Du Quoin teacher and medic go the distance to keep students safe

Du Quoin Middle School social studies instructor Nathan Crain has always gone above and beyond when it comes to students.

It's like middle school science teacher Bob Johnson who shows students how to successfully plant a tree or a shrub. Don't just tell them

Nathan--an outdoorsman--adds a hunter safety curriculum to what he does and on Monday he enlisted longtime Pinckneyville Ambulance service emergency medical technician Will Higgerson to teach students about first aid in the great outdoors.

Anything can happen in the field--cuts, a twisted ankle or broken leg from a fall, hypothermia from the cold, snake bites, dog bites and rifle or shotgun accidents.

For over an hour, he talked to students about safety while out in the field and walked students through how to deal with the unthinkable, a hunting accident.

The last mock accident of the day involved Paxton Higgerson being struck in the upper leg from the accidental discharge of a 12 gauge shotgun while climbing through the wires of a fence while hunting.

Kayla Deen was his classroom hunting companion.

Higgerson was able to talk her through the accident from start to finish--from getting the guns and other equipment far enough away to be able to help the victim, to calling 911 on a cell phone, to being able to locate where they are through phone GPS software to stabilizing the patient.

Naturally, some students snickered as their friends were taken through the steps--but they listened and they were engaged in what was going on.

Crain has made hunter safety part of his curriculum for the past three years and is also sponsor for the bass fishing team.

"That was the best class ever," commented one eighth grader leaving the classroom. The caring was obvious as the school can point to another class act.