HART Training Manager receives UK National Award
Monday, 25 July, 2011
Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST) Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) Training Manager Jason Fenard last week received a UK National recognition award at the Ambition 2011 HART Conference in Telford.
Jason, from Cardiff, was nominated for the 'Special Achievement Award - Highly Commended' by colleagues and students at the Fire Service College at Moreton in Marsh where he had been seconded to the post of Course Director for HART Urban Search and Rescue (USAR).
The award was presented at the conference in front of a crowd of over 400 delegates attending the HART and NHS Leadership Conferences including Welsh Ambulance Service Executives and Welsh Government officials.
Jason has recently been appointed Training Manager for the newly set up Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) in Wales. The HART Team consists of specially recruited and trained personnel who provide the ambulance response to major incidents involving hazardous materials, or which present hazardous environments, that have occurred as a result of an accident or have been caused deliberately.
Jason said: "It was an honour to receive the award as the nominations came from both colleagues I have worked with and students I had personally trained over the three years whilst I was seconded to the USAR role. During that time there were many developments in the USAR training programme and it was a privilege to be involved in turning the concept of Ambulance USAR into a reality. I feel it is very valuable to bring this skillset to WAST as part of its HART in Wales and look forward to developing our own staff as the HART Training Manager.
"The USAR training is really tough and certainly puts new recruits to the test. It mainly involves training in safe-working at height which calls for skills to move at height alongside the fire service and provide personal rescue at an incident for example at height on a collapsed building, or working on elevated areas to gain access to patients trapped in collapsed buildings; confined-space working which is delivered by Mines Rescue and involves training re work in collapsed buildings, mines, trenches, sewer systems and silos; and working in other restricted access areas such as tunnel systems down to 15" in height and extracting casualties from deep underground using specialised equipment.
"The training is intense and not for the faint-hearted! But it's very rewarding work for me to be involved in training staff to be the best in their field, and knowing that when they're called upon they'll have the skills and knowledge to do the job asked of them."
