Life saving courses launched for rural communities in Lancashire

Norwest Medical is running free, fully accredited, four hour Qualsafe programmes with some of their pre-Ambulance fully qualified trainers.

Launched in January 2024 in Sawley by Mark Evans, Regional Community Engagement Lead for North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, uptake has already achieved great results with excellent feedback.

The classes have been specially designed to engage people in rural areas to learn vital life saving techniques at a time when there is great need for people with these skills.

Currently, the programme will run every Saturday morning on a monthly rotational basis across the 3 Parish village halls, although interest is already being shown by other local communities to get involved.

Groups of up to 12 people will be able to attend the Qualsafe Level 2 course with each participant gaining practical experience in all aspects of BLS.

CPR training will be included as well as instruction on usage of Automated External Defibrillators (AED) and how to recognise heart attack symptoms. Other crucial life saving skills including how to treat someone who is choking, as well as recovery and handling catastrophic bleeding will also be covered.

Each candidate’s competency will be assessed, then once they have passed the course they will receive their official Qualsafe certificate as well as a Parish Lifesaver t-shirt.

Mark Evans comments, “When it comes to a life threatening emergency time is everything. For rural communities in particular this type of crucial skillset saves lives.

Being able to handle incidents in real time obviously puts people under pressure and we believe that the best way to combat this is to gain experience and practice lifesaving skills.”

Andrew Yates, Parish Council Chairman commented: “In an emergency situation, every second counts and being in a rural community, emergency medical help is unfortunately some distance away.

Northwest medical have taken the initiative and the first course was a thoroughly instructive and enjoyable event with exceptionally positive feedback.

On behalf of the Parish Council, I would like to warmly thank Northwest medical in empowering our community to respond in emergency situations and potentially save lives.”

For more information on further life saving courses being run by NorWest Medical please visit www.norwestmedical.co.uk or alternatively call: 01772 952566