HYDE PARK – Hazen Union High School students Haley Blair and Paige Cruickshank participated in a First Aid Field Day (FAFD) at Green Mountain Tech and Career Center Saturday, Oct. 26
photo by Ross Johnston, Governor’s Institutes of Vermont.
Approximately three-dozen students from all over the state participated in the program leading students to careers in health and medicine by becoming certified as Vermont Emergency First Responders (VEFR), a step toward becoming an EMT.
The one day FAFD adventure was part of The Governors Institute of Vermont’s (GIV) Health & Medicine Institute. Students received training in CPR, Stop the Bleed and other basic first aid skills. They spoke with local first responders about what it’s like to work in the field, putting their new skills to use in the afternoon through a simulated mass casualty incident simulation.
The program doubled in size this year, going from 70 students to 140 students. The GIV Health & Medicine Institute added a second location at Castleton this summer.
photo by Ross Johnston, Governor’s Institutes of Vermont
In 2024, 75% percent of students received financial assistance to attend and 55% came from families with low incomes (2024).
Northern Vermont Area Health Education Center was a key partner for the event, working to increase access to health care careers for Vermont’s youth.
The Governor’s Institutes of Vermont (GIV) is a nonprofit organization giving Vermont high school students the opportunity to dive deep into a topic of interest for an intensive one to two weeks on a college campus. To learn more, visit https://giv.org Applications for summer 2025 will open in January.
An ealier versin of this story indicated stidents had been trained as first responders, a certification indicating specific skills have been learned.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
