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Residents meet emergency workers
Williamsburg, Marengo host National Night Out
Iowa County residents climbed into emergency vehicles, visited with emergency workers and collected plenty of trinkets during National Night Out Aug. 6 in Williamsburg and Marengo.
In Williamsburg, first responders set up around the square to show off their equipment and interact with the public. Area businesses and organizations set up games and activities and offered food.
National Night Out was designed to enhance the relationship between neighbors and law enforcement while bringing back a true sense of community, said Williamsburg First Responders in a news release prior to the event.
“It provides a great opportunity to bring all public safety entities and neighbors together under positive circumstances.”
Next to the Iowa National Guard field ambulance, Jocelyn Crawford, with Brigade Support Battalion 334 out of Cedar Rapids, helped children pick MREs to try. The vacuumed sealed meals-ready-to-eat are common for military personnel but a novelty to civilians.
“People who don’t have to eat them everyday don’t mind trying them,” said Crawford.
A graduate of Williamsburg High School, Crawford now lives in Marengo. She helped children into the field ambulance and answered questions during National Night Out to “show them how we practice medicine out in the field.”
The process is very different from medical procedures in civilian life, Crawford said.
Nearby, Abby Schaffner, with the Iowa County Health Public Health Department, knelt on the pavement beside a dummy and helped children practice hands-only CPR.
Slow down and don’t push so hard, Schaffner told Tristan Bilkey, of Williamsburg. He needs to push the chest down only about two inches, she said.
Wandering through the crowd on the Williamsburg square was a big red bird — Iowa State’s mascot, Cy the Cardinal. Cy declined to speak but offered high-fives and fist bumps and posed for photos.
The Iowa State Patrol’s Public Resource Officer Bob Conrad let people find out why wearing seat belts is important. Anyone at least 14 years of age and taller than 4-feet, 9 inches, could strap into the Seat Belt Convincer and experience a simulated five mile per hour crash.
Gabby Troyer gave it a shot. “I thought it looked fun,” she said. “It was freaky.”
Conrad said he reminds people that the jolt at the end of the ride is at five miles an hour. Imagine what 55 mph feels like.
In Iowa, about 5% of people don’t wear seat belts, said Conrad. But that 5% accounts for nearly 50% of Iowa’s traffic fatalities.
Conrad had to turn down some potential riders because they were too young or too small. “I think kids are a little more willing because it’s a fun ride,” he said.
And the Highway Patrol wants to reach younger people because they are more impressionable. “We want to change habits,” he said, “and the way to change habits is to start young.”
Plenty of young people lined up to put on gloves and touch cows hearts on the Iowa County Public Health table. “They’re the same as a human heart but on a bigger scale,” said Tori Gehring.
The hearts were donated by Roehrkasse Meat Co. in Williamsburg.
Cole Daniels practiced aiming water from a fire hose at a model house façade with the help of firefighter Brock Johanson.
Cole’s father, Shane, is a paramedic with Iowa County and is usually in Marengo during National Night Out, his wife said. This year the family, from Luzerne, was able to enjoy National Night Out as spectators.
Midway through the event, the AirCare helicopter ambulance from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics landed on the Williamsburg square. A line quickly formed for a look inside.
Marengo
In Marengo, David Long played with the plastic fire helmet he got from firefighters on the square.
“This was the second year that we brought him,” said David’s mother, Ashley. “It’s good for the kids to know who they can trust,” she said.
In the back of an Iowa County ambulance, Kaylee Bender tried out the stretcher while her friends, Ellie Shine and Ava Babor, examined other things in the ambulance.
What made them decide to hop into the back of an ambulance?
“It’s an actual ambulance,” said Bender. It’s not a model.
“I like that there’s a stretcher,” said Shine.
Babor’s grandmother is a nurse, she said, and Babor wanted to see some of the things her grandmother works with on the job.
Paramedic Mike Morris explained the equipment to the girls and other children who stopped by during National Night Out.
“It just kind of shows everyone around. What we do,” Morris said. When children have seen an ambulance and medical equipment close up, “it’s not quite as scary” if they have to be transported for real injuries or health emergencies, Morris said.
Across the street, in the park, Jeff Meier and Iowa County Sheriff Rob Rotter let children try on dive gear.
Not every town has a dive team, said Rotter. “We’ve just always had one,” he said. “We’re joined with the Iowa City, Cedar Rapids area.”
The team is down one right now, said Rotter. He likes to have five, but right now he, Meier and two deputies are the only people on the team.
They’ve upgraded to a full face mask, said Rotter. That allows divers to talk to people above water.
“That’s a huge improvement since I started,” Rotter said. Before the upgrade, divers had to tug a rope to communicate.
The divers try to train several times a year, said Rotter. They use the Williamsburg and Amana pools.
Though the team was needed in a recent drowning at Lake Iowa, it’s also used for other reasons. Sometimes the team helps recover vehicles or evidence, said Rotter.
And the team doesn’t stay in Iowa County. “We’re available to Iowa,” said Rotter.
Children loved seeing the dive equipment during National Night Out, said Rotter. “Everyone had to try it on. Everything but the tanks.” They’re a little heavy, he said.
The Iowa Cattleman’s Association fired up the grill and cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for visitors to the Marengo square.
Lizzie’s Dining Car and Caboose Bar donated hamburger and buns, said Marengo Police Chief Ben Gray. Big G donated hot dogs and buns.
Family Dollar and BP donated ice, and Amoco donated cups.
“We’re fortunate to have good partners with the businesses,” said Gray. The police budget can’t cover all the expenses for the community outreach event.
Attendance was down a little, said Gray, which surprised him, given that the weather was better than last year. Cloud cover and temperatures in the 70s made the afternoon and evening more pleasant than the typical August heat of former years.
