 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Photo by BLADEN FINCH.
Coach Strauss performs CPR on an infant dummy as Lina Green. |
The Batten Center staff, athletic coaches, and the Residence Life staff have all been trained to use CPR to provide a safer campus. Training started on campus on October 1, under the supervision of Mary Gerriets, RN, Assistant Director of Health Services and certified CPR instructor. “I think that it makes you feel more safe,” said freshman Erin Short. “It’s good to know that there is more than one person that can help out in a situation.”
Batten staffers will use this skill in emergencies in or around the center, in which CPR is needed. “Training is a good idea,” said senior and Batten staff member Matt Edwards. “Especially since this is an athletic facility.”
Every year CPR training for all athletic coaches is required. “It’s necessary,” said Head Trainer Neely Strange, “because most of the time coaches will be the first ones on the scene of an emergency.”
“CPR is an important thing to know to help people out,” said Chris Francis, assistant baseball coach and also a Batten Center supervisor. “All lifesaving skills are essential.”
“It is important that someone is available and certified when athletic trainers are gone, such as during intramurals or in the weight room,” said Antoinette Bradshaw, a new trainer at the college. In addition to the CPR training, participants will go through training for the Automated External Defibrillator (AED). The AED is a lifesaving device that stimulates the heart after a heart attack. “CPR only circulates blood, but the AED actually starts the heart and is a necessity to have,” said Cindy Smith, director of campus recreation. “Everyone should know how to use the AED that is trained in CPR,” said freshman Kristen Jehl.
The defibrillator is a newly purchased piece of equipment. The training for it will involve a video with important information on how to use the AED properly. “The AED is so easy to use,” said Gerriets, who is also teaching the defibrillator training. “It is user friendly so that anyone can follow the directions in case of an emergency.” When the defibrillator is opened, an electronic voice gives directions to the person using the life saving device, as well as showing where the electrodes should be placed. It even analyzes to see if the person needs to be shocked or not.
“The Machine will not shock someone that does not need to be shocked; it could stop their heart if their heart is beating,” said Gerriets. “The defibrillator is a piece of cake to use,” said Smith. “Human reaction is that the body’s response is to be nervous, but the machine helps.”
Residence Life staff received CPR training in August and Security does training on their own, however both will go through the training for the defibrillator.
The wire was touching a metal part of the light pole. The electrical breaker contains a safety device known as Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter, or GFCI. Whenever the GFCI detects a short in the wiring, it shuts the lights out to ensure no one gets hurt. “There is a problem with the device when there is a short somewhere,” said Hopper. “We have to locate and must find where the light shorted or broke.”
Prior to looking at the light poles, the problem was originally thought to be in the transformer; however, after investigating it was found to be an internal glitch instead of Virginia Power’s fault. With the outages occurring on campus, Hopper requested that he be called in every time the power goes out. He comes in to make sure everything is OK and to reset the power. As protocol, all Residence Life staff members from Village II had to walk through the village to ensure students are following rules regarding candles. The outages left residents needing to reset anything electrical when the power returned.
“I went through the same thing,” said Whalen. “The computer was on, but turned off. All clocks needed to be reset and refrigerators shut off.” Some residents just took the outages as they came, while others encountered major inconveniences once the power went out. “The third time I was in my room and doing laundry and it stunk because it was wet,” said sophomore Meghan Oare, “and I had a lot to do.”
“Certain rooms are causing breaker trips,” said Hopper. “Like a hair dryer is on in one room and a microwave on in another. It could be anything.” When these breaks happen, the physical plant goes into the rooms to separate and rearrange the circuits around to ease the power loads on a certain breaker. It is difficult to control the outages as some of the older buildings cause more problems, specifically Gum and Smithdeal.
These buildings were dedicated in 1973. When built, the students in the buildings did not have personal computers or refrigerators in the rooms. Aluminum wiring from when the buildings were originally constructed is the ultimate cause of the trips. “Aluminum wiring used special receptacles and outlets,” said Hopper. “Nowadays it is copper which is more efficient.”
The newer buildings, Godwin, Clarke, Johnson, East and all of Village III, contain copper wiring. Many students were unaware of the exact cause of the outages. There haven’t been power outages for which the Physical Plant has been called.
 |
|
Photo by BLADEN FINCH
Tom Drabczyk lends a hand to waterlogged VIII residents. |
“I was just sitting on the couch and heard a pop and water hitting the floor,” said Leahy. “It started pouring out from the door.” “I came about 10 minutes after it started,” said McStay. “I saw all the fire engines and thought there was a fire and saw water. I ran upstairs and saw stuff soaking wet.” When it first started, Nolz, Leahy, and Murray used towels to form a barrier to prevent the water from spreading. However, some of their things still got wet, including carpet, shoes, books, tapes and food. With the help of their hallmates and the Residence Life staff, the water was quickly removed.
“We had a system going where someone at the top of the stairwell swept the water down to the bottom,” said senior Matt Tefft, Village III Assistant. “That person would sweep the water down to the person at the bottom, who would then sweep it outside.” Although the main problem was upstairs, Tefft also had water leak into his apartment.
“The water came through the laundry room,” said Tefft. “Most of it came under my front door and soaked one of my carpets.”
Like McStay, Tefft was not in his apartment when it happened. “I saw the fire trucks heading to VIII,” said Tefft. “I went over there to see what was going on . . . I saw a staff member come out of my back door. That was when I knew something was wrong with my place.”
Aside from the members of upstairs South, staff members from Residence Life and Security came to help with the clean up. With the help of these people, the clean up did not last as long as it could have. “We got it out pretty quick,” said Leahy. “Everyone helped out real good.”
Maintenance helped Nolz, McStay, Leahy, Murray, and Tefft by using extractors to get the water out of the rooms; however, the chemicals that were used affected Heather Segraves, one of the Village I R.A.s that was on duty at the time of the situation. “Since I was standing underneath the landing between first and second floor South, all the water from the top floor was falling into my eyes which had picked up some of the floor cleaner containing bleach and chlorine most likely,” said Segraves.
As a result, Segraves received alkaline burns to both eyes. Her corneas were burned and she has an ulcer on her right eye. “As soon as my eyes started burning, Ryan Brown suggested that I go to the hospital immediately,” said Segraves. Her condition is supposed to get better.
Although no official cause has been determined, the idea is that the spigot fell off. As a result of the water pouring out of the spigot, the water pressure became low causing the fire alarms in the rest of the village to sound. Virginia Wesleyan has routine testing done throughout the entire system. The last time a test was done in South Hall was June 4. The testing company, Hiller Systems, is scheduled to come and test the system shortly. Despite the situation, everyone present made the best of it.
The vandals entered the cars by shattering either the front passenger or driver side window and proceeded to slash the tires on the same side of the broken window, with the exception of Coulass’s tires, which were left untouched. The cost of the vandalism alone was high, despite what was stolen.
“My tires cost $800 a piece,” said Rogers. One of Roger’s tires had as many as five stab-holes, which were less than an inch in diameter. The security guard on the scene believed that the people who broke into the cars were professionals and knew what they were doing. Heeder’s vehicle was equipped with a state-of-the-art security system to prevent break-ins; however, the system’s wires were cut. “They took stereos, CD’s, and speakers from all four cars,” said Heeder.
The stereos consisted of highly valuable, after-factory CD players and speakers weighing up to as much as 100 lbs. Roger’s speakers alone cost $500 a piece. A 400-pack CD case, full of mostly rap and R&B was stolen from Heeder.
“This makes me wonder about the security at our school,” said Coulass. “I thought that we had these rainbow stickers for a reason, it is obvious to me now that they mean nothing.” There is no evidence of how the vandals entered campus, although there is speculation that they did not enter through the main gate. Local police were called but did not arrive until 4:30 p.m. Rogers called Ryan Brown, Assistant Director or Residence Life, immediately after seeing the damage.
“I coordinated getting security there and contacting the police,” said Brown. Evidence that was left at the scene was found in Roger’s Chevy Suburban. “They left a Pokemon backpack in the car,” stated Mino. “Unfortunately, there was nothing in the backpack that would point a finger to a suspect.”
There are no leads as to who is responsible for these break ins. There has been no new information or evidence found. Security sent out an advisory suggesting guidelines for safety and pledged to increase vigilance at the DeFord Gate House and on campus.
Site created and maintained by Linda De Rosa.