TTRCS First Aid educators hope to teach basic skills

Seventeen Red Cross First Aid educators completed training over the weekend of July 8 and 9 and are now ready to teach First Aid skills to communities all over Trinidad & Tobago.

Equipped with knowledge of First Aid, the educators will soon engage communities on First Aid skills, such as bandaging or helping someone who has fainted.

The First Aid educators are the newest addition to the health program of the Trinidad & Tobago Red Cross Society (TTRCS). The idea is to raise awareness and engage people about First Aid in a simple way, so as to increase their interest in participating in actual First Aid courses.

“We know there is an all-round need for the public to be educated in First Aid but we are also aware that not everybody can rush out to do a First Aid Course. The First Aid educators can provide people with basic skills, show that First Aid is easy, and that anybody can do it,” says Anička Senior, TTRCS First Aid Coordinator.

The First Aid educator will not only help train communities in basic First Aid skills, but fulfill a Red Cross goal, which is to prepare more communities to deal with disaster and health issues. The TTRCS trains thousands of people in First Aid, running courses for businesses and public trainings throughout the year.

The first assignment for the new educators will be participation in this year’s Tobago Heritage Festival in the last weeks of July; it is hoped that interacting with the public will spark an interest by members of the public who attend.

The TTRCS is currently participating in a Caribbean First Aid Project, that also involves the Belize Red Cross Society and the Grenada Red Cross Society. 

The one-year project is being facilitated by the British Red Cross Society and aims to upgrade the First Aid departments of the three National Societies, as well as harmonizing their First Aid courses.