The month of October gallops on. I've been away South, to a wedding (more of that soon), plus it's been a difficult week. So for some distraction therapy thought I'd better get back to blogging. A couple of weeks ago we had some more First Responder Training. I've blogged about this before - see here.....and here......
While many other islands in Orkney have a resident nurse or doctor, we have no medical personnel on the island. Although we are just across the water from Stromness, what seems like a small stretch when all is going well becomes a vast ocean when it's not - particularly in stormy weather. We are lucky to have the Stromness lifeboat ready to come to our aid with medical people, and the air ambulance too. But while waiting for professional help (which with the air ambulance can be some time) we want to be able to do what we can for any patient. Hence becoming first responders - about a dozen of us on the island! Consequently we have to keep our training up to date, hence the recent two-day training course.
We all had a go at doing CPR and using the bag valve mask, as well as defibrillator, oxygen and some other equipment.
Lyndon from the local Ambulance station came along to give us the training. He's great at helping increase our confidence in dealing with potential life-threatening situations. He's a good trainer who works with humour too so that helps us all, as we tend to get a bit nervous - especially when the words "written test" is mentioned! However we all passed so we must be doing something right....
Sadly we only get reflective jackets to wear - no blue flashing lights or "nee-naw" horns to go with our arrival......
That's us "up to date" for a while. We've had to deal with a few call-outs since we were first trained, and I think all of us are glad that we are "in this together"!
That's probably the highest percentage of First Responders on planet Earth ! I think it's wonderful that you are doing that.
ReplyDeleteWe had a couple of medi-evacs without us being first responders and felt so helpless, hence us going in for it. And with all community things on the island, all for one and one for all ;-)
DeleteI'm told that when doing chest compressions, most people don't do them fast enough and that the song "Staying Alive" by the BeeGees is the perfect tempo for same.
ReplyDeleteYes there is the commercial on UK TV with Vinny Jones doing that. Actually evidence suggests that when people are concentrating on the tempo they don't necessarily do deep enough chest compressions. We're hoping to get a gizmo to use in practice sessions that does both - tempo and depth so we can get used to the RIGHT way to do it.
DeleteSuch vital work, Sian. My brother-in-law and his wife are first responders in their Essex village and find it very worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteIt's still a bit controversial in Orkney as islands are afraid they may lose their GP or nurse (some of the other Orkney island still have medical cover). But for us we had nothing to lose and everything to gain. It IS daunting, but we are never alone on a call-out so that helps.
DeleteIt's happening all over the country, Sian, even where there is the usual medical cover. It's all about keeping people alive in an emergency until medical help can arrive and that has to be a good thing.
DeleteYes I know the scheme is countrywide. However some of the rural areas in Scotland have found their medical cover (eg nurse/gp) hours have been reduced not long after first responder schemes got going, so there is concern in other areas regarding this correlation. But given the time it can take to get professional medical help to our island, we're happy to have some very basic skills and a lifeline phone through to experts, as well as some simple equipment.
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