Red Cross Blogs

A Midsummer Day’s Play

By Anna Carter
August 25, 2009 at 9:52 am

The weekend; two sacred days at the end of the working week that can be filled with friends, family and fun. Time spent relaxing in the park, enjoying a barbeque with friends, standing knee deep in silt, fully clothed, in the coldest stream in Hampshire surrounded by nine young people eager to practice their life saving skills. The latter activity not a familiar past time? Just me then, well myself and a handful of select ‘grown ups’ (and I use the term loosely) who spent a weekend training a group of young people, eager to participate in the National First Aid Competitions (NAFAC) in the Autumn.
The NAFAC competition pits first aid teams from across the country against one another, testing their incident management, diagnosis, treatment and casualty care skills through a range of scenarios. A group of peer educators from my area decided to launch themselves into the fray, spurred on by the success of peer educator Chris Jeffries who competed at NAFAC in 2008 as part of the  Surrey team, coming second in the UK. This led to his competing at FACE

-the European first aid championships. Encouraged by Chris’ tales of action, adventure and encounters with attractive looking volunteers across Europe; the youth team in our area rallied to form a team. I should at this point mention that the group’s combined love of first aid obviously provided a greater motivating factor than the possibility of attractive fellow competitors.
Whilst the decision for the peer educators to enter NAFAC is all very exciting, it does not offer a comprehensive explanation of my close encounter with a particularly friendly shoal of minnow. In order to properly prepare for the competition (and I have it on very good authority that there is a highly charged and competitive atmosphere on the day) teams should practice prior to the event. This is important for two reasons:
1. So that their first aid skills are properly practised
2. So that the group can get the chance to bond as a team; working effectively together is an important part of providing emergency support.  
I was told in no uncertain terms that, in order for the youth team to be properly trained and thus stand the greatest chance of success; a casualty in the water was essential. I, newly introduced to this first aid lark and being of a trusting disposition, jumped right in. Much to the amusement of all involved. The young volunteers rose admirably to the occasion (they have been very well trained!) and reacted well to the fact that their youth worker was turning a very subtle shade of blue and yelling for help in a very convincing manner. I was safely extracted from my watery setting; emerging more bedraggled street urchin than Lady of Shallot, and given the appropriate care.
Good luck to all teams who are currently training for NAFAC and good luck too to all those taking on the role of casualties, may I suggest wellies, a change of clothes, a towel and a sufficient supply of jaffa cakes to see you through the training day.

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Tags: FACE, hampshire, NAFAC, training, young people

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 9:52 am and is filed under Health and social care. 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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