New Families First Aid

Proactive parenting by Sheila and Roy Poulton led to their son, David, undertaking the Royal Life Saving Society Bronze and Pool Bronze Medallions and the Award of Merit qualifications in his final years of schooling. Service for ten years in the Royal Navy, and subsequent careers required qualification in First Aid and CPR. David has always felt able to deal with a crisis, going on to become first a Paramedic, then a Senior Clinical Tutor in an NHS Ambulance Service.

Dave is now a Director of HDP Education Solutions Ltd, delivering bespoke education programmes to his clients, whether on a professional or personal basis, and is passionate about ensuring that people know what to do on what may be the worst day of their lives for good reason. His dad, Roy, passed away in 2004, the week before Dave joined the Ambulance Service, and was at work away from home. His mother and uncle carried out CPR as instructed by the operator, but to no avail. Neither of them had prior knowledge of the skills to be able to carry out CPR.

Imagine then, the terror felt by a parent whose own child is in a life threatening condition, waiting for an ambulance to arrive. We all know that children are unpredictable!

Recently St John Ambulance and the media have highlighted the lack of skills in parents and family groups. Articles abound telling us of parents that couldn’t find a first aider when their child was choking, and when a bystander saved the life of a toddler submerged in a car which had crashed into a river… the list goes on. It is a matter of common knowledge that many parents, understandably, panic when their child is ill, and HDP acknowledge this. Would the parent know what to do in those crucial minutes until an ambulance arrives? It is also acknowledged that parents are often leading busy lives, and juggling work with school runs and the daily tasks of living in a family environment, so may not have the time to undertake two day courses in Paediatric First Aid.

HDP’s approach to this is their New Families First Aid Course. A three hour course in a more relaxed social setting can help to prepare new families for their new responsibility, or simply to brush up their skills. Covering the basics of First Aid, plus information on CPR on both adults and children, the sessions may help to spark the interest of many parents, grandparents and older siblings in First Aid. The company will attend and deliver sessions for up to twelve attendees, with 10% of the proceeds from each course going to the Clic Sargent Fund for Children with Cancer.

The sessions could also be run in a nursery environment when parents have dropped off their children. Careful marketing of potential customers could bring new parents into the nursery, allowing them to see the quality that your establishment offers, and could serve to bring in new business via word of mouth referrals.

Dave tells us, “Having a new baby is a time of absolute love, family fun and laughter, wonderment and awe, sleep deprivation…..and moments of complete and abject terror!”

“I know that this quote is true. I said it! Long before I became a Paramedic, I knew that babies and infants are unpredictable, and that they don’t respond to external stimuli like adults do.