By Sonia Dignard, OFA Member Service Representative for Glengarry, Stormont, Prescott, and Russell counties
For the past couple of years, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) has helped many county federations across the province in hosting events and developing projects that benefit their local communities with the help of the Revive Fund. During the past few years, the counties of
Russell, Stormont and Glengarry were each able to accomplish projects regarding awareness of road safety with farm machinery, public education on crops, and a few other things with the help of this funding. This year is no different.
Farm safety is always important so with that in mind, this year both Stormont Federation of Agriculture and Russell Federation of Agriculture are hosting First Aid and CPR courses for farmers in their counties. The course in Russell County is being offered, for free to members, on July 25th, From 9 am to 2 pm, by Menard Safety Courses in Embrun. The course will be bilingual and will cover many subjects, from the EMS system, breathing and circulation emergencies, to wound care, bone, muscle and joint injuries, environmental emergencies and poisons. The maximum number of participants is 18. What’s different with this course is that the participants must complete an 8-hour online session before the start of the in-person session. Menard said that with the changing times and busy lives of families and farmers, having the option of doing
part of the training at home, at your own pace, offers more flexibility.
The course in Stormont County, given by a certified instructor, will be open for all Stormont Federation of Agriculture (SFA) members, including family and staff, as well as for non-SFA members. It will be in person, and will either be two, 4-hour sessions in the evening, or one full day of 8 hours in July. The minimum number of participants is 8 and the maximum is 16 and there is a cost of $60 for SFA members and $135 for non-members.
Now, when we talk about farm safety, there’s also the subject of safety on the road with farm equipment. Every year, whether it’s during the spring or the fall, we see more large tractors and farm equipment on the roads as farmers travel from field-to-field and farm-to-farm to work
their land and get crops in the ground or off. Many of those roads are also used by trucks and accidents. That’s why this year, the Glengarry Federation of Agriculture (GFA) will be putting up road signs along busy highways in Glengarry County to promote safety on the road. The more
awareness we can raise, the more lives we can help save.
Finally, I think it’s always good to have a reminder that safety is important, whether it be on the road, at the farm or with each other. We should all take the time to take a break, smell the roses, and keep each other safe.
