BYSTANDERS CAN BE LIFESAVERS
One of this year’s National Federation of Women’s Institutes Resolutions was ‘Bystanders can be Lifesavers’ and members of Hexham Town WI felt it was important to improve their confidence in CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation).
CPR and defibrillating can double the chances of survival of someone suffering from a cardiac arrest. Bystander CPR response can have a huge impact but nearly half of UK adults have never had any training and most people would feel more comfortable performing CPR (especially on women) if they had more confidence in the correct procedures.
Martyn Barnes, Operations Manager at Hexham’s Wentworth Leisure Centre, was invited to Hexham Town WI’s March and April meetings for an in-depth overview of common emergency health issues.
Using adult, child and infant mannequins, he demonstrated how to identify a cardiac arrest, the importance of ringing 999, the techniques of CPR and the correct steps of defibrillator use.
Members had the opportunity for hands-on use of the training defibrillator and learned the locations of local units and how to access them.
Martyn also discussed other first aid priorities including anaphylaxis (massive allergic reaction) and demonstrated the use of epipens. He also covered other emergency issues including water safety, broken bones, heavy bleeding and choking situations.
Members certainly appreciated the wealth of information that Martyn provided and surely feel better-trained and hopefully more confident to be Lifesaving Bystanders.
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