Officially 226 days ..03 hours …42minutes …32 seconds to go as I start this update on the 9th December, in the tail end of 2013. No doubt it will a lot let less than this by the time the magazine is out. As soon as we hit January 2014 the countdown will be truly on!!
Since the last update the process has been moving on greatly. The range of massage qualifications and professional bodies meant that registration checks etc… for the massage group was fairly complex and time-consuming. From the volunteers’ perspective the most noticeable progress is that all the interviewing has been done, and offers to successful candidates have now gone out. Due to technical reasons, the offers had to go out in batches over several weeks, so some therapists had to wait a little longer than others for the formal offer. The order the offers went out does not in any way suggest some hierarchy of interview success, but was totally random. It is hoped that all who have been offered a place have been in a position to accept and become part of the large integrated medical team.
KEY PLANNING: current situation
· Offering: roles and venues have been offered to volunteers Nov/Dec 2013
· Acceptances: from volunteers received end of Nov into Dec 2013
· Rostering: allocating individuals to shifts Dec 2013/Jan 2014
· Issuing Rosters: will go out to volunteers Feb 2014
· Training: March-May 2014. General Games training and specific massage volunteer training. There will be Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) to become acquainted with to help guide volunteers in their respective roles. These are currently being developed.
TRAINING:
All volunteers will undergo 2 training days. The General Games induction training day and a Medical Role Induction day. This medical training day will be integrated with all the other medical providers, physios, sports medicine doctors, dentists, nurses, radiologists, opthalmologists, podiatrists etc …and have joint sessions, as well as massage-specific ones.
There will be 4 different dates for medical training, which will all take place at Hampden Park. Around 250 volunteers are planned for each day. The medical training sessions are not all on the same day of the week, in order to make it easier for all to attend one of the 4 dates.
Sun April 27th…Sat 10th May…Thu 15th May…Sat 31st May
ACCOMMODATION hosting for volunteers:…..WATCH THIS SPACE…
As many massage volunteers may be coming from afar, and with accommodation scarce and at a premium, there is a development currently underway with SPORTEX magazine (Editor Tor Davies ). This is to set up an informal social media hosting site, for therapists and others to make available spare capacity to house therapists in need of accommodation for the period of the Games……Hopefully more to follow on this in early 2014……….
Thanks to all SMTO members who are now on board and will be flying the flag next July/August. AH
Stop press… So far we have heard that the following members have been successful (do let us know if we haven’t included you!):
- Maggie Brooks-Carter, SMTO Chairman
- Jeri Handloser Berg
- Suzanne Clarke
- Gwen Dolan
- Sarah Urquhart-Taylor