Dozens of Scouts Descend on Camp Seton for a Day of Emergency Services Badge Workshops

On Saturday morning, Greenwich woke up to a blanket of snow, which highlighted the natural beauty of Greenwich Scouting’s Camp Seton on Riversville Road. Just in time for a merit badge workshops.

The daylong event included a morning and afternoon session. In between was lunch and demonstrations by K-9s, enjoyed by Scouts and volunteers alike.

At one of the stations for Scouts seeking their First Aid Merit Badge, Josh Ziac, an EMT with Greenwich EMS who is the Explorer Post Advisor, quizzed Scouts about what to do when someone who had bled a lot and gone into shock.

“You’ve stopped the bleeding, what is my most important thing I need to do?” he asked.

“You want to keep them warm. Blankets! You want to keep your patients warm,” he said.

According to Emilia Schiro, event coordinator from the Greenwich Council, over 50 participants, including Scouts from the nearby Westchester Council and Connecticut Yankee Council (in Connecticut including Stamford), ventured to Camp Seton to earn badges, including two required ones to become an Eagle Scout.

“We are doing emergency services badge workshops today,” Shiro said. “We last did it two years ago, with Greenwich Police chief Jim Heavey, who coordinates all the first responder volunteers. We are covering merit badges including first aid, traffic safety, search & rescue and emergency prep.”

Two of the requirements for Eagle Scout are First Aid and Emergency Prep.

“We’re having an amazing day. The first responders here today are from Greenwich, and we have a couple merit badge counselors here from Connecticut Yankee. As a Scout, you earn merit badges. You need to earn 22 and 11 of them are Eagle Scout requirements. You can do more than 22, but that is how many are required.”

“We’re utilizing all the buildings here at Camp Seton, with a station in each building,” Schiro said.

“In first aid, there are four stations covering four areas of first aid,” she said. “Some of the merit badges had prerequisites: For fire, they had to do an evacuation of their home. For first aid the prerequisite was to put together a first aid kit.”

Chief Heavey said that among the volunteers were former Greenwich Police deputy chief Robert Berry, who is now Police Chief at Western Connecticut State University, as well as Scout Master in Wilton. Chief Berry came to Camp Seton to lead a session on emergency preparedness.

Heavey said other volunteers came from Glenville and Round Hill to lead fire safety stations.

John Mastracchio, part of the CERT team, came to lead a safety station. The Greenwich Emergency Response Team (CERT) is a group of trained volunteers who assist the community during emergencies or disasters.

Greenwich Police senior traffic investigator JD Smith hosted a station that included the “FARO machine,” which is the computer that can create a 3D diagram of a crash.

One of the highlights of the daylong event were K-9 demonstrations, including one with Lindsey Taylor a Norwalk Police Dept detective paired with K-9 Remy, a Belgian Malamar, who responds to commands in French because when he was raised as a puppy his handlers spoke French.

During the demonstration, Detective Taylor rewarded K-9 Remy with a ball to play with after he successfully located a “murder weapon,” a serrated blade, which had been dabbed with bone marrow and muscle and hidden in a wooded area of Camp Seton.

A second demonstration was with Greenwich Police Dept Master Police Officer Jeff Franco and K-9 Arrow, a Shepherd trained in Czech Republic, who takes his commands  in English.

Officer Franco explained that K-9 Arrow comes to and from work with him every day and lives with him and his family including young children.’

“At home he’s a really good dog and loves to play. But when he comes here, he knows it’s time to work,” Franco said. “He knows when to work. I bring the harness out and say, ‘Ready?’ and he runs in circles. And he knows my uniform and when he sees me in blues, he gets ready to work.”

“We got him when he was about one year old,” Franco added. “His commands are in English.”

Training for K-9 Arrow includes evidence recovery, tracking and obedience.

After the demonstration MPO Franco let Scouts and volunteers pet K-9 Arrow one at a time.