First Aid for Everyone

One topic which I am extremely passionate about is First Aid. I genuinely believe that everyone should have some awareness of First Aid and the skills to give them confidence if they found themselves in a situation where someone required First Aid. Personally, I have been trained in First Aid since I was 18 years old, as I have always worked in the care industry, however, thankfully, I have rarely used these skills which I have been repeatedly trained in. A friend of mine, Becky, a self-employed painter, had never had any First Aid training when late one night, her Dad had a cardiac arrest and she performed CPR. Incredibly she managed to get his heart working again. In this situation Becky was able to listen to the 999 call handlers instructions and carry out these required actions. We never know when we may find ourselves in these situations where quick thinking and quick actions could save someone’s life.

Selfishly I want to surround myself with family and friends who would be able to assist me if I ever needed First Aid. It is generally through work that people are trained in First Aid, however from my experience these skills are more frequently used in the home environment or from a member of the public. Therefore, in my opinion everyone should be trained in First Aid. I believe it should be taught in the schools, colleges, universities to children, teenagers and students not just once, but annually for updates. And that everyone regardless of their profession, ability or age should complete First aid training. Practically, I am not sure how this would work, in general, it would require people to be a great deal more proactive.

First Aid is described as help given to a sick or injured person until full medical treatment is available, I’m not expecting everyone to become a Doctor or Nurse, but just providing help until the ambulance or First Responder arrives! There are many courses out there ranging from 3 hours to 3 days Adult First Aid courses. There are then courses specifically for babies and children, such as Mini First Aid. My friend, Naomi runs classes across Suffolk and is fantastic. The courses are only £20pp, which is bargain for giving you the skills to know what to do if your little one ever needed First Aid. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service hold free awareness training for bikers, covering three modules – incident scene management, casualty care and the science of being seen. They explain as bikers tend to ride in groups or pairs, if one is involved in an accident the first person on the scene will be fellow biker. I am positive there are many more great training courses out there, it’s about being proactive and sharing the word when we do find them.

I am a First Aid Trainer for Ocala Healthcare. As soon as I got my training, I held a training session for my family and friends who are self-employed or stay at home mums who in other circumstances wouldn’t be able to access First Aid training through work. My mum attended the training course and at aged 53, she has never completed a First Aid training course before. Everyone loved the opportunity to help build not only their knowledge but also their confidence, especially the practical side of the training (we have a chocking vest and CPR manikin for everyone to practice on). These skills will hopefully empower them, if they ever need to use them. I have also offered to do Training sessions in Basic First Aid for charities, to help build my fight for enabling everyone to become First Aid trained.

What next for you….? If you are employed, I would highly recommend speaking to your employer and explaining to them that you would like to complete First Aid training. If you are not employed or self-employed, I would have a look at the range of First Aid courses available near you, and book yourself on to one. You can also contact us to book onto one of our Basic Life Support Training courses. Hopefully, you won’t ever have to the use the skills you will be taught, but they will be there if you ever do need to.

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