Becoming a trained First Aider with RLSC

Published 11:08 on 6 Feb 2023

I spent an educational day yesterday up in the Trophy Room at RLSC with a group of Members and also one non-member as we completed our RYA First Aid course. I requested a place on the course to assist me with my RLSC Cox duties but also as a personal refresher so I feel more confident responding in the hopefully unlikely event that I'm present at an emergency.

The course covered what you would normally expect from a First Aid session - dealing with unconscious casualties, CPR, choking, bleeding, burns etc - but it also had a real emphasis on dealing with aquatic incidents such as drowning. Many of the topics gave us the opportunity to think about the application to club life and what we may commonly come across, the danger of rope burns and booms to the head for example. I think we will all be looking at things with new eyes! We had some good discussions and the opportunity to practice practical skills such as different types of bandaging and CPR - poor Bradley was a demonstration casualty over and over again!

I think one of the most valuable things for me was the opportunity to see and practice with a defibrillator. Defibrillators are actually really straight forward to use and you don't need to be specially trained, I would feel much more confident with one now, though, and also more likely to remember to request one in an emergency situation. Did you know the club has a defibrillator and where to find it? It is locked with a code which can be given to you by the emergency response handler (999) but we also have a note of the code inside the club house for quicker access along with details such as the club map reference etc. It is definitely worthwhile making sure you know where to find these, quick access may well save someone's life.

If you missed out on this course but would be interested to do one in the future (all Members are encouraged to do one, especially if you do duties such as Cox) then make sure you register it as an interest in your profile so that you will be contacted when the next one is being organised.

Stay safe everyone!

Clare Watson