As an NCO how much of there medical history are we supposed to know?
I only ask because our FS will do long marches or double time drill with the cadets leaving me to then end up with half of her squad inside dealing with asthma attacks or pain due to recent surgeries all of this is in there medical forms but she argues its not her job to know.
Any advice would be appreciated
Sounds like someone needs re-education…
I have some questions:
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why does she feel the need to do those things? It’s not boot camp.
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why is she not aware of these things anyway? Medical conditions are occasionally need to know depending on the condition - asthma, injuries, (most) surgeries, etc are things pretty much everyone responsible for cadets needs to know. If they are in her flight then she should know without having to look it up. If she’s planning physical activity then she should check beforehand.
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Is she over 18 and done her Staff Cadet? Regardless, whether or not she should know these things as par for the course is possibly debatable, but what is her job is to ensure the welfare and wellbeing of those she’s in charge of.
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why has nothing been done? This sounds like something which happens regularly and it’s not conduct I would tolerate on my Squadron. She’d be straight in the office for words of advice after the first occasion. If it continued… The door gets closed and the Beret stays on.
The inappropriate activities as described aside, what on earth sort of sqn have you got?
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In terms of adult staff letting this sort of thing go on. If you end up with cadets inside nursing injuries etc etc then surely someone from the staff should be asking wtf is going on and intervening.
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The amount of conditions you describe. We’ve got a couple of cadets with asthma, which they manage quite nicely but in all of my time in the Corps any cadet or member of staff having had a broken bone or returning after surgery, would be removed from drill etc for a while, not because of any cotton wool covering policy, but just so we don’t create more problems for ourselves. Are you sure you aren’t confusing injury with the teenage body struggling with activity and teenage growth patterns. Male cadets mostly can get spells where they grow and while the muscles catch up experience what is commonly known as growing pains. I’ve known cadets have fainting episodes as they grow. Then there are female cadets experiencing period pains. My daughter really struggled with this and we’ve been advised by parents of their daughters experiencing the same, which allowances have to be made.
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Do cadets not mix? An NCO not knowing a cadet has something like asthma or might have had a spell off sick/in hospital is most baffling. Our cadets and NCOs know more about each other than we do, because they are cadets, they talk to each other and know things about each other and in my experience has always been this way.
As for pre-existing conditions we only know if parents disclose them, but if known and required the staff should decide if a degree of allowance is needed if they deem it necessary, inform others and monitor the situation. We’ve currently got a cadet with hyper-mobility in their knees so we ensure that physical exercise is closely watched and allowed to sit out if they feel the requirement. They have times where they can and do everything, then times when they can’t. I’ve not seen them taking the mick with it as they know what their body allows them to do and how far they can push it. The NCOs told us (the cadet mentioned it in conversation) as the parents hadn’t said anything and when questioned said they didn’t want people treating them any differently, which is understandable to a degree, but didn’t help us particularly.