Red Cross Blogs

The A-Team of first aiders

By Mark Cox
February 19, 2011 at 3:00 pm

They may not chomp cigars, refuse to get on planes or be able make improvised tanks out of three old car wrecks, but be in no doubt: the Red Cross does have an elite first aid team for ‘special operations’.

The international first aid education team is a crack squad of top-drawer trainers who support other Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies by helping build their first aid capacity. In the past two years, they’ve taught life-saving skills in challenging countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, India and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Their mission is to deliver help where it’s really needed. That’s why, for example, they recently piloted a new training programme in Bangladesh and Pakistan that taught people how to deal with roadside trauma injuries, which are tragically all too common in those countries.

Surrey volunteer Frank O’Connell –  an NHS paramedic by day and uber-experienced first aid trainer – had his first outing as a team member just before Christmas.

He spent a week in the Seychelles passing on his expert knowledge to local Red Cross workers. (The Seychelles Red Cross plays a big role in supporting local emergency services so it’s important that all the trainers really know their first aid onions, so to speak.)

Despite the presence of all those tempting beaches, our Frank barely had time to pause for breath, what with assessing the island’s current first aid trainers and training lots of new ones. And as for the cost of the trip, Frank explained: “My going out there provided a much cheaper way of ensuring they got the training than if they’d paid privately for it, so we actually saved a lot of money for the charity.”

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Tags: First aid, first aid tips, first aid training

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This entry was posted on Saturday, February 19th, 2011 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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