[2362] in APO News
Volunteering for the Boston Marathon (long but worthwhile)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (matt@MIT.EDU)
Sun Feb 2 12:59:18 1997
From: matt@MIT.EDU
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 97 12:58:09 EST
To: emt@MIT.EDU, apo-news@MIT.EDU
I just got the notification from the Red Cross about volunteering for the
Boston Marathon this year. For those of you that don't know, the Red Cross
runs something like 20 First Aid stations on the route of the race. For the
most part the 'action' that the stations see are mostly blister related
(applying mole skin, etc) but depending where you are you will get runners
that are dehydrated and otherwise exhausted, or in our case last year, we had
a spectator that fell out of a tree. All in all being a Boston Marathon First
Aid Station volunteer was a blast and I highly recommend it, but reember to
bring your sunblock!
The Marathon is Patriots day (an institute holiday) which is Monday 4/21. You
meet at 8 AM in Newton and you should count on spending the whole day involved
in marathon related activities. The Red cross provides breakfast (coffee,
donuts, muffins, etc) and dinner (pasta) and you bring your own lunch. You
also get a pretty nifty Boston Marathon jacket for your troubles
Here are the Relevant facts.
Application Deadline: March 10, 1997 (but remember jackets are distributed in
order of application receipt)
Certification requirements: You do not need to be an EMT (but if you are one
and your CPR is current you are set), all you are required is to have atleast
CPR and Standard First Aid. If you do not have either of these but could pass
the tests with a little review, the Red Cross is holding challenge sessions
where you can just take the tests for the certifications you want (ie you
don't have to go through the class) The sessions are Wednessday February 5th
from 6PM to 9PM and Saturday February 8th from 9AM to 2 PM. You need
preregister for these which you do by calling 617-375-0700 extension 364 and
leaving your name, phone number, and the list of recerts you desire. If you
go to one of the recert sessions, you can pick up an application to volunteer
for the Marathon and fill it out on the spot. Oh, and if it is not obvious,
your certifications have to be current as of both when you do the application
and 4/21/97.
Station information: Last year, I was at a station run by and MIT alum who was
a Paramdeic and another MIT alum who was an EMT. I highly recommend her
station and I think it would be cool if there were an 'MIT contingent'. You
can specify a station preference and/or a group of people to be kept together
when you submit the aplication (APO people volunteering might want to consider
this), but if you want my recommendation, request Melissa Rathwell as your
station leader.
HAMs: Communications between stations are done by Ham radio operators that
volunteer for the task. I am not exactly sure how you volunteer for this but
if you call Kandi (phone number at the end of this) she could probably give
you a pointer.
More information: If you want some more information you can send me email. I
wish I could conveiently post the letter I got somewhere, but I am not in MA.
You can also talk to Richard Barbalace (rjbarbal@mit.edu), who also
volunteered last year and has a copy of the letter and application. (Richard
could you make those available?). For a more official source, you can call
Kandi Finch (she runs the operation from the Red Cross side) at 617-375-0700
extension 346. If you leave her voicemail she will probably get back to you
or send you the information you need.
Once again I had a great time doing this last year and it is for a good cause.
Please feel free to forward this as appropriately.
Matt
