New Instructor Training Model Takes Off!

I feel like a proud mama some days. When I hear of the accomplishments of our Instructors and how engaged they are in their communities it makes me smile. Lately we have been adding quite a few new Instructors. Last August, we removed some of the blocks that were keeping people from being able to become Instructors. We still require that our Lead Instructors have a good EMS or medical background, but one of the things that was making it hard for people to become an Instructor was that we only offered the training once or twice a year and that Instructors had to travel (most often to the Milwaukee area) and spend 4 days in training.

 

In today’s virtual world we realized that a combination of online learning, Skype phone calls, and hooking a new instructor up with a great mentor was every bit as good as having them take a week off work to travel to us in order to be trained. Today, now that we are living in that virtual world, we have been able to train people around their schedules, do so remotely, and get more Instructors out there to make classes more accessible. We added an Instructor in Pennsylvania, Bill Johnson who is already on his second class. We have Steve Marshall who trained recently with Kathleen Bridgewater. We have a retired orthopedic surgeon, Jeff Brodsky (Dr B), who will soon be teaching his first class in northern Ohio. Frank Fuller is going to help teach that class. We have Peggy Franco and Joe Blasy from California who are recently finishing up their Instructor training. Al Cruet from Reno area is helping with their first class. I’m so proud of the networking that is being done and the increased availability that we are providing in order to reach more students. With 18 million motorcyclist in the United States this is a task that requires multiple Instructors! We get daily phone calls and inquiries through our website from people who are looking for classes and the only way to reduce injuries and fatalities to motorcyclists is to get more of them trained.

There are many riders out there who have a medical background but that is a small number compared to those who may need your help some day. ASM training really is something that every motorcyclist should learn in the event that they will be first at a crash scene. It’s not up to just Road Captains, or the Nurses and EMTs who ride with your group to help. The first person to be at the scene could be any one of us. It may even be the medic who needs your help! Will you be there to help your friends? Do you have the knowledge to be an Instructor and teach others to help each other? As we go through the next few months, we will be featuring some of our Instructors so that you be privy to what we already know! They are fabulous and we are so lucky to have them and their knowledge. Have you been trained in Accident Scene Management? How long ago was that? Is it time to be refreshed? Do you have what it takes to become an Instructor? Has your group or have the people you hang out with been trained? Don’t wait for something to happen to decide it’s now time. If that happens to you then you waited too long. Go to www.RoadGuardians.org to get more information about classes that are on the schedule, Instructors who might be in your area, or learn how to become an Instructor (there is no cost to submit an application!)