news & events

May 24, 2005

Oregon Automobile Dealers Association Donates Life-Saving Training Tool to Ski Patrol

Portland, Ore. On any given day during the winter recreational season, tragedy can strike. From accidents and injuries to life-threatening heart attacks, mountain ski patrollers play a vital role in saving lives and assisting injured skiers. When catastrophe strikes, like their fellow patrollers across the nation, the volunteers at Willamette Pass Ski Area 70 miles southeast of Eugene must be ready to take immediate action.

To enhance the patrol's ability to come to people's aid, the Oregon Automobile Dealers Association (OADA), in conjunction with the National Auto Dealers Association Foundation (NADA), has donated a second "Resusci Anne" manikin training unit to Willamette Pass Ski Patrol. The training unit will allow the ski patrol to train other volunteers to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to skiers who suffer heart attacks while on the slopes.

As part of it's ongoing commitment to community involvement, the unit was presented by OADA board members Robert Scherer, Springfield Buick owner/president and Ed Tonkin, NADA Foundation director along with Greg Remensperger, OADA executive vice president.

"According to the American Heart Association, CPR and defibrillation conducted within the first three to five minutes after collapse can result in greater than 50 percent long-term survival rates," said Scherer. "By providing the ski patrol with this device they can train volunteers to perform early CPR, which buys time until emergency personnel can arrive."

The Willamette Pass Ski Patrol is an all volunteer organization comprised of approximately 70 on-hill patrollers, each with outdoor emergency care certification, and 20 auxiliary patrollers, the latter of which are doctors, nurses and paramedics. Each patroller owns all the medical supplies in his/her pack, providing free medical assistance to injured skiers or snowboarders. The patrol owns all of the medical supplies, sleds, etc., used on the hill and in the aid room.

"The CPR training unit has become a vital part of our emergency care arsenal," noted Steve John, assistant Willamette Pass ski patrol director and CPR instructor. "It allows us to improve the caliber of our training, and ultimately it improves our ability to provide quick, lifesaving emergency treatment when it's required. As an all volunteer organization, we rely on the generous support of partners like the OADA and NADA Foundation, and applaud their commitment to the community."

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Since the 1930s, the Oregon Automobile Dealers Association (OADA) has served its mission of representing and promoting the retail automobile industry in Oregon through public policy and industry representation, a wide range of community programs, and ongoing dealership management assistance. For more information visit www.oada.biz.

The National Automobile Dealers Charitable Foundation is part of the National Automobile Dealers Association with headquarters in McLean, Virginia. Its membership includes more than 19,000 franchised new car and truck dealers in the U.S.