Captain Dan Rossi of the Canadian Forces Snowbirds visited students at Isabelle Sellon School in Blairmore last Thursday, January 5th.
During one-hour presentations to each of the three grades, Rossi told students what it’s like to fly for a living and with the Snowbirds, as well as promoting safety.
Rossi told the students that the Snowbirds act as ambassadors of SMARTRISK, a national charity dedicated to preventing injuries.
SMARTRISK was founded in 1991 by Dr. Robert Conn, a children’s heart surgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and mainly focuses on educating youth, the age group at peak risk for injury.
According to Rossi, the Snowbirds regularly visit kids receiving treatment at the hospital, and wanted to get involved in promoting the message of SMARTRISK and teaching kids to be safe and smart.
“It’s hard to see kids who are sick and hurt from things that they could have been smart about and protected themselves from,” Rossi told students.
“For us, what we do is very risky, so we do as many smart things as we can to reduce the risk of getting hurt and we hope that you will too.”
He told students about the gear and safety precautions the Snowbirds use to mitigate their risk of injury when flying, including fireproof flight suits, helmets, parachutes, visors and ejection seats.