 | | Participants at the training workshop |
The theme for the training was “The More We Sweat in Training, the Less We Bleed in Crisis”. Anguilla’s Red Cross Programme Manager for First Aid Training & Public Events, Mr. Steve McDowall, facilitated the training sessions. This training provided an in depth discussion of various topics including:
• Unconsciousness
• Rescue breathing
• Choking
• CPR
• Fainting
• Shock
• Wounds and bleeding
• Bone & joint injuries
• Medical conditions
• Poisoning
• Defibrillation
 | | CPR exercise with instructor McDowell |
The training is part of the pilot for Community Interventions under the Disaster Risk Management Sub-regional programme being funded by the European Union through CDEMA, and coordinated by the Department of Disaster Management, Anguilla.
“The trained certified community response managers and teams are now better prepared and positioned to respond to an emergency situation in their communities”, discloses Project Co-coordinator – Alwyn Richardson Programme Office (Mitigation), Department of Disaster Management. Mr. Richardson further stated that, “When emergencies occur, the trained response teams can give critical support to first responders, provide immediate assistance to victims, and organize spontaneous volunteers at a disaster site. This training was geared to assist the citizen to support in emergency situations at their level of training without placing themselves, or the person(s) that they are attempting to help, in harms way.”
The Risk Reduction Programme is designed to empower community members to take charge in their communities and to collaborate effectively with emergency personnel in a professional manner. Also, considerations are taken that emergency services may not always be able to respond immediately after a disaster, especially since it takes time for multi-agency mobilization to affect an organized response. These community members will be able to make a difference by using the training to help with the preservation of life post disaster.
Hon. Othlyn Vanterpool, elected member for Island Harbour, one of the attendees remarked that, “Training of this nature is needed and it will provide the community with Response Teams with pertinent skills and techniques that they could, and will, use not only in disaster situations but in their everyday lives and that ‘he looks forward for future training initiatives of this kind and in other areas”. |
