Life-saving youngsters press ahead
Kids are ready, teddy, go to learn life- saving skills thanks to a dedicated group of Wishaw General nurses.
Children are performing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on their favourite teddy bears and other soft toys under the guidance of the Wishaw General Hospital nurses, who devote their own time to teach the classes and are now in the running for a national award.
Known as Team Wishaw ED, the group is made up of nurses Caroline Casey, Fiona Torrance, Michelle Graham, Fiona Macpherson and staff nurse Laura Gillies.
They started their project in April and have since taught CPR in eight Lanarkshire primary schools.
The team has trained more than 1700 children and have another 13 schools lined up for a visit.
Mum-of-two Caroline said: “We had all talked for a while about the idea of spending some of our free time teaching CPR to primary school children. The kids love it when we go into the schools.
“We make it exciting for them – it’s not at all scary. The primary one to three children practise the chest compressions on their teddies or other favourite soft toys. The older children use a CPR dummy.
“Of course, the little ones probably won’t have the strength to do CPR in a real situation but they are learning the skill for when they get older and they can tell their parents about it.
“We also teach them other crucial information about things they can do in emergency situations, such as shouting for help or calling 999 and clearly explaining their location.
“Many of the older pupils would hopefully be able to carry out the chest compressions effectively.
“I have two boys, aged eight and six, and they both got the training at school.
“We get a lot of satisfaction from volunteering to do this work and we hope to do the training in as many primary schools across Lanarkshire as possible.”
The Wishaw team has already visited St Thomas and Morningside schools with trips to Newmains, St Aidan’s, St Mary’s and Dykehead Primaries pencilled in.
Their latest visit was to Braidwood Primary in Carluke, where they were joined by Wishaw General emergency medicine consultant Jacqui Macnair.
Wishaw General chief of nursing services Gillian McAuley praised the team’s devotion to the project. She said: “It’s fantastic to see our nurses volunteering so much of their time.”
Team Wishaw ED can be contacted through their Twitter feed @ TeamWishawED or by email at TeamWishawED@yahoo.com