We have again this January hosted our annual First Aid in the Outdoors Course. This is an intensive 18+ hour training course in First Aid that takes casualty care beyond the first 30 mins and looks at how first aiders might care for a casualty in a remote outdoor environment when medical care is potentially several hours away. This year 20 candidates, mostly teachers, practiced the basics of diagnosis, bandaging,
resuscitation etc. inside and then we went outside to try it in a 'real' context.
To make things even more realistic we had a make-up expert create life-like wounds and then scenarios were set up outside with 3 casualties at a time. The first aiders needed to make triage decisions and then treat each casualty for their injuries.
The three trainers include a retired SW Amulance Superintendent with 40 years experience and another with experience as the team leader of a Mountain Rescue Team. Anecdotal discussion and lectures in topics such as hypothermia, diabetes, asthma and heart conditions etc. all increase the candidates knowledge of how to care for different ailments. At the end of the course all candidates were independently assessed by external examiners and due to their excellent training all passed! The course is approved by the BCU and recognised by UKMLTB and is valid for 3 years. If you are interested in doing next January's course give us a call.
