More people need to learn basic first aid – Baptiste

An appeal has been made for more persons to be trained in the area of basic First Aid, especially the armed services.{{more}}

This appeal has come from Minister of Culture René Baptiste.

Baptiste made the comment during the recent certification ceremony of new Red Cross basic first aid instructors last Saturday.

According to the Minister, she looked “forward to the day when police officers, who are sometimes the first responders,” become certified and actively teach basic First Aid sessions.

“From where I sit, I have made remarks and submissions to look at the requirements for persons joining our forces,” Baptiste said, adding that she believes two such requirements should be that they are good swimmers and have First Aid training.

She said that some of these issues arose while the authorities were identifying the criteria for recruiting persons into the Coast Guard.

Baptiste was also of the view that the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health should collaborate in a joint venture to ensure that a percentage of all teachers, particularly those in the institutions of higher learning such as the Community College, are trained in basic First Aid and CPR.

“This is to ensure that in the event that something happens, we will know what to do,” Baptiste said.

“We have to make a forcible submission to ensure that these things are covered,” she continued, saying that in discussion with the Coast Guard, a submission was made to cover all first responders.

She made reference to the fire at the boutique in Kingstown on September 18.

“If someone was suffering from serious smoke inhalation that morning, would they have known what to do?”

“Who knows what to do?”

Then people reach the hospital and we say that they dead,” she lamented.

“We have to get out of that situation and become much more professional in all our services,” she contended. (DD)