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Germany, here we come!

By Chris Jefferies
June 30, 2009 at 1:14 pm

This Thursday, I will be flying to Germany with five other British Red Cross volunteers. Our mission (should we choose to accept it): win the European first aid competition.

Two first aiders help casualty

First Aid Convention in Europe (FACE) is an annual event that brings together Red Cross volunteers from throughout Europe. The highlight of the event is a competition to find the best team of first aiders in Europe. Last year the convention was held here in Liverpool and I’m sure many people reading this may have been involved.

FACE 2009 is being held in the city of Oldenburg. Twenty-five countries have entered the competition and around 1,000 Red Cross volunteers are expected to attend. I’m lucky enough to be on one of the British Red Cross teams competing for the coveted 1st place trophy. This year, the British Red Cross is sending two teams. One team is from Edinburgh, the other from Surrey (me!).

First aider helps casualty

For those who find the idea of a first aid competition baffling, I’ll try my best to explain.

Teams are made up of five people with a reserve person. In our teams we have to tackle a series of staged scenarios. These can range from bus crashes, chemical incidents/fires or in one case an earthquake scenario with mass casualties! Actors portray the casualties and the make-up I’ve seen is incredibly realistic. Each casualty has a judge with a mark sheet and the team that gets the most points wins. Simple really!

I’m really looking forward to meeting Red Cross volunteers from other countries and representing the British Red Cross. I hope to update this blog from Germany and I’ll be sure to post the results as soon as I can. Wish us luck, go team UK!

For now though, it’s back to packing. Argh!

Image © Lloyd Sturdy

Comments (14) »

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 1:14 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.

  • http://redcross.org.uk/ Katrina Crew

    Good luck, Chris! I know you guys will represent us well in Germany.

  • http://redcross.org.uk Katrina Crew

    Good luck, Chris! I know you guys will represent us well in Germany.

  • Michael Baxter

    Glad to see you blogging, hope all goes well in Germany :)

  • Michael Baxter

    Glad to see you blogging, hope all goes well in Germany :)

  • http://www.redcross.org.uk/ Chris Jefferies

    Thanks both! In about 12 hours I’ll be on a plane to Germany…scary stuff. Will do my best to find an internet connection to post updates :-)

  • http://www.redcross.org.uk Chris Jefferies

    Thanks both! In about 12 hours I’ll be on a plane to Germany…scary stuff. Will do my best to find an internet connection to post updates :-)

  • Adi Robinson

    Good luck to both teams in FACE09. Lets see a 1st and 2nd! Will be waiting for the results!! ;-)

  • Adi Robinson

    Good luck to both teams in FACE09. Lets see a 1st and 2nd! Will be waiting for the results!! ;-)

  • aisling

    heya chris how did you do in them competitions have not seen you since liverpool:P couldnt go to the ones in germany but i will defo b going to next years face comp.

  • aisling

    heya chris how did you do in them competitions have not seen you since liverpool:P couldnt go to the ones in germany but i will defo b going to next years face comp.

  • http://www.redcross.org.uk/ Chris Jefferies

    Hi Aisling!

    We did well thanks, you can read about it here: http://blogs.redcross.org.uk/first-aid/2009/07/one-day-26-teams-1000-red-cross-volunteers/

    Next years competition is in Belgrade, Serbia. Maybe see you there! :-)

    Thanks,
    Chris

  • http://www.redcross.org.uk Chris Jefferies

    Hi Aisling!

    We did well thanks, you can read about it here: http://blogs.redcross.org.uk/first-aid/2009/07/one-day-26-teams-1000-red-cross-volunteers/

    Next years competition is in Belgrade, Serbia. Maybe see you there! :-)

    Thanks,
    Chris

  • aisling

    lookin forward to it lol i havnt been talkin to you since d comp defo madness i didnt find you on purpose at all just typed in 2010 face competitions then your name comes up on the screen kinda weird lol ! are you a trained instructor now or are you to young. what coarses you doing bet you passed ur EMFR with flying colours.

  • aisling

    lookin forward to it lol i havnt been talkin to you since d comp defo madness i didnt find you on purpose at all just typed in 2010 face competitions then your name comes up on the screen kinda weird lol ! are you a trained instructor now or are you to young. what coarses you doing bet you passed ur EMFR with flying colours.

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Chris Jefferies

Chris Jefferies

Chris is a young volunteer in Surrey. He teaches first aid and does first aid at events.

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