Free training in priceless life saving skills

 

Skills that can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved were recently taught to 45 Essex residents during a free course run by the nation’s leading first aid charity.

How to cope in an emergency

During the three hour essential life saving skills course, members of the public from all walks of life were taught what to do in a major medical emergency.

Course participants included teenagers working towards their Duke of Edinburgh Award, student nurses wanting to build on their existing skills and retired people keen to know how to deal with an emergency in the home. Their ages ranged from 12 to 81.

Topics covered included:

• Dealing with an unconscious casualty
• Resuscitating an adult who has stopped breathing
• Coping with severe bleeding
• Treating someone with severe chest pains
• Coping with someone who’s choking.

Lack of first aid training

The free course, part of an ongoing programme held at Essex St John Ambulance's county HQ in Chelmsford, was part of the charity's mission to ensure that no-one dies unnecessarily because they needed first aid and didn't get it.

Research carried out by St John Ambulance in 2010 showed that up to 150,000 people* - more than Chelmsford's entire population - die every year in situations where first aid could have saved them.

Around 58% of people wouldn't know what to do if faced with a medical emergency and a quarter would do nothing.

Paul Knighton, who heads Essex St John Ambulance's training team, said: 'You never know when you may need first aid. It could be in the home, at work, any time, any place.'

'These courses provide you with the skills, confidence and ability to save a life. If every street across the country had just one first aider, that could be the difference between a life lost and a life saved. We're working to make sure that access to first aid training is a basic right.'

Feedback from the free courses shows participants come away passionate about first aid and confident that they would be able to intervene and do the right thing when faced with a life or death situation. Participants also state in their various ways just how fundamental they feel it is that more people in the community possess these life saving skills.

Future courses

Essex St John Ambulance will be running more free courses on 19 July and 17 November. The courses are proving extremely popular and places are limited. For more information or to book a place please call 01245 265678.