05/17/2013
Update: May 17th 2013
Like Trees?If you do, consider joining us for the Tree Inventory this summer. You can sign up for one morning, or all 4, it's up to you. On those dates (June 22nd, August 1st, August 17th and September 14th) we will meet at 8:30 at Arbor Lodge Park, and fan out to count street trees only. We'll end at 12, noon each day.
Why do this? We'll have a data base of how many street trees we have in Arbor Lodge, what types of street trees we have, the general health, and the diameter of each. With this data we can plan to increase the overall canopy if we want, what trees to emphasize, etc.
Did you know that street trees and yard trees increase the value of your home? And, that the general health of humans living near trees increases and overall crime goes down? Urban Forestry hosted a talk on these topics at the Lucky Lab last month by an economist with the US Forest Service.
So come out and join your neighbors. Have some fun, get to know your neighborhood and each other while helping us continue to improve Arbor Lodge neighborhood. You can sign up at:http://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/treeinventoryscroll to Arbor Lodge, then pick a date! Training is only required for "team leaders". Thank you. : )
05/11/2013
Upcoming Board Meeting Next Thursday
Join us for our next board meeting, Thursday, May 16th.
We'll be discussing our next steps for bylaws, noise at Portland International Raceways, community cleanup, our 2014 budget, Portland Public School's use of space on Lombard and Interstate, the Lombard re-imagined project, and more.
We hope to see you there!
6:30 pmHistoric Kenton Firehouse8105 N. Brandon St.
05/10/2013
Update: May 10th 2013
Make Mom proud!
Join your neighbors and friends to help out at Arbor Lodge Park/Harper's Playground tomorrow, that's this Saturday, May 11th between 9-12. We will have fun, you'll meet some new neighbors, and the Park and Playground will shine for Mother's Day.
Keeping our ParkPlayground pesticide/herbicide free is really important with all the kids, dogs, and other humans who play and relax here during this sunny Oregon spring. Thanks to all.
05/04/2013
Update: May 4th 2013
Arbor Lodge Park/Harper's Playground Work PartySaturday, May 11th 9-12Next Saturday, May 11th, between 9-12 we will work to maintain our pesticide/herbicide free status in the Playground and Park. Come join us for some FUN!We will have guests from the LDS Church, hopefully also from the Timber's Army, and some UP students all coming to help support the Playground and Park. We need neighbors too.
Projects will include:* general trash pickup (we have fun trash picker uppers)* weeding around trees, then spreading bark mulch* weeding around light posts and in the ground signs, ditto bark mulch* edging the entire east side along the gravel parking strip (this will be heavy digging and hauling in wheel barrows) fyi, the Parks Dept will dig out the parking area/put down landscape cloth/cover it all with new gravel - date not known, but soon. Our edging will complete the project and really spruce that side of the Park up!* painting the metal pipe along the east side (weather permitting)* detailed weeding in both Baseball diamonds, dugouts, back stops, along the foul line, etc. (no games are set until 1pm that day)* flame weeding all along Bryant and Dekum and in sidewalks (training required to flame weed/must be over 18/must wear closed toed shoes)* detail weeding in the tennis courts to keep weeds out of the cracks (think fine motor exercise)
We have tools and some gloves. We'll provide coffee and water and snacks too.Please come help the Playground and Park you enjoy so much continue to thrive as a pesticide/herbicide free zone. Questions? ginger.edws@gmail.com Thanks!
05/04/2013
NET Training - Triaging the big three and putting splints on things
Basic disaster medicine was the name of the game for weeks 3 and 4 of NET training, the gist of those lessons being this: in a major disaster, medical help might take a long time to arrive, so NETs may have to hold the fort until they do.
To get an idea of the resource limits, consider the Portland Fire Bureau. The bureau employs 700 firefighters, but only 125 of those are on duty at a time. In a disaster, it will take a while for off-duty responders to get to work. And when they do, they will have to do the greatest good for the greatest numbers, which may mean that people in neighborhood have to sit tight.
Meanwhile, NETs are expected to play a role in limiting deaths from trauma. We're sure not doctors. But we spent week 3 learning to treat life-threatening conditions like airway obstruction, shock, and heavy bleeding.
Knowing who has such injuries is half the battle, so we imagined a scenario in which we'd have to find out fast. Breaking up into groups and feigning ailments, we learned to triage a large group fast - calling out the walking wounded, then spending roughly 30 seconds per person looking for signs of the big three greatest health risks: shock, heavy bleeding and blocked airways. We learned to tag each person based on their medical needs, then organized them in a triage area where medical responders can get to then quickly as they arrive. We also learned to treat each of the big three.
Airway blockage is easy enough. As any sleep apnea sufferer can tell you, a person who isn't breathing, typically on their back, simply needs to get breathing again. It's a thing a little body positioning can resolve if the main problem is the tongue sliding over the airway. We learned some head-tilting techniques to correct it, and practiced moving each other's heads around.
Bleeding is a trickier business. How serious it is it depends on where the blood is coming from - capillaries, veins or arteries. Our aim is to control wounds with a bandage, pressure, and elevation. If those measures don't work in 7 minutes, or a limb is damaged beyond repair, tourniquets are a last resort. We practiced bandaging wounds, pressing pressure points, and elevating and covering one another.
Shock seems difficult to spot - especially in a person you don't know - but the signs are rapid and shallow breathing, the inability to follow basic commands like "squeeze my hand," and poor capillary refill. Translation: squeeze the fingernail beds or any other part of the body. If they don't turn pink in 2 seconds, that's shock. People suffering from shock are having trouble moving blood around their body. They should be laid down with their legs up and kept warm with covers. People with blocked airways and bleeding wounds should be checked for shock.
Week 4 was a week for more minor issues: we learned some logistics for setting up our triage areas, and to conduct head-to-toe assessment of victims after triage. We also learned to treat a long list of things that nobody wants, but just might have in an emergency: wounds, burns, sprains, dislocations, fractures, nosebleeds, bites, heat-related injuries and hypothermia.