Girls put first aid skills to work
Three young Invercargill girls have been recognised for their quick thinking and first aid skills after they helped an elderly woman who injured herself in the garden.
St Theresa’s School students Keilani McKay, 11, Brylee McKay, 8, and Lucy Dermody, 11, were presented with ASB St John in Schools Super Saver Bravery Awards yesterday for helping an 81-year-old woman who had hit her head and fallen in her garden.
Keilani said they were walking home from school as a group and playing soccer by kicking stones, when they saw an elderly woman on the ground in her garden.
At first, they thought she was just gardening but when they asked her if she was alright, she turned around and they could see she had blood running down her face, Keilani said.
The woman said she was not OK and was mumbling.
The girls kept her on the ground because they realised she was concussed. Lucy then tried to get help, and eventually found her mum Tracey Dermody.
Lucy’s mother gave her phone to the girls, and Keilani dialled 111 for an ambulance. The girls supported her by taking the woman inside, helping her into a seat, and using a tea towel Lucy’s mum grabbed to keep pressure on her cut.
Keilani said they later went to visit her and took some chocolates for the woman, who did not remember who they were until they told her what had happened. The woman came along to the school when they were presented with the awards.
Lucy said if they had not learned about first aid earlier in the year they would not have known what to do.
St Theresa’s School principal Julian Ineson said the girls had done extremely well to keep the woman and themselves calm. Many adults would have struggled with the same situation, he said.
The children at St Theresa’s School were taught first aid skills at various degrees age five and older, he said. It was a programme that had been running at the school before Ineson arrived, as well as at other schools.
Every year the kids were taught first aid skills and each year some students would end up using the skills..
Though the situation the girls had dealt with was by far the worst he has seen students be involved in, he said.
Sacred Heart School student Tyler Veint, 10, was the first child in Southland to receive the award after he was nominated for calling 111 for help after noticing his little brother choking.