PREPARATION AND MATERIALS NEEDED

• Identify an EMS station, fire department, emergency room, or other emergency first-aid service agency in your community to visit with the Webelos Scouts. You should plan on contacting the service at least a month ahead of time to schedule the visit.

• Make transportation arrangements with families, and confirm who will attend, when you plan to go, where you will meet, and what the Webelos should wear or bring. Secure signed activity consent forms.

• The den leader should bring a copy of the Guide to Safe Scouting.

• An alternative may be to have an emergency first responder or health-care professional visit the den meeting. Provide the guest or host with a copy of the First Responder adventure requirements to prepare them for their visit.

• Index cards with suggested questions (see Gathering) and blank cards for the Scouts to write their own questions.

• Have thank-you notes prepared for Scouts to sign and give to anyone who helps with the outing.

GATHERING

• Review any questions the Webelos want to ask to make sure all are appropriate. Pass out blank index cards so Scouts can write down their questions and remember to ask them. Consider having these questions on hand, too:

— What types of first aid do the first responders provide?

— What is the most important thing a first responder should do when he or she arrives on the scene? — What are their greatest challenges?

— What can the community do to help them?

— In what ways is a first responder brave?

— How can a person train to become a first responder? Will being a Scout help to prepare me?

— What are some ways we can keep ourselves and others safe?

— How can we apply what we are learning here to emergencies at home?

OPENING

• Introduce the First Responder adventure to the den.

• Emphasize that “a Scout is courteous,” and they should be on their best behavior. Also “a Scout is helpful”; today, they will learn how first responders are helpful citizens. Finally, “a Scout is obedient” to the rules of any place they enter.

TALK TIME

• Carry out business items for the den.

• Allow time for sharing among Webelos Scouts.

CLOSING

• Have Scouts give their thank-you notes to anyone who helped with the outing. They might also express appreciation with a handshake, den yell, or applause.

• Tell the members of your den that as this adventure continues, they will learn some of the same skills used by the first responders they met today. They should think about ways that a first responder serves the community as a good citizen, and how they can be “helpful” to their community by learning what to do in an emergency.

AFTER THE MEETING

• Serve refreshments, if desired. If appropriate, sharing refreshments with the first responders would be a nice gesture.

• Record completion of requirement 8.