For four days earlier this month, from 9 – 12 April, I had the privilege of being party to an amazing event – the St John National Youth Festival for 2015 held at Lincoln University in Christchurch. I’m not a member of St John or a volunteer, my association with them in the past has extended only to donations during their appeals and attending a First Aid course over 20 years ago. The only reason I was involved this year was because my husband Martin works for the organisation and volunteered my services along with his own for the weekend. I am so glad that he did; it was an experience that changed my perspective on life.

The tasks assigned to me over the Festival were minor support roles: assisting with registration by handing out room keys, co-judging the team communications competition, assisting catering with the morning teas and lunches during the practical competitions and collecting judging sheets for the compilation of results. Minor tasks they may have been but they gave me a wonderful opportunity to observe over 240 young New Zealand teenagers in a whole new and most inspiring light.

From the outset I saw calm confident kids, independently managing their lives and dealing with all the pressures and disappointments that come from competitions at this level. The competitions were an intensive, event-packed two days sandwiched between the registration and the powhiri on the Thursday and the ICT hui and formal dinner on the Sunday.

The first thing that impressed me was the quick change capability of these teenagers. I’m not talking behaviour here, I’m talking outfit. The ease with which these young folk transformed themselves from the relaxed laughing casually attired teens who arrived on the Thursday into uniformed cadets: hair slicked back (into tight buns for the girls), shoes shining, seams pressed, square shouldered and marching; to first responders (for the field competitions) in boiler suits, then back into uniform and a spectacular quick change into evening attire for the grand finale. There was precision, practicality and purpose behind every dress change and these kids performed it effortless and with a behaviour change to complement each attire. The challenge for me was to recognise these cadets through each transformation.

In watching the interplay between individuals and teams, with their leaders and their superiors, I got to observe these young people handle situations that many adults under similar circumstances would be completely flummoxed by. The field events were complex, real to life, staged simulations that would have passed for real on any televised action thriller. The cadets followed protocol with that same precision, practicality and purpose I’d noted in their quick-change dress regime.

One event set the standard for me and gave me an insight that formed the lens through which I observed the entire competition. This was the Team Communications event I was invited to co-judge with two St John’s Community Youth Leaders. I was the outside perspective, the fresh eyes, the unbiased observer.

The task for twelve teams of five was to present for 10 minutes on the 5 new core values of St John, their interpretation of each value and how they would communicate these to the organisation at large and the wider community. Each team had 10 minutes in which to prepare.

Now I don’t mind saying that on first reading the task I couldn’t help reflecting on the impossibility of it under those conditions, even for a team of adults. I soon learned though that impossible was not a word these kids have in their vocabulary. The young people applied themselves to the task with organisation, cooperation, creativity and seemed to have fun while they were doing it. By the end of the five hours of judging, I knew each of the values, had a wealth of interpretations, and a mind full of the wonder of these kids. It truly was a most insightful and revealing experience.

I got to see the training techniques used to develop these teams by the way each operated. I got to hear the issues many of these individuals faced through the way they interpreted and described the values. And I got to experience the delight of the creative synergy of like minds through each presentation. More importantly I got to see teams of teenagers demonstrating these values through their application, something seldom seen even at a corporate level of an organisation let alone at the base level.  The values themselves will be the topic of my next blog, but what was interesting was the thought processes these teens revealed as they struggled with their interpretation. I came away from the event transformed: Inspired by what I had seen, excited at the prospects for this country with young leaders of this calibre and transformed by simply taking part in the experience. I had the sense that I had been privy to something rich in the values that the kids themselves believed in and over the course of the festival I saw this demonstrated repeatedly.

Watching the clinical and healthcare events on the second day of competition, what struck me most was the calm, collected and careful way in which these cadets went about their tasks. The simulations were complicated true-to-life representations of accidents St John has responded to in the past: drunk students in a burning flat, a gas pipe repair gone wrong, a renegade trailer that crushes its victim, gym accidents such as a broken nose – blood everywhere, a crushed chest from an over-zealous bench press attempt, and a collapse during training. There was a car reversed over a skateboard that sent a cyclist flying, a foreign visitor with a damaged arm and no command of English, and an accident inside a locked building where the responder had to give instructions to the victim through a plate glass window.

The teams, pairs and individuals that attended these accidents demonstrated more than their ability to apply first aid. They showed the competencies of leaders of the future with their speedy assessment of the situation, the delegated triage and first aid response in the teams events and in their dealing with interfering members of the public like the gym manager worried about legal action, or the car driver trying to tell the cadets how to do their job. The responders followed protocol but with consideration for the situation and the environment. They consulted their team mates when tough decision were called for or called into base for options. All the while they were constantly assessing, deciding on and applying the best course of action. I saw the values that they had presented on the day before being put into practice in these field events.

Sure the scenarios were simulated, but these kids worked for real. I could tell that should ever they be presented with a genuine emergency situation, this same confidence and competency would immediately kick into action with the same care and calmness on display during the competition.

And then there was the award ceremony; tension that was palpable, clutched hands, impassive masks of apprehension and anticipation. The explosive release of this tension as each award was announced, the exuberant delight in the achievement of others, the tears of joy for some and no doubt disappointment for others, and the excited enthusiasm displayed with each award announcement.

I am so grateful to these young people for sharing this experience with me and I am sure that in the future I shall be delighted through a future association with some of them, but in the meantime, St John and the country as a whole, are all the richer for having such dedicated young people leading the way in the provision of primary first responder health care.

We really couldn’t be in better hands.