Pupils put their hearts into training
First Aid class proved popular down at West Coats
Pupils at a Cambuslang primary school have been taught an essential skill which could help save lives.
West Coats primary five and six students were introduced to a first aid class on January 27 and 30.
The pupils were shown how to check for danger, call for help, check the airways and breathing and were taught how to perform CPR on an adult and how to put them into the recovery position.
They were also given a valuable lesson on where to find a defibrillator and the importance of its use.
Director of Care and Safety Training Company Yvonne Addison, who took the Little Lifesavers classes, was impressed with how well the pupils responded.
She said: “We taught them of the importance of finding a defibrillator quickly because there is an increase of six to 74 per cent chance of survival if they get one to the person within the first three to five minutes.
“I feel it should be taught from primary one. It’s a basic life skill and you see how important it can be in everyday activities like a cardiac arrest at a football game. I’d put it up there with literacy and numeracy.”
She added: “The days went really well and they all responded well to it. And for me personally it was very rewarding.
“They are all like little sponges who took everything in and they asked a lot of questions.”
Yvonne started the Care and Safety Training Company in September 2016 and has since delivered care, childcare, first aid, manual handling and first aid courses.
To date Yvonne has trained 196 children and young people in first aid. This year the Care and Safety Training Company have set the target of training 500 kids in CPR for free.
The scheme offers one to two hours of CPR and first aid skills to kids aged P1 to S6 and to groups of kids in the Lanarkshire and Glasgow area in return for a £ 5.00 donation for the British Heart Foundation.
They are all like little sponges who took everything in and they asked a lot of questions