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Why I became a first aider

By Brad Smith
April 12, 2009 at 2:36 pm

I know every first aider up and down the country has their own reasons for becoming a first aider. I thought now would be a good opportunity to tell you mine.

It was September 2003. For quite a while I’d realised that I didn’t want to be in a situation where somebody needed first aid and not be able to help. So I decided to take a first aid course at the earliest possible opportunity.

Coincidently, a friend of mine had recently become a Red Cross first aid trainer at our local Red Cross centre, so it was nice to be able to be a friendly face on his first proper course, as well as learn valuable first aid skills.

The course itself was brilliant – ably illustrated and explained with plenty of practical scenarios and demonstrations. I was hooked.

As a result, at the end of the course I decided to join the Red Cross. The rest, as they say, is history.

Perhaps you’ve just become a parent for the first time, or you have a friend who needs to carry adrenaline in case of an allergic reaction and you’d like to know how to use it. Maybe a friend or relative is recovering from a scare and you’d like to know what to do if the worst should happen again. Whatever the reason, if you haven’t done already, perhaps you’d like to get some first aid training too. Then, like me, I’m sure you’d have the confidence to act if you really need to do so.

Image © Layton Thompson/ British Red Cross

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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 2:36 pm and is filed under First aid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Andrew Lewis

    In my experience as a volunteer (and staff) most of the first aider volunteers have a reason they joined – many got an interest due to medical conditions they or their families have.

    I did my first Red Cross course in January 1997 while at univeristy for leading groups witht the UWE Mountain & Hillwalking Club. Since then I have become a First Aider, Trainer Assessor and Quality Monitor. The feeling that you are ‘making a difference’ is what does it for me. Hence I was an Emergency Response Team Leader for 4 years.

  • Andrew Lewis

    In my experience as a volunteer (and staff) most of the first aider volunteers have a reason they joined – many got an interest due to medical conditions they or their families have.

    I did my first Red Cross course in January 1997 while at univeristy for leading groups witht the UWE Mountain & Hillwalking Club. Since then I have become a First Aider, Trainer Assessor and Quality Monitor. The feeling that you are ‘making a difference’ is what does it for me. Hence I was an Emergency Response Team Leader for 4 years.

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Brad Smith

Brad Smith

Brad is a Red Cross first aider. He covers first aid duties and crews ambulances for our event first aid service. He also provides Red Cross first aid training.

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The British Red Cross values comments both complimentary and critical. However, we will not tolerate the following: aggressive or personal criticism of the blogger, breach of copyright, obscene, defamatory, profane, sexually oriented, racially offensive or likewise objectionable comments.

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