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As the decade draws to a close, Adventure First Aid flew in for a week on Lundy to train the islands staff.  We spent 3 days taking 8 members of staff through the First Aid at Work course, and ensuring that the First Aid at Work syllabus dove-tailed with the First Responder and Coastguard systems. When Guy & Hugh arrived today to assess the candidates, they found all to be of a high standard.  All Staff from Lundy passed the course.

We look forward to returning in the new year to deliver further First Aid at Work training, Basic Skills updates as per HSE guidelines and hopefully some advanced First Aid and Defibrillator refresher training as well.  We would like to thank the whole Lundy team for making us welcome and we hope we managed to fit in around your busy schedule of running a beautiful and peaceful piece of Devon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our new HSE approved and QCA approved Emergency First Aid at Work course has been available since Oct 2009.  The course is 6 hours contact time and involves continuous assessment during the day with an end of course multiple choice question paper.  The new 3 day First Aid at work course is also available and is still popular with employers who have staff working in more hazardous locations / environments.  Get in touch for more information and check our legislation page for more information on how many First Aiders your workplace requires

Our open course dates for 2010 are now live on our website and we will be adding to these during the Christmas break.  Emergency First Aid at Work, Outdoor First Aid and Paediatric First courses will be available.  Keep checking or give us a call.

Adventure First Aid would like to thank all students who have completed a course with us during 2009.  We have issued over 1100 certificates through our Awarding body which makes this our busiest year to date.  Watch the news for information on new courses for 2010 and updates on some first aid topics....  We wish you a Happy Christmas and a safe 2010.

How many First Aiders will you need?  Will you need to retrain staff?  what are the implications to your business?

Please see links to the HSE website here and a draft outline from the HSE here

As an employer you will need to be aware of changes to the existing guidelines and undertake a new assessment of your workplace First Aid needs.  If you require any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time on 07813123330 or 01626821360.

New Outdoor First Aid course dates are now live on our dates pages.

The 12th and 13th Sept 09 will see members of the Devon Cave Rescue taking part in the Outdoor First Aid course.  If you would like to join them, £5 of your course fee will go towards the teams fund raising efforts.  Contact us for details.  For more details about Devon Cave Rescue, please click here

High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema Database.

Have you or someone you know suffered with HAPE?  If so please see www.altitude.org.

More research into this potentially fatal illness is taking place and you may be able to help.

Many thanks

Dr Ross Anderson (Medical Advisor, Adventure First Aid Ltd).

For everything else that we cannot fit onto this site, we now have a Facebook group and blog which we hope will allow those interested to network, discuss and comment on various issues...  let us know what you want to see...

Stay up to date with imminent changes to the HSE rules governing first aid at work.

Health & Safety (First Aid) Regulations are due for a major change for the first time in 25 years this year. The Health and Safety Executive has undertaken a long consultative process with industry stakeholders about changes that will see the four-day first aid at work qualification being replaced by a three-day course and the introduction of an HSE accredited 1-day course named Emergency First Aid at Work to replace the currently unmonitored "Appointed Person".

As always, employers are required to carry out an assessment of first aid needs. This means assessing workplace hazards and risks, the size of the organisation and other relevant factors. Risk assessments have always been a legislative requirement, but the HSE guidelines have been revised to better complement the updated courses.

The changes will be implemented in Sept - Oct 2009, leaving companies limited time to adjust to the new regulations.  Employers will need to decide what action is  and decide upon any appropriate action for their business. Adventure First Aid is keeping up to date with the changes as they are published.  We will publish new information as we receive it and aim to run some free workshops or talks in June or July to inform employers of their new duties.

Adventure First Aid is ready for these changes as soon as they take effect and will be offering the new courses as soon as the changes take place.  Contact us for more details.

After 4 days, 35 hours of contact time, plenty of tea, fruit, cake, discussion, practical, questions and review, all course delegates on the Overseas medical intervention course have left having passed the course.  The programme was well received and we are now in the follow up stage with the cohort where they are able to have a one to one consultation with Doc Ross and discuss the types of prescription medicine they might need for their adventures.... This stage is crucial in order to ensure best and most appropriate use of prescription only medications for overseas travel. Photos of the course will appear here soon, and some comments from course members.

Ross is currently training for the Marathon Des Sables, 2009. This is a 150 mile foot race across the Sahara where all provisions must be carried along the way.

The training program he has started for the race is arduous, even taking into account that he have run marathons previously.  The strain put upon the body from running consecutive marathons and double marathons is immense, as documented on TV by Ben Fogel and Kate Spicer in The Times, 2007.

He has chosen to raise money for a charity that represents one of the best ways to improve the quality and life-expectancy of some of the most unfortunate children on the continent. Facing Africa (http://www.facingafrica.org ) is fighting a disease called Noma.  It’s little known outside of the most deprived and poverty-stricken areas of Africa.  The condition targets mal-nourished children and begins with ulceration of the gums that rapidly spreads to the cheeks, jaw and face, often resulting in death.  If the infection does not prove lethal, the child is left with facial deformities that at best result in life-long social isolation and poverty, at worst in starvation and eventual death.

Facing Africa works to help prevent Noma and, for those already afflicted, organises teams of facial reconstructive surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses to fly from the UK to affected parts of Sub-Saharan Africa where dedicated surgery camps are held bi-annually.  This link shows you what can be done;

Ross wants to raise £5000 by running 150 miles across the desert next March.  He would be grateful for any support you feel you can offer.  In these challenging financial times donations are increasingly difficult to spare. He would also be very happy to discuss any potential donations of kit or supplies that he anticipates will be required to run the ‘toughest foot race on earth’.
To make pledging easier, Facing Africa has a secure on-line donation page. Please visit the link below and click on my name. The payment is secure using the ‘Worldpay’ website.

http://www.saharamarathon.co.uk/cgi-bin/fa.pl

Thank you for your support,
All the Adventure First Aid team wishes Ross the best of luck and urge you to consider a donation.  Many thanks

Come and speak with us about anything First Aid, coming on a course or becoming a First Aid Trainer.  We will be offering discounts on courses for those that book on the day and there will be some prizes to be won as well.  You will be able to find us in the adrenalin zone!!

We look forward to seeing you there.  You can find out more about the exhibition at http://www.explore-the-outdoors.com/

Adventure First Aid has just agreed to provide free training to the Commonwealth Womens Antarctic Expedition.

The Expedition will see 8 women from 8 different Commonwealth countries including Cyprus, Ghana, India, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Jamaica and the UK, brave blizzards, crevasses and temperatures below - 50C as they ski over 500 miles across Antarctica to the Geographic South Pole. Adventure First Aid are providing assistance with training toensure all members are trained to the highest level possible just prior to their departure.  To keep in touch with their progress click here and if you can offer any support please get in touch with them.

Adventure First Aid and the South Dartmoor School Heartstart scheme delivered heartstart training to over 200 students in one day...

On April the 24th, Adventure First Aid and South Dartmoor School Heartstart scheme delivered heartstart training to over 200 year 9 students in one day.  The students were taught Basic Life Support skills over a 3 hour programme which included a guided tour of a front line ambulance manned by Paramedics from South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust.  The day was an outstanding success with 230 certificates being issued.  Read more from the Schools website here.  Your school can achieve this too.... contact us for more details.

Do you want to teach First Aid and run your own courses? Do you want to set up training provision so you can train your own workforce and save money...

Adventure First Aid is looking for outdoor specialists and those in invloved in the childcare industry to join us.  There are a few routes into the First Aid training industry that we think may suit your lifestyle and your ability to increase your earnings.  Interested?

Do you have responsibility for First Aid provision in your workplace, are you a large company and want to train in house?  We can help you achieve this.

For more information please contact us

Nick Arding's recent article for the British Mountaineering Council summit magazine... Click here to read this interesting and informative article on Mountain First Aid written by Nick Arding.

New Paediatric first aid rules

Change for schools and those working with under 8's from September 2008.

From September 2008, all settings working with children under the age of 8 years old require a member of staff on site with a Paediatric First Aid qualification. This was set out in the EYFS Statutory Framework early this year. Therefore schools not only require a member of staff with a First Aid at Work qualification but additionally one on duty with a Paediatric qualification.

The course is run over 12 hours and is also required by OFSTED for all primary schools, nurseries and early years providers. The course focuses heavily on dealing with child and infant first aid.

Working with the British Heart Foundation, Adventure First Aid is offering free training to school staff so they can offer basic life support training to students at all levels, from primary to secondary age... for more details, please get in touch and we can start the ball rolling with your school.

This is a letter sent from a member of an Expedition to Greenland.

"I am one of the members of the group who went out to the Arctic this summer on a mountaineering trip. We came on your first aid course last spring.

On the penultimate day my climbing partner fell a good 15m before the rope caught her, scraping her shin quite badly, exposing several inches of bone. Certainly the worst surface wound I've ever seen. We were about 4 hours along a ridge so there was no going back, and we were out of sight/hearing of our other team members, who weren't expecting us back for another 12 hours at least. I was able to treat her firstly for shock, then clean and patch up her leg and pad/immobilise it as best as possible. Then supervise her in 6 abseils, getting us down off the ridge, over the Bergschrund, down the snow slope to the relative safety of the glacier.

I can't tell you how grateful I am to you for your first aid course. My first thoughts when I was trying to get to my partner were 'Assess', and aware of my own ridiculously shaky state I made myself super-careful in climbing down and of course it was horrible and scary, but SO much more manageable just because of the accident scenario we did with you at the end of the course.

I wish you many more years of teaching!" Tr

After moving from Torquay in March 2007 it became possible for Guy to volunteer with the Liverton & Bovey Tracey First Responder group set up by South Western Ambulance Trust.  After completing further training Guy is responding to emergencies.  To find out more about the scheme or getting involved please see the Westcountry Ambulance Trust website.

On 31.03.2008, the American Heart Association (AHA) issued a statement recommending that bystanders who witness the sudden collapse of an adult should give chest compressions without ventilations, so-called ‘hands-only’ CPR.

The European Resuscitation Council (ERC) has reviewed the studies published since its current guidelines were introduced in 2005, and has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to make any changes at this time. read more on the UK Resuscitation Council website by clicking here

Adventure First Aid is now able to provide Automated External Defibrillator training as part of other selected courses or as a stand alone programme.

Working with Amazon Medical we are now able to supply the smallest, most practical AED on the market called a Fred Easyport.

The Fred easyport is 450g and measures 133x126x33mm which makes it practical to carry when you are out on activity or overseas on expedition.

We are able to provide other models on request.

Our aim is to get defibrillators into as many workplaces as possible as they have been proved over and over again to make a significant difference.

For more information on costs please contact us