COME ON A HEARTSTART COURSE. THEY DID & SO CAN YOU!

BBC 999 Lifesaver Roadshow

London Olympia, 3rd-6th July 1998

Here is description with pictures of my experiences at the "BBC 999 Lifesaver Roadshow" at the "Ideal Health Show", London Olympia. This was an opportunity for the public to get free access to a 2.5 hour session in Emergency Life Support (ELS) skills, via two sessions each day throughout the four days of the show.

Paul Knighton
Heartstart Thurrock scheme co-ordinator
heartstart_thurrock@yahoo.com

The sessions were led by a master of ceremony combined with other helpers and video clips to explain various points of ELS. After each point was explained and demonstrated, each instructor would then practice and discuss this with a group of 4-8 trainees. Every instructor and trainee had their own Laerdal "Little Anne" manikin. Individual sessions were attended by 45-50 instructors and 100-250 trainees.

The main organisations participating were St. John Ambulance, St. Andrew's Ambulance Association, Heartstart UK/ British Heart Foundation, The Royal Life Saving Society UK, the statutory Ambulance Services, an RAF Heartstart scheme, and Resuscitation Training Officers from local Hospitals.

The syllabus was based on the revised Resuscitation Council (UK) guidelines, April 1997, and covered :-

• welcome and safety procedures
• the chain of survival
• checking safety, checking response, and making the 999 call
• what to do if casualty does not respond
• what to do if casualty is breathing
• dealing with a casualty who is not breathing
• dealing with a casualty who is not breathing and has no pulse
• chest pains and heart attacks
• dealing with a casualty who is choking
• dealing with a casualty who is bleeding
• general practise session for recovery position, CPR, choking etc.
• final synchronised CPR session to sound of "bam boogie"
• summary and thank you's

Here are some pictures from the Saturday afternoon session. The session was introduced by the female co-presenter of the BBC 999 Lifesaver series.

Towards the end of this session, the Gladiator "Falcon" helped the crowd start the mass syncronised CPR to the tune of "bam boogie". With such a large group, this is an amazing spectacle and alone made it worth attending. Try going to one if you get the chance.

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