COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Search and rescue teams from across the United States and locally in Bryan participated in the 75th International Rescue and Emergency Care Association (IRECA) at The Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) in College Station for a week of extensive rescue challenges.
“I’m still fairly new to all this kind of stuff, but it’s complicated and challenging so I think that’s what draws a lot of firefighters to being firefighters is the challenging aspect of it,” said James Menger, firefighter/paramedic, Bryan Fire Department.
James Menger, a Bryan firefighter and paramedic of five years, is eager to serve his community and become more efficient in saving lives.
“This is a competition year, so it adds a little bit of stress to training so we’re learning a lot and getting better at what we do as far as patient care and rescue,” said Menger.
“Anytime you put on a challenge or a competition, it ups the ante, and they learn so much,” said Gary Leafblad, conference chair, IRECA.
The 2023 IRECA competition hosts emergency medical responders from all over the world, including South America.
Through the week, they are judged based on how long it takes to get to the patient and stabilize them.
“You can think of all this cool stuff, but you’ll still revert back to the basic thing that your muscle memory has you do,” said Menger.
“Now you’re out here physically doing it, and I tell you, the heat has just added one more component to making it more of a challenge,” said Leafblad.
Being prepared to take action is ultimately key.
“Continue to do CPR or whatever else you need,” said Leafblad. “Make sure that you have tourniquets on, airway, those are the main things, taking care of the patient til the next step.”
Arriving on scene as a first responder can be chaotic, Menger says even emotional-- but trainings like this sharpen his skills.
“…Being a rescuer here when I do my patient assessment it definitely helps me slowdown in my head and be able to do an actual assessment in the real world, on a real person a lot more confidently, a lot more smoothly,” said Menger.
The IRECA competition at TEEX will wrap up Friday evening. From technical and first response rescue, auto extrication, basic life skills, and physical fitness—that winning team will walk away with a big trophy.