtwith

awidevarietyofsubjects,suchaswater/roperescue

techniquesupdate,teachingandlearning,casestudies

relatedtowateraccidents,andalsostudiesbeingheld

bytheBritishStatisticsCommissionandtheEU.

Severalrescuescenariosweresimulatedtostimulate

groupwork and also sharing of ideas and practices.

Mike Turnbull, Rescue3 International President &

CEO also attended this conference. This visit was

fundedthroughEUGrundtvigProgrammefunds.

Working at heights training

Conflict Management Skills Training in Cyprus

Mr Mario Saliba, attended a course in

“Con lict Management Skills: Dealing with

Contempt and Negativity in the Classroom

andintheWorkplace”inCyprus.The iveday

intensive program was organised by Dorea

Educational Institute and conducted by

MrNaoumLiotas,OrganisationalConsultant,

TrainerandCoachatArtsinHumanResource

Management.Anothernineparticipantsfrom

different European countries attended the

course.Beingpresentinmostofeveryday’s

situations, facing con lict by educators and

trainers is a continuous process. The course

helped theparticipants to come into contact

with theirown issuesand look for solutions

and answers, while at the same time

acquiring various skills to handle con lict in

others. The attendance for this conference

wasfundedbytheEuropeanUnionProgram

Grundtviginservicetraining.

ThroughouttheWintermonthstheERRCdeliveredseveralcoursesforWorkingSafetyatheights.

TheERRCoffersdifferenttypesofcoursesinthisareaaimedinfull illingtheneedsoftheindustry.


Rope access training in the UK

Recently a member of the

Emergency Response and Rescue

Corpsparticipatedandattended for

rope access and rope rescue course

in the uk. The 5 day intensive

programwas delivered by thewest

Sussex ireservice.ERRCwouldlike

tothankMrSt.JohnStanley ,Station

Manager Technical Rescue Unit for

his support and advice. The

attendance for this conference was

funded by the European Union

Program Grundtvig in service

training. ERRC would be singing a

memorandum of understanding

with theWest Sussex technical res‐

cueunit covering several aspectsof

mutual aid, cross training and

support.

During the month of January the

ERRC trained a number of AFM

personnel as Military irst aid

instructors. The training took 10

days and it covered, basic irst aid,

basic ire ighting,useof IFAK,AED,

oxygen administration and airway

management.

Military first aid instructor


MrDarrenXerri,have successfully completed aone‐week

course inRescueOperationswith Jet Skis.This coursenot

only covered Jet Ski handling inWater RescueOperations

but also its maintenance and mechanical features. The

trainingquali iedMrXerriasaJetSkioperatorandRescuer

On‐board. Mr Xerri went through various water rescue

simulations,someofwhichwereconductedinfairweather

conditions. These rescue simulations varied from basic

water rescue scenarios tomore advanced. The latter con‐

sisted in rescuing persons having spinal injuries, using

emergency exit techniques on unconscious and non‐

breathingpersons,whichrequiredadditionalbasiclifesup‐

port once on shore and towing a deceased body. Some of

thescenariosMrXerriworkedalone,whileothersrequired

teamwork with other rescuers.

This course was funded by the European Union Program

Grundtvig, in collaboration with the National Life Saving

SocietyofGenova‐RomeBranchwhohiredtheservicesof

theItalianRedCross–GulianovaBranch

Ski Water Rescue Training training in Italy


Snippets

Ziplineactivityinaprivate

school

ERRCvolunteersprovidingemer‐

gencycareduringtheGozoMara‐

thoon

E.R.R.C. volunteer attended Civil Protection Diving Training in Italy


A member andvolunteer of the scubadiving

unit of the Emergency Response and Rescue

Corps, Mr Daniel Sultana, have completed

successfullyaone‐weektrainingcourseinCivil

Protection Diving. This course not only

covered UnderWater Rescue Operations and

other underwater techniques, but also

abseiling technique in conjunction to reach

andretrieveathardtoaccesslocationssuch

as cliffs.

MrSultanawentthroughvariousunderwater

training scenarios. These varied from basic

underwaterrescueskillstotrainingusingad‐

vanced equipment and techniques. The latter

consisted in recoveryof itemsusingabseiling

techniques, theuseof a full facemask, useof

drysuit,useof standard technicalequipment,

underwater searches and other underwater

works in neutral buoyancy. On most of the

scenarios Mr Sultana worked alone with a

supervising buddy. This coursewas funded

bytheEuropeanUnionProgramGrundtvig.

Love in the air

WewouldliketocongratulateAdrianAxiaqfor inally

settling in with his new partner. Informed sources

acknowledge that the couple shares a lot of common

interests.Wewishthemgoodluckforthefuture….

Rescue exercise


Lifeguarding service

Lifeguardsof theEmergencyResponseandRescueCorpshave commencetheirdutiesat theBlueLagoon,CominoandatRamlaBayGozo.ThelifeguardingservicewillrunonadailybasistillendofSeptember.TheCorps’hydroambulance,Lifesaver1,willbedeployedinCominoforallthedurationofthelifeguardingservice.Lastyear,Lifesaver1wasusefulinthetransportationofcasualtiesfromComino to Mgarr or Cirkewwa, so patients could then be transported to the hospital.The service is possible due to inancial support from theMaltaTourist Authority. Support is alsobeingprovidedbytheMinistryforGozo,TransportMalta,Police,ArmedForcesofMalta,PoliceandtheCivilProtectionDepartment

The Emergency Response and Rescue Corps

organisedamultiplecasualtytrainingsimulation

near Hondoq Bay in Qala. During the training,

ERRCvolunteersmadeuseofsearchandrescue

techniques, to search foranumberofdispersed

casualtiesandcarrythemtoatriagearea.

Some of the casualties had to be lifted along a

cliff using rope rescue techniques using spine

boardsandbasketstretcher.

TheMgarrMarina,Gozo(partoftheMelitaMarineGroup)

has sponsored a berthing space for the Emergency

Response andRescueCorps hydro ambulance, 'Lifesaver

1'. 'Lifesaver 1' is used on a daily basis to provide

lifeguardingservicesattheBlueLagooninCominoduring

thesummerseason.Thisservicehasbeencarriedoutfor

thelastthreeyears.TheEmergencyResponseandRescue

CorpsthanksMgarrMarinaforitssupport.Beingberthed

attheMgarrMarina,'Lifesaver1'iskeptinamoresecure

place. The ERRC will provide training in Emergency

Response,FirstAidandFire ightingtoallthestaffatthe

MgarrMarina.

Mgarr Marina Sponsors E.R.R.C.


ALL WE

NEED IS

BLOOD

The Cadets

The Cadets hold theirweekly

meetings form 5 to 7 pm.

Theseincludeindoorandout‐

door meetings during which

thecadetstrainin irstaidand

outdoorlife.

star of life - newsletter volume 2 issue1

Documents

elves page

heights page

afm page

air page

cadets page

rescue exercise page

aid instructor page

annual general meeting