Learning First aid

I have always fancied the idea of being a first aider. Probably ever since I had my first few tonic-clonic seizures, when my brothers had to work out if they should phone an ambulance when I turned a touch blue. I certainly didn't know how to deal with a seizure, not to mention asthma attacks, bleeding or fainting and I always thought First Aid would be a valuable thing to know. And so, when the opportunity arose at work, I thought I'd go for it. 

The course I took was First Aid at Work (there are lots of different versions of First Aid course) organised by St John's ambulance, and was taught over three days. On the first day everyone was presented with their own First Aid Manual, and anyone who knows me will testify that handing me a free book is definitely the way to impress. Over the three days, we were taught many different things, including how to apply bandages, dealing with burns, bleeds, heart attacks and unconscious casualties. On the last day we had the dreaded test which was, with hindsight, quite funny. The assessor came to the door with the words "there's been an incident, is anyone here a first aider?". There was a lot of role-play involved as we were introduced to our unconscious casualty and had to act out what we would do. Lots of fake shouting and a lot of "Trish, Trish, open your eyes Trish, it's Jane, I'm a first aider". 

One of the things we covered during the three days were seizures, and it was quite interesting to be taught about those as a novice. Our trainer told us a story about a young boy she used to teach who suffered from absence seizures. His classmates were aware of these "funny moments" and would frequently rewind their conversations and games so he knew what they were talking about (as they knew he had missed a bit). I loved that story. Maybe epilepsy is becoming less stigmatised with new generations. 

I received my certificate in the post this morning, and I can heartily recommend the course to anyone interested in learning First Aid.