Page 11 - To Dragma May 1934

18 To DRAGMA JANUARY, 1932 19

hand man for more than five years, and myself, the only woman. This group is typical of the classes at an American Red Cross Institute.
Our office is in the building of the New York Chapter. I t is a very j
There are two other activities that are high lights in the Life Saving
new and beautiful building, and is right in the midst of things at 38th Service in New York. These include particularly the Aquatic School,
and Lexington Avenue, between the Empire State and Chrysler, so to which is known as a normal school for coaches. Its curriculum involves
speak. swimming, diving, life saving and all their concomitants taught in the
best possible way by the best coaches available. The school runs for
The life saving service has been organized since 1914, but women • twenty weeks, throughout the winter months. We count the numerous
have been in it only since 1930. Chapters in various cities have life sav- j prominent guest lecturers we so often have as an outstanding feature.
ing groups with local directors who are under a National Director in
Washington. The work is of a purely educational nature and is carried Captain Charles B. Scully, who is one of the pillars of the Life Sav-
on to a large extent by the volunteers of the organization under the ing Service in America, is the Director of the Aquatic School, and it was
supervision of specialists in life saving work. begun through his inspiration. He is a man distinguished by his energy,
imagination, capacity for leadership and the very rare quality of meet-
The drowning loss in this country is enormous, totalling over 7,000. ing people easily and being immediately liked by them. Captain Scully
It is our aim to cut this down through teaching the people how to take has more than four hundred and twenty-five rescues to his credit and
care of themselves in the water and how to assist others, should the a Congressional Medal tops the list of his decorations.
need arise. Our slogan is "Every American a swimmer, and every swim-
mer a Red Cross life saver." In general, our work particularly in New The Institute which this chapter runs every spring in conjunction
York is with children of school age. For it is in this group who will be Jtfth similar ones in other sections of this country is also under the
the adults of tomorrow and who, once they get out of schools and camps, leadership of Captain Scully. I t is held at Narrowsburg, New York, the
are least apt to come in contact with safety methods unless they are {ast two weeks in June, just at the time everyone begins seriously think-
particularly engaged in physical educational activities. g, n of camp life. Comprehensive intensive coaching courses in swim-
ming, diving, and life saving are given in an all too short ten days. Insti-
The life saving course requires that every applicant be capable of I tute and Aquatic School people are a pleasure to work with because
passing the swimmers' test of the American Red Cross, which involves I tney are so eager to try new things. We also have a very good boat and
covering 100 yards in good form, performing a satisfactory surface canoe school associated with this Institute which does for boat and
dive, and other items which demonstrate that the applicant can take care canoe work what the Institute does for swimming.
of herself in the water. We have three life saving groups, the juniors,
thirteen to seventeen; seniors, seventeen on; examiners, twenty. The Throughout the summer, members of our trained life saving group
course involves a period of ten hours' training and two hours' examination j
during which period students learn safe, efficient and tested methods of I (Continued on page 57)
approach to drowning persons with appropriate carries, release meth- I
ods for several possible holds, surface diving for recovering objects from
depths, disrobing in the water and resuscitation of drowning people.
We feel that whether a person can pass the rigid test of the service or I
not they have at least learned several important fundamentals of water i
safety by taking the training course.

The examiners' group is a special one we depend on to a large ex-
tent to spread our work among the younger people, particularly the jun-
iors. These examiners make up to a large extent the teachers and in-
structors in our camps and schools. They have to keep up to the minute
with their work as a yearly re-check is demanded in New York City. I
Anyone who glances over the official 1005, a pamphlet of Red Cross J
Life Saving Methods, will realize how far we have come from the days |
when the popular notion was to roll the victim over the nearest barrel
by way of reviving him. Hanging up by the heels was also considered
quite a help at one time. Cooperation with medical science changed J
things considerably.

By E T H E L M C G A R Y , NU

Assistant Director, Life Saving Service