DAILY CLIPS COVER - East Carolina University

The effort extended beyond class members, as staff, faculty and family members gave
too. Students raised money in a variety of ways including selling Valentine's care
packages to parents to send to their nursing student.
“It was such a widespread contribution because of the global impact,” said Dr. Kim
Larson, assistant professor of nursing, who for the past few summers has led a study
abroad class to Guatemala where students have seen needs up close by working in health
clinics, schools and nutrition centers in the Mayan community.
Larson and nine undergraduate nursing students, and two psychology, two biology and
four public health graduate students will be leaving May 22 for Guatemala where they
will work until June 10.
Students broadcast aerial lift techniques
A graduate project by two ECU students resulted in safety recommendations for aerial lift
videotaping by athletic programs that have been broadcast to universities in the Big XII,
Conference USA and the University of Virginia.
The presentation, “Aerial Lift Safety and Football Practice,” was broadcast April 20 from
ECU's global classroom. It addressed a crucial collegiate sports issue in the spotlight
since October 2010, after a 20-year-old Notre Dame student was killed while videotaping
football practice. The student was standing inside a 40-foot scissor lift toppled by a wind
gust exceeding 50 mph.
Scissor lifts are used for obtaining aerial video of outdoor practices in many collegiate
sports, including the ECU Pirates football program.
Chris Bland and Landon Hoefer, both graduate assistants for the football team,
recommended classroom and hands-on instruction to ensure each lift operator has
sufficient knowledge on precautions, visual inspections and workplace hazards.
“Users must demonstrate that they can safely operate the machine before they go up
there,” said Hoefer.
Bland and Hoefer also recommended attaching an anemometer to the lifts' railings to
measure wind speeds and shutting down the lifts if wind speeds exceed 35 mph.
ECU head football coach Ruffin McNeill supported Bland and Hoefer's findings. “When
that wind blows, safety overrides everything,” he said.
McNeill said the Notre Dame incident has made everyone in collegiate athletics more
aware of the dangers associated with aerial videography. “I tell every video guy about
Ruff's rule,” he said. “If you're nervous or scared, you come down. That's Ruff's rule and
they all know it.”