Hope Happenings

Shawn Butler Hope resident and a member of the Hope/Sunrise Emergency Medical Service, Dan Hawksworth, while attending a 70-hour Wilderness First Responder class. (Above) He learns how to administer injections as a part of his extensive training.celebration.

By Fayrene Sherritt
Turnagain Times
Hope Correspondent

Don’t forget the Hope School Auction night, Sat., March 8. The Hope Christian Church is donating and preparing a Saint Patrick dinner as part of the fund raiser for the Hope School’s Silent Auction Fundraiser night. Dinner will be from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The cost for adults is $8 and $6 for children. The auction begins at 6:30 p.m. with Bianca Durrant as the auctioneer.
You don’t want to miss out on this event that has been traditionally the biggest and best fundraiser for the school. With lots of great items, the evening has always generated lots of community interested and participation. There will three different types of auctions. A Silent Auction, the Dollar Auction and the Balloon Auction. Balloons will be sold for $5 each and if you don’t have $1 bills for the Dollar Auction, you can get them that night at the school. There are some mighty fine items for the Silent Auction as well. Come and enjoy this fun-filled evening.
For the spring field trip, the Hope students will be going to Sitka where the trip will include a visit to the Raptor Center, the museums, the Russian Bishop’s House and more. If you have mileage and/or companion tickets available for this trip to Sitka, please contact the school as soon as possible 782-3202.
February 22, the Whittier Eagles played some exciting basketball! They were well matched by the Valley Christian Bears. Hope and Whittier fans clapped and cheered as the score climbed to a 36-35 win for the Eagles. The basketball season ended with a two-day tournament Feb. 29 and March 1 with the Whittier Eagles playing three games in the Kenai area. All three games were spirited and scoring was very close with Whittier winning one of those three games. Hope’s two basketball team members really appreciated being a part of the Whittier Eagle’s team this year. Thank you, Coach Jeremy Lancaster for including the Hope students.
February 9 through Feb. 17, Hope residents Shawn Butler and Dan Hawksworth attended, and successfully completed, a 70-hour extensive Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course in accordance with the standards of the Wilderness Medical Associates. Deborah Ajango was their lead instructor and is director of the University of Alaska/Anchorage Outdoor Program. She has a graduate degree in psychology and has an outdoor resume that includes climbing and trekking in Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Kenya, Tanzania, Australia, and New Zealand. Shawn and Dan are now WFR certified for three years. Congratulations!
The classes were held in Anchorage at several outdoor locations that included the Campbell Airstrip, the BLM building located near the airstrip and the wooded area behind APU. These areas were used for their in-the-field winter wilderness training. Per Wilderness Medical Associates-Wilderness Protocols, “Conventional first aid and EMT curricula are designed for urban environments and assume the availability of 911 and rapid transit to definitive care. Wilderness medicine recognizes that conventional training does not adequately address the specialized context of remote environments, WFRs are trained to perform certain skills that are considered outside the normal scope of practice of their urban counterparts.” Hope and the surrounding area are often more than one hour away from medical care. Responders to emergencies often needed to have advanced training beyond that of ETTs or EMTs.
Per Dan Hawksworth, having completed this course, he now has more confidence for backcountry rescues. He and Shawn learned how to do risk assessments, handle frostbite, hypothermia, cold-water submersion (drowning and near drowning), how to keep patients warm in the field and many other injuries that can happen a long way from medical assistance. Shawn Butler and Dan Hawksworth expressed that they now have a very satisfying and rewarding feeling to be able to give back to the Hope community and both would like to express their appreciation that monies were made available from the Hope/Sunrise EMS for this specialized training. Dan and Shawn a long with the other Hope ETTs are now working toward completing a course to become EMT-1s.
The Hope Christian Church recently purchased a used electric hospital bed from ProCare in Anchorage. The bed has been donated to the Hope/Sunrise Fire Department and Hope/Sunrise EMS to be available for Hope residents to use should a hospital bed be needed. Any Hope resident that does needs to use the bed, please contact either members of the Fire department or members of the EMS to make arrangements. Other health aid items are also at the fire hall for community use and those include walkers, shower chairs, crutches and other like items. By being able to borrow this equipment should help on medical expenses. If needed, please don’t hesitate to check them out.
All are welcome to come for a free breakfast at the Hope Christian Church. Doors of the Church open every Wednesday morning at 8:00 am for coffee and breakfast is served to 10 a.m. Following breakfast, the Food Bank is open Wed. 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Any folks contact Burgins at 782-1002.