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Spooked by ghosts? Call the Red Cross

By Mark Cox
March 7, 2010 at 3:00 pm

Woohoooooo would have believed it? Red Cross volunteers were recently put on standby at the Liverpool Playhouse Theatre when it was feared a super-scary show might cause people to take a funny turn.

Ghost Stories, which ‘contains moments of extreme shock and tension’, had them screaming in the aisles so much the Red Cross was brought in as a precaution. Suddenly, punters expecting to encounter things that go bump in the night instead found themselves bumping into volunteers carrying first aid kits and wearing bright yellow, hi-vis vests – in itself not altogether a calming sight.

Hilariously, having all those first aiders stomping around actually spooked some theatregoers even more. Ruth Brooke told the Liverpool Echo: “I asked the lady beside me what she was doing in uniform. She told me she’d been placed in the audience in case anybody needed medical treatment as the show was quite frightening.

“Her saying that actually made me feel more nervous and apprehensive.” Er, quite.

Still, having the volunteers there did mean quick help would be at hand if anyone needed resuscitation, shock or heart attack treatment.

The theatre’s spokesman happily stirred up the paranoia even further, saying: “We strongly advised those of a nervous disposition to think very seriously before attending this show, and felt it appropriate to enlist the aid of the Red Cross during the first few performances.”

Whether he also thought it had been a great wheeze to drum up some free publicity for the show, he didn’t say.

But it all shows that Red Cross volunteers are undaunted by any request. Wherever they think there may be a reasonable chance of people facing danger, they’ll step in. Come rain, snow, crowds, floods – and even, it now turns out, ghosts – you can always count on them.

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Tags: emergency response, First aid, first aid tips, first aid training, volunteer, Volunteering, volunteers

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This entry was posted on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at 3:00 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.

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