A recent delegate faced an emergency situation just days after attending one of our courses. Here is his story:-

“Just wanted to let you know that I’ve just had to deal with … collapsed in the street outside bleeding from the throat. Kept him safe and breathing until the ambulance arrived. Remembered everything so thank you very much again.

Shows how important this is. Did my best, looking back I’m not sure I could have done anything much else. I had him sat up and forward to keep his airway as clear as possible and let the blood run out to stop it running down his throat. I collected the blood on dressings and kept them in a plastic bag to show how much he had lost. He could barely speak and I had him just concentrating on his breathing, keeping an eye on his condition to see if he deteriorated and got myself ready in case he collapsed into unconsciousness. I got a bystander to look out for the ambulance and another to keep onlookers away, though most people walked straight past trying to ignore the situation.

Let’s hope there are not too many more like that in the next few years but your training was invaluable in helping me deal with what happened yesterday. I think a lot of us have learned things about ourselves in this pandemic and I went home feeling confident and that I had done by best to do the right thing. We are all someone’s daughter or someone’s son and we should all help each other particularly in these challenging times”

This is a great reminder that you never know when you may be called upon to deliver first aid – it is a vital skill that could, quite literally, be life saving.