A group of Van2017 volunteers and staff were privileged to be trained in First Aid in preparation for the Pacific Mini Games.
First Aid Trainer, Jane Laycock from Nightingale Medical Services was contracted by Van2017 to conduct three days of training to selected volunteer Team Leaders, general volunteers, and staffs in Port Vila.
According to Medical Coordinator in Van2017 office, Maturine Carlot, a total of 120 participants were identified to attend the training.
“We are conducting this week a Level 2 First Aid training for selected volunteers who will be working during the Games in various functional areas,” she said.
“This is an intensive course where participants get to know and understand what is First Aid; they need to know about what to do about basic life support, such as dangers, response, send for help, airway, breathing, compressions and how to use defibrillator”.
“Also, we touched on spinal injury, how to do recovery position, how to make a sling on an injury, how to attend to external bleeding, attend to fractures, asthma incidents, and what to do on a allergic reaction such as anaphylactic shock.”
Mrs Carlot said that these are the basics to do during the Games, but the skills are also applicable in their communities or villages, once they return to their communities.
“First aid trained people are not allowed to prescribe medications to any sick patients, only nurses and doctors are authorised to do that. We basically teach them how to help another person to survive and how to call an ambulance while giving compressions to the patient, until the ambulance arrives.”
For many participants who attended the training, it was an eye opener on how to assist and react in time of an emergency situations, and how to handle the situation in a professional manner by respecting the rules and the patient as well.
For more information on the progress of Van2017 Pacific Mini Games preparations, please visit our Facebook: vanuatu2017 or Vanuatu2017Nasiviru.