Lifesaving skills shared

A group of seven and eight-year-old Stella Maris students learned skills that could help in an emergency when St John visited the school recently.

The school invited St John community educator Donna Taylor in for the first time, with all year groups gaining some training.

On February 28, Year 3 and 4 students were taught how to assist someone who is unconscious but breathing and how to make a good 111 call.

Donna told the children that statistically men and children are better than women at calling 111 – informing the young girls that they need to remain calm before relaying what emergency services needs to know. “Women tend to panic and cry a lot,” she said.

First and second year students tried simple bandaging, with their teacher being wrapped like a Mummy during the practice. Senior students learned how to look after a patient with severe blood loss.

Donna says the service is offered to Auckland schools at the start of the year. “St John wants to make sure local youth have the opportunity to know what to do in an emergency,” she says.

She also made the teachers aware of a St. John app on mobile devices that teaches CPR by video tutorial.