Veterans Memorial Hospital hosted their biannual Safety Day Camp on Wednesday, June 7, at the Allamakee Fairgrounds in Waukon. This day camp drew a huge crowd of nearly 140 children ages 7 to 14 from area communities for a day-long session on how to take responsibility for their own safety, respect parents’ safety rules and share safety tips with their family and friends.
The children were divided into 10 different groups and spent twenty minutes at each of the ten safety stations. These 10 stations and their instructor(s) included:
- Farm Equipment Safety taught by Waukon High School FFA member Alaina Gebel.
- Lawn Mower/Chain Saw/Weed Eater/Pinch Point Safety taught by Chuck Votsmier, EMT, Veterans Memorial Hospital and Gene Leiran of Waterville Fire.
- Fire Safety instructed by Chad Kelly and Dave Martin of Waukon Fire Department.
- Grain Safety/Tug of War taught by Becky Rea, Allamakee County Extension.
- ATV/Motorcycle/Bicycle Safety taught by Pete Grangaard of Systems Equipment.
- Electrical Hazards taught by Allamakee/Clayton Rural Electric Cooperative.
- First Aid and First Aid Kits instructed by Cheryl Livingston, Paramedic, and Callie Thorson, RN, both of Veterans Memorial Hospital
- Internet Safety taught by Jonathan Buhl, IT Manager, Veterans Memorial Hospital
- ‘Safe at Home’ and Babysitting Skills taught by Carly O’Neill, RN, of Veterans Memorial Hospital, assisted by Riley and Reid Berns.
- Fire Arm Safety instructed by Ross Gerdees, Allamakee County Conservation.
The campers were also all called together at five different times during the day for large group demonstrations. The first demonstration involved a dummy getting caught in a power take off entanglement and another demonstration of a heavy gate and a dual tractor tire falling on a watermelon and what that could mean to a child in that situation.
The second large group demonstration included a demonstration with safety instructions of the drone used for spraying at Waukon Feed Ranch. The third large group demonstration covered snake awareness with Ross Gerdees, Director of Allamakee County Conservation, who brought along a rattle snake for all to view. The fourth large group demonstration included a fly in and tour of the Gundersen Air helicopter. And the fifth large group session was a demonstration and light show set to music of the all-electric car by Allamakee-Clayton Electric Cooperative.
The following local organizations and businesses donated materials, equipment, food, literature or even their employees to help plan and carry out this tremendous safety day camp: Allamakee County Conservation, Allamakee County Fairboard, Allamakee-Clayton REC, Clark Tire Center, Culligan Water, Future Farmers of America (FFA) instructed by Jessica O’Connor, ISU Extension, Gundersen Air, Leikvold Custom Pumping, Systems Equipment, Village Farm and Home, Waterville Fire Department, Waukon Feed Ranch, Waukon Pioneer Fire Department, Waukon Implement, Waukon Police Department, Xpressions.
In addition, each participant received a t-shirt and goodie bag for attending. T-shirts and many items in the goodie bags were provided by the event corporate sponsor, Farmers Business Network, represented by Dawn Burroughs, agent. First Aid Kits and other goodie bag items were donated by Bear Creek Ag Supply-Titan, Joel and Janice Thorson.
