The Montgomery County First Aid Unit, AKA Explorer Post 742, comprises of 50+ girl and boy Explorers who participate with Wheaton Volunteer Rescue Squad. The purpose of this Exploring 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. The adult volunteer leaders of Wheaton provide training to the Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) level (the level just before EMT), as well as leadership and team work training.
The youth then provide standby first aid coverage to private and public events in Montgomery County, MD, Washington, DC and the surrounding metropolitan area. Most recently and notably, Exploring Post 742 staffed the 100th National Christmas Tree Lighting. This event took place on the Ellipse in President’s Park on November 30th.
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 adult assistance is needed.
The events for which Explorer Post 742 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.
All photos in this article belong to Montgomery County, Wheaton Volunteer Fire Department’s Post 742 and show past events and trainings of the Explorers. For more information about the Exploring Post, please see: The Montgomery County First Aid Unit, Explorer Post 742 | Facebook
