CPR, the Heimlich Manoeuvre how to find and use a public access defibrillator were just some of the emergency skills youngsters gained at a special first aid course in Portishead aimed at seven to 11-year-olds.
The course proved such a hit with both the children and their parents, that more courses are now planned throughout the summer.
The courses were arranged by GTE Training Academy on a not-for-profit basis. Director of the academy, Kevin Browning, said: “I believe everyone should learn first aid and lifesaving skills and I want to make it easy for people to access the courses that can equip them with the information they need to save a life, should the need ever arise.
“The earlier children can learn these vital lifesaving skills the better as far as I’m concerned and so I was happy to provide our state of the art training centre facilities free of charge to the Mini Medics instructors, who delivered two hours of training to the children in a fun and engaging way. If it helps save just one life in the future it will have been worth it.”
In addition to providing the venue free of charge, Kevin also bought Mini Medic baseball caps for each of the children taking part so they had something else to take away with them, in addition to their certificates and Mini Medics books.
Debbie Ball, a mum who accompanied her two children on the course, said: “This was a great opportunity for my children to learn some really important life skills and if I’m honest I also learned a lot. I hadn’t realised the children would have so much fun, they practised bandaging each other, took turns to use a choke vest and also used CPR manikins.
“They were helped to identify dangers in the home and learned about talking to a casualty before they helped them. Who would have thought you could cover so much in two hours and then at the end when they did a recap, the children remembered so much. It was brilliant and I strongly recommend it.”
Rachael Hedges, Kevin’s personal assistant, added: “Not only do we plan to run more of these first aid for children courses, we are adding first aid course for teenagers too.”
GTE Training Academy runs a wide range of accredited training courses for individuals and businesses in addition to first aid, including Health and Safety at Work, Mental Health First Aid, Site Supervision and Management Training and much more. The training academy rooms are also available for hire, along with the latest technology and equipment. To find out more visit www.GTETA.com
The next Mini Medica course will take place on October 22 from 10am to 12noon.
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