Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (May 28/99) - They're skills Dennis Nelner will hopefully never have to put to use in reality.

Yet he's prepared to deliver first aid to an injured person, as he and some fellow Rangers demonstrated at the Industrial First Aid Competition in Yellowknife on May 15.

Nelner and three Rangers from Fort Smith captured top spot in the novice division, beating out the air cadets, Yellowknife Search and Rescue and a team of Rangers from the Beaufort Delta.

The competition consisted of six scenarios with individuals, played by actors, in need of first aid treatment. The teams were given 30-second briefings with basic detail, but were left to diagnose the injured parties for themselves. They had 20 minutes to provide adequate assistance.

"It's not an easy task to do," said Nelner, who was part of the second-place team last year.

An example of a particularly difficult scenario was a person who was unaware he had diabetes and was suffering from hypoglycaemia. By questioning the individual, Nelner's team discovered he was suffering from frequent thirst and urination, two tell-tale signs of the disease. An acidic odour on the breath is another key symptom, he added.

"The best thing to do is give him sugar or some sort of candy, at least until you get medical attention," he said. "But that person has to have medical attention. There's no ifs, ands or buts about it. He'd probably die if he didn't."

Other staged incidents included someone who had fallen off scaffolding, a heart-attack victim, someone in epileptic shock, an allergic reaction and a motor vehicle accident. The latter included some make-up as one victim theoretically sustained a serious cut.

"It added a bit of realism to it and the actors were very good. They played the parts well," Nelner said.

He and his teammates, who are familiar with type of training through the Rangers program, had only practised together for one week prior to the competition. Despite that, they managed to keep things in perspective, he added.

"We took the training pretty seriously, but it's not like we weren't having fun either," he said.

From a personal perspective, Nelner said he thoroughly enjoyed the competition, with its emphasis on thinking fast and reacting just as quickly.

"If the situation came to be, I'm confident in my abilities," he said. "I guess that's the end goal, to put this training to use if you have to."