A large group of Shed members welcomed Stephanie Wilson from the British Red Cross to the Shed on 17 March 2023, when she gave an excellent first aid course which was both enjoyable and highly informative. Some members had never had any previous first aid training, while others used the session as a refresher to top up their existing knowledge.

Stephanie explained what is meant by “first aid”, which can be anything from checking that someone is ok after an accident, through to calling for medical assistance, and on to taking action to address an emergency situation while waiting for other help to arrive. She gave advice on dealing with common types of emergency such as burns, falls, cuts, and broken bones.

After this Stephanie went on to demonstrate how to give chest compressions to a casualty whose heart has stopped, and use a defibrillator if one is available. Shed members had the opportunity to try to administer chest compressions on a dummy, which was harder work than it might look, and see how our own defibrillator works. It was very useful to understand how interactive a defibrillator is, and how it guides you through the necessary stages if you ever need to use one.