NUNNERY Wood Year 11 Health and Social Care students, working towards their Cambridge National Award, had a full day of First Aid training with trainer John Fogarty.

As part of their qualification they had to achieve certification as Young First Aiders.

All 16 students in the group experienced the opportunity to learn how to save lives and deal with a range of emergency situations from minor burns, fainting, choking, bleeding, through to more complex challenges such as shock or a casualty who is unresponsive and not breathing.

The day consisted of some interactive classroom tasks, after watching a series of training video clips, where students had to work in pairs to demonstrate that they were able to assess the potential danger in a range of scenarios, make the area safe and protect themselves as First Aiders, before attempting to give emergency aid.

Students learned how to place a casualty into the recovery position. They watched a demonstration on how to use an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) and they each took a turn at practising CPR on mannequins.

They learned the correct way to apply pressure to a bleeding wound in order to reduce the effects of shock from blood loss.

The group understood and demonstrated how to carry out a Primary Survey at the scene of an accident, using the mnemonic DRABC.

D: Check for Danger (could be what caused the accident always check this before you go rushing in.

R: Response - is the casualty responding to your voice?

A: Airway - is it open? If not, what to do.

B: Breathing - might need an AED (Automated External Defibrillator)

C: Circulation - is there any bleeding?

They became proficient in knowing which emergency service to call, how to do that and what information would need to be given over the telephone.

Anyone can be a First Aider, with the right training. At the end of the training day students felt they were much more likely to ‘do something’ rather than not act should they come across an accident or find themselves a bystander in a situation where a person has collapsed or had a heart attack, for example.