45 members attended First Aid Training sessions provided by paramedic volunteers from Central Fast Response and are now much more able and confident to deal with medical emergencies – until the professionals arrive.
The training covered the following topics, for babies through to the elderly.
- How to help someone who is choking.
- Dealing with serious bleeding and the use of ‘Bleed Kits’.
- Recognising the symptoms of a stroke (F.A.S.T.).
- Putting someone in the recovery position.
- Providing CPR – chest compressions – in an effective way.
- Using a community defibrillator.
We learned some very simple tips that everyone can adopt.
If you have the misfortune to need to call for an ambulance, will they find your house and will they be able to get in quickly when they arrive? If you're away from your home, can you tell them where you are?
- Is your house clearly numbered or named so that it can be seen and read from the road?
- Remember to ‘shout for help’ from neighbours or bystanders, if possible.
- If you are going to have to do CPR at home and you have no help, unlock the doors for the paramedics BEFORE you start chest compressions, and if it’s dark, put on all the room lights at the front of the house.
- Have the “What3Words” app. on your smart phone so that, if you are out in the countryside, you can give the emergency services a very precise location of where you are. (The App. is free to download and pinpoints your location down to a few metres).
The sessions were very well received by all those present and many attendees gave a voluntary donation to the charity to help with their running costs. We are pleased to report that our members made a total donation of £204.50 to this very worthy cause.
Central Fast Response are more than happy to provide the training to us again and we anticipate that we will now offer a similar training opportunity to all members annually.
Kim Jago
Richard Walton
Organisers.