BOF/Red Cross First Aid Course
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BOF/Red Cross First Aid Course
Are well worth a go! Shall write more when I've recovered tomorrow!
Will? We've got proper fire now!
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Becks - god
- Posts: 2633
- Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2003 2:25 pm
- Location: East Preston Street Massif
Promised I'd write more when I was feeling a bit lucid so here goes. I just spent the weekend with nine others at a little outdoorsy centre in Hudnall, near Hemel Hempstead (where? I hear you cry - the place with the magic roundabout). I was actually terrified after hearing Derek and Sue's stories of epileptic fits in the toilets, unconcious people underneath beds and fake fire drills late at night, but by the end of the weekend I actually feel pretty confident that I would be able to successfully do the best I can for most people I found out in the forest or back at base.
The structure of the weekend was simple - short discussions on various conditions followed by related scenarios, acted out by very convincing Red Cross volunteers with plenty of fake blood and gore. We were in small groups and had to deal as quickly and efficiently with each scenario as possible, which was then followed by a debrief. This way we could realise that things like rolling people into the recovery position are not easy down a steep slope, that real life casualties never fall into textbook positions and that when you puts someone's broken femur into traction, they really, really scream. The realism of the situation and the disappointment Tom, Barrable and I felt as we almost lost the guy with internal injuries (there's very little you can do) was incredibly real. We went through searching for people, going into the woods at night to recreate a search and finding casualties with hypothermia, had clambered down into quarries to get to people wrapped around trees, and been vomited on with chicken soup. Great fun, and very relevant to orienteering.
By the end of the weekend we were all feeling more confident in dealing with these situations, working as a smooth team, and had an exceptional distrust of our course leader whenever he left the room after he disappeared in the evening to have a stroke in the toilet and collapsed in an epileptic fit halfway through one of our discussions.
All in all, I'd recommend this weekend to anyone who's old enough, but expecially the younger end of the spectrum. The old phrase "it looks great on your CV," if you ever fancy coaching it's worth it, and even if you're running on tours and competitions yourself, it's a great skill to have. BOF subsidise the course so the whole weekend costs 50 pounds and it was definitely worth it. Details of further courses can be found on the BOF website under the coaching section, which I think is all up and running now.
The structure of the weekend was simple - short discussions on various conditions followed by related scenarios, acted out by very convincing Red Cross volunteers with plenty of fake blood and gore. We were in small groups and had to deal as quickly and efficiently with each scenario as possible, which was then followed by a debrief. This way we could realise that things like rolling people into the recovery position are not easy down a steep slope, that real life casualties never fall into textbook positions and that when you puts someone's broken femur into traction, they really, really scream. The realism of the situation and the disappointment Tom, Barrable and I felt as we almost lost the guy with internal injuries (there's very little you can do) was incredibly real. We went through searching for people, going into the woods at night to recreate a search and finding casualties with hypothermia, had clambered down into quarries to get to people wrapped around trees, and been vomited on with chicken soup. Great fun, and very relevant to orienteering.
By the end of the weekend we were all feeling more confident in dealing with these situations, working as a smooth team, and had an exceptional distrust of our course leader whenever he left the room after he disappeared in the evening to have a stroke in the toilet and collapsed in an epileptic fit halfway through one of our discussions.
All in all, I'd recommend this weekend to anyone who's old enough, but expecially the younger end of the spectrum. The old phrase "it looks great on your CV," if you ever fancy coaching it's worth it, and even if you're running on tours and competitions yourself, it's a great skill to have. BOF subsidise the course so the whole weekend costs 50 pounds and it was definitely worth it. Details of further courses can be found on the BOF website under the coaching section, which I think is all up and running now.
Will? We've got proper fire now!
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Becks - god
- Posts: 2633
- Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2003 2:25 pm
- Location: East Preston Street Massif
Reminds me of one of my early orienteering events:
Part way round the course a M55 comes crashing out of the forest, on my left, and falls to a heap practically right in front of me.
I managed to avoid the 'are you ok?' question and went straight for the 'what is wrong?' one instead.
Turns out he had put his shoulder out of joint (a regular occurrence for the person in question), while crashing out to the path. He then proceeded to talk me (someone with nearly no first aid knowledge) through putting it back in place.
Recently someone has suggested that I go on a first aid course and I aim to go on one later this year. Should be well worth it.
For those of you in a work place you may be able to convince your work to part fund the costs, if you are prepared to provide first aid cover to your colleagues.
Part way round the course a M55 comes crashing out of the forest, on my left, and falls to a heap practically right in front of me.
I managed to avoid the 'are you ok?' question and went straight for the 'what is wrong?' one instead.
Turns out he had put his shoulder out of joint (a regular occurrence for the person in question), while crashing out to the path. He then proceeded to talk me (someone with nearly no first aid knowledge) through putting it back in place.
Recently someone has suggested that I go on a first aid course and I aim to go on one later this year. Should be well worth it.
For those of you in a work place you may be able to convince your work to part fund the costs, if you are prepared to provide first aid cover to your colleagues.
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Simon - brown
- Posts: 532
- Joined: Wed May 19, 2004 7:40 pm
- Location: here or there
Its also worth asking your club about funding. You might find that if you are willing to be on first aid duty at club events once you have been on the course then they are willing to subsidise the weekend.
Once you are willing to do a bit of first aid, it's amazing how many times you get to use it. I've been involved with cardiac arrest, a broken ankle (a particularly fat German lady with no English half way up a remote Welsh mountanside) and a lady broken arm when an orienteer popped out of the woodland to scare her horse which then threw her, never mind all the cuts, bumps, sprains etc.
Once you are willing to do a bit of first aid, it's amazing how many times you get to use it. I've been involved with cardiac arrest, a broken ankle (a particularly fat German lady with no English half way up a remote Welsh mountanside) and a lady broken arm when an orienteer popped out of the woodland to scare her horse which then threw her, never mind all the cuts, bumps, sprains etc.
Make the most of life - you're a long time dead.
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Stodgetta - brown
- Posts: 569
- Joined: Fri May 07, 2004 2:55 pm
- Location: north of brum, south of manchester
Simon, unless workplace is somewhere wild and windy, first aid course for outdoor activities may be bit over the top to sell to employer as good buy! After training including stripping sodden red cross volunteer simulating hypothermia in the middle of a rhodedendron bush in the dark under a kisu, it's a bit of a comedown to treat someone whose finger got trapped in a filing cabinet. (unless of course the filing cabinet happens to be in the middle of a deserted moor at midnight during a gale....)
- ifititches
- blue
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- Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2004 9:15 pm
- Location: just SW of greatest track junction in UK, I think.....
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