Rotary presents scholarships; Tesi speaks on work overseas

Franklin Rotary presented its 2018 scholarships to three recipients, Tuesday.
Jacob Adams, Rachel LeBlanc and Noel Johnson were this year’s awardees and were provided their scholarship checks at the rotary’s weekly luncheon at the Forest Restaurant.
Adams intends to spend his check at Louisiana Tech University where he wants to major in biomedical engineering.
LeBlanc said she wants to attend Nicholls State University to get her degree in nursing, which also happens to be the chosen profession of Johnson, who intends to get her degree from University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Johnson thanked the Rotarians on behalf of all the recipients.
Following the presentations, Dr. Donna Tesi spoke about work she has been doing overseas with Operation Smile and Tulane University.
Tesi said she has met with individuals from Cambodia and Nepal, focusing on disaster planning, triage protocols in particular.
“So, you have a flood or an earthquake,” Tesi said. “How do you get to people that are in isolated areas? Suddenly you may have a hospital that is isolated because of the water on the roads and you have to get people out of there. How do you do that? How do you choose who goes first, second or third?
“If you work at a hospital, do you know how to get to the roof, and whether or not it will support a helicopter?”
She touched on the literal ABC’s of protocol approach, as pertains to levels of severity criteria informing treatment, “A” standing for “airway with cervical spine protection,” “B” for “breathing/ventilation/oxygenation,” and so on through “E.”
Tesi also discussed triage categories in terms of priority, and gave three scenario drills in which Rotarians and guests were invited to interact in discerning the level of severity, treatment and evacuation precedence of multi-patient situations.
She closed with “Namaste,” which she said translates to, “I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me,” a term the Nepalese are purported to use regularly in salutations and well wishes.