my name is trent keller and i had the incredible fortune to be borne into a river running family this week we are down here with all of our guide staff practicing, rehearsing and drilling current safety practices making sure that our first aid, our swift water rescue,
our company policies are the state of the art and i'd like to personally invite you to come and experience a trip of a lifetime with western river expeditions. to share with our guides, to share with us, to be a part of our family in one of the canyons
that we call home. hi, i am john dillon of the grand canyon river outfitters association. our association is made up of sixteen professional outfitters that are contracted by the national park service to provide multi-day whitewater experiences in grand canyon national park. western river expeditions is one of them.
i was invited to participate in their wilderness first responder training, their swift water rescue and their cpr and first aid training for all their guides here this season its nice to see this level of dedication by the ownership, by the management and by those first hand employees that are working out here very hard.
its been great to spend a week here with western river expeditions seeing firsthand how seriously they take this training. this kind of training is professionalism personified. this is the gold standard that we like to see with all our outfitters
at grand canyon national park. we are out here in cataract canyon doing some continuing education training with our guides. we try to prepare for situations that might arise on the river. so what we do is we train, and train and train so that if something does go wrong
we are ready for it. we train extensively how to avoid these situations in the first place. our risk management program actually starts with when we hire these people. its about choosing the right people,
people who are intelligent. we try and determine from their previous work background and personality whether they are going to be a good fit for the work that we do out here. it takes a unique personality that can stay calm and collected in all situations
and that is equally talented at having fun and entertaining or at being calm and thoughtful in a situation that may require a more serious approach and so we teach, we teach, we teach but it starts with them. one of the things i am most proud of is our staff we truly have a family with who we work.
people that are so incredibly gifted and they become a unit that works together as you see them doing here. among our unique mix of employees we have a broad range of interests and other professions in which our guides work. we have an attorney, we have a cpa, we have a professional paramedic,
we have nurses, we have skydiving instructors, ski patrollers, teachers and people who are so incredibly skilled in other areas of their lives and carry great responsibility in other areas of their lives and then they bring those skills and talents and abilities to what we do.
we have college athletes that are working for us currently. its really a nice array of people. probably the hardest job that some of them have that they do outside of what they do for western is that we have several parents of small children and as we all know the most challenging of all jobs or professions that
you can have in this life is raising kids and we have some wonderful family people that we have working for us who have managed to figure out a way to raise their family and still do this work and they are really remarkable people. the collective intelligence and talent of this group of people creates an experience that is unparalleled.
they can take an experience that is naturally wonderful, like a trip through the bottom of the grand canyon or a trip through canyonlands national park or desolation canyon on the green river, which those experiences in and of themselves are phenomenal but the guides with their talents and skills and personalities they have take it
to a completely different level and create those kind of lifetime experiences that bring people back time and again. you know, western river-one of the things that we really pride ourselves on is our staff and the river guides that we pick to take you down the river. every single one of our guides is handpicked because they have great personalities.
they are safety conscious and they love the outdoors and they love showing people this incredible country. so whether you are coming with yourself, your spouse or with your family, rest assured that western river has chosen guides who care about you and who care about the experience that you get in this part of our great country
our guides are trained in first aid. we train them in swift water rescue technique and we also train them how to prepare meals for you and how to take care of your certain dietary needs. we do everything we can to make sure that you have your trip of a lifetime as we know that everyone has a lot of options as to where they can travel
in this world and we think that our guides set us apart from almost any adventure or excursion that you could do. we're trying to achieve transformative experiences, its not just come out and show someone a good time. we want them to go home, having been changed. there are not too many people in this world who will get emotional about their work.
i think its unique we all feel passionate about it and we all feel passionate about each other and the relationships that we have with our co-workers and for that i am very grateful and extremely proud of this group of people that are willing to come out here and dedicate so much time and just put their wholeselves, their energy
and time and resources into their job in a way that is unique in this world. there aren't many jobs where people are as fully dedicated as everybody from top to bottom in our organization and that is a wonderful thing.