Bundaberg residents are being offered the opportunity to be better prepared for medical emergencies, through specialist RACQ LifeFlight Rescue trauma training.
The organisation will be hosting the First Minutes Matter Trauma Training in Bundaberg next month.
The training, which is a free community safety education program offered online and in-person by LifeFlight's experienced aeromedical team, will educate community members on what they can do to help during the initial crucial minutes of a traumatic incident.
First Minutes Matter Trauma Training Program Manager for LifeFlight and Flight Paramedic Craig Blick said the program taught important skills to help people be ready to respond to pre-hospital emergencies.
“It's a great program that teaches important medical skills for pre-hospital emergencies, while you're waiting for an ambulance or the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter,” Craig said.
“We try to teach and impart the skills of basic life support, so that if you do need to wait for help to arrive and you are in that situation where something happens in front of you, you're able to act.
“We make sure you understand how to act calmly and with a level of knowledge and confidence that you're going to be able to do it safely and the person that you're helping is going to be able to survive.”
The idea to create First Minutes Matter Trauma Training for the public came from LifeFlight aeromedical crew members, who know patient outcomes are dramatically improved by actions taken in the first minutes after an incident, before emergency crews arrive.
The in-person workshops are already being hailed a huge success, with over 2000 Queenslanders now better equipped to help in the event of an emergency, following the program's launch in late 2021.
The small workshops, delivered by LifeFlight's medical staff, focus on giving students the chance to practice their skills.
“The workshops run for about five hours, and we touch on seven main topics,” Craig said.
“We teach things from what to do when you are on the scene of an incident, like calling triple zero, and reassuring the patient, to how to treat burns, stop bleeding, choking, strokes and seizures.
“We also use mannequins and a whole lot of other equipment to teach people these really vital and practical skills.”
The First Minutes Matter Bundaberg workshops will be held on Friday, 22 April.
You can register for the in-person workshops here.
In the free, self-paced, online program LifeFlight Training Academy Medical Director Dr Duncan McAuley shares his invaluable knowledge for dealing with trauma incidents including seizures, choking, burns, bleeding, snake bites and cardiac events.
Sign up for online First Minutes Matter Trauma Training here.
Retired nurse, Jayne Davidson, attended one of the in-person trauma training workshops to brush up on her skills.
Just days later, she found herself using the skills she had learnt from the course, to assist an elderly man who was injured after being pinned under a tree he had been trying to cut down.
“He was in a lot of pain, very distressed and hyperventilating, and I remember when I did the course, one of the things that the instructor really instilled into us was to calm your patient down. Reassure them,” Jayne said.
“And so we did all the necessary steps and between my husband and I, we were able to help this man.”
The man had suffered injuries to his chest, back and hip as a result of the incident and was airlifted to hospital by RACQ LifeFlight Rescue for further treatment.
“We may not have needed to save his life, but we certainly made a difference to the process of him receiving help, and there were skills that I learned at the course that helped in this way,” Jayne said.
The past-participant is now encouraging others to sign up to the in-person courses.
“I think everybody should sign up to the trauma training. If you can help save someone's life, or if you could help change the outcome of how someone's life is going to be in the future, then why not?”
Thanks to Shine Lawyers’ continued partnership, as Founding Partner of the program, the in-person trauma training workshops are able to continue and head to the Wide Bay and Burnett regions.
“Shine Lawyers is proud to continue our partnership with LifeFlight by sponsoring the First Minutes Matter Trauma Training workshops across Queensland,” said Shine Lawyers Chief Operating Officer, Jodie Willey.
“We’ve been deeply moved by the feedback from attendees like Jayne Davidson, who is a prime example of why the workshops are so vital for us all.”
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