I’ve just come back from taking part in the 2009 National Police First Aid Competition held in Sussex. Several of us who competed at the European first aid competition went along to take part. Obviously we are suckers for a challenge and first aid competitions are in our blood! oie_blogpolicefa2

The police event brings together teams from forces all around the UK. One team even travelled from Northern Ireland to take part! The competition was themed around several staged incidents taking part at Gatwick airport; the room was mocked up to look like an airport terminal (complete with loud public address announcements at inconvenient moments).

Our first challenge was a pairs test, two of us had to deal with a shooting incident. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get a picture of the makeup…needless to say a large amount of fake blood was used. We then had an individual test; mine was a broken arm, a slight relief after the hectic shooting scene previously!

Overall the day was good fun and it was great to meet people from the various police forces. I think competitions (as sad as it sounds!) are definitely useful for spreading the message about the importance of first aid and improving skills. It is great to see the police taking such a proactive role in increasing awareness of first aid.

We’ve been invited back next year…bring it on!