For a driver who crashes during the TT van Assen, first aid students are always ready immediately along the track. But what if, for example, you fall from the slope and you spread your ankle or wrist? Then there are 55 first aid students during the TT weekend who are only active behind the stands and slopes.
“This is the biggest event of the year for us,” says coordinator Hennie Bremer of the First Aid department. “But it is not only working, it is also a nice outing.”
From headache to a mosquito stitch and from a bloody nose to a cardiac arrest. First aiders see everything passing by during the race weekend. “We are there for the public. Those people have bought a ticket for the event,” Bremer explains her role as a social worker. “If there is something wrong, we will try to calve someone up again as quickly as possible so that they can see the races again. Is it really serious? Then there are also doctors and ambulances to help.”
That audience during the TT is slightly different than the audience during Pak him bit the youth tour Assen, or any other event where the volunteers of the first aid association Assen are deployed. “For us this is also a very nice day to work,” says Els van der Zalm, one of the post leaders around the circuit. “All the audience comes to the event for pleasure. If you have helped someone, then the person is usually very positive. Especially the foreign guests. They are often completely surprised that they don’t have to pay for anything.”
Van der Zalm came up with a trick a few years ago, so she can do her work extra well. “I hung a very large coloring page at the time. Everyone who came here for help, I asked to color a piece.” But it also works for groups of friends in the oil and come with their wounded comrade. “By having them color, they are busy for a while. At that time we can treat their wounded friend.”
Bremer knows life in the stands and slopes like no other. In the 70s she went to the TT as a fan on the motorcycle. Since 2002 she has been active as a first aid player during the event. “You have your first aid diploma and then you will be asked to sign up for an event. I chose the TT. This is how you grow in it.”
Her colleague came to live in Assen 26 years ago and the TT started to appreciate enormously. Van der Zalm: “I sometimes say that without me the TT Festival will not take place. That yields surprised faces with colleagues on the track.” Have you been into the city? ” Yes, I don’t drink a drop of alcohol there and the next morning I just get on the track. “
The women don’t see a lot of the training sessions and races. “But at the same time there is really room for that,” says Bremer. “For us, the TT as first aiders is also a nice day out. So I also encourage people to take a look at the races. At the same time it is great to watch people here. You also have contact with them if you are not working.”
Van der Zalm remembers an Englishman. He came to her a few years ago with a Tree beer. “He asked if we could guard it for a moment while he went to the toilet. We then exchanged the full glasses with empty.” No, no, no, “that man shouted when he came back. Of course we exchanged them again. But the funny thing was that I came across the man again at the height of the Herberg. ‘She Stole Our Beer This Morning’. “
If it becomes a warm TT again, the buckets of water are ready to cool overheated visitors. The first aiders then have a busy day. For the rest it is a surprise what they encounter.
Although, actually there is a certainty for Bremer every year. “About ten years ago a man came up with his son, but got his heart after a meter or two hundred burden. We helped him, he went to the hospital with the ambulance. He has come on top and since that edition he has been taking a pack of Gouda cakes for us every year.”