FIRST AID TRAINING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20034, 5 September 1939, Page 4

FIRST AID TRAINING

EMERGENCY CLASSES GRATIFYING RESPONSE COURSE TO BE TELESCOPED The response to. an appeal to women sncl girls o£ 16 years of age and upwards. issued yesterday by the Nursing Division of the St. John Ambulance Association, was most gratifying. .Between 50 and .60 attended a gathering held last evening and offered their services in any emergency in which they could be used for nursing or first-aid. ,

A number of others had communicated with officers of the association by telephone, and there is the assurance that a fairly adequate number of women and girls will be trained in the course of a few weeks.

In order to complete the initial training in the shortest possible time, the association has decided to telescope the course by conducting classes twice a week until further notice. Those who met last evening heard a keenly interesting and helpful explanation of what would be required of the trained groups, the speaker being a divisional surgeon of the Nursing Division. He stressed the importance of lihving some knowledge of first-aid work, as any emergency, if it developed in relation to the Dominion, would come quickly. Valuable To Any Person

There would be no time to train first-aid workers after the event, he pointed out, and the more people who were qualified to help, the better the recovery from the emergency would be. Capacity to give .first-aid would be an asset to any person in normal civil life, and in war-time might be of inestimable value.

Following the address, members of the Nursing Division met to make detailed arrangements for the classes in practical work. The division is fortunate in having available fullyqualified instructors in this section of the work, while members of the medical and nursing professions have undertaken to conduct the lectures for town classes. A request that a class be organised at Makaraka was acceded to, and it was decided that this class would be enrolled and commence training next week. Thursday evening of this week was fixed for the commencement of class work in first-aid for town trainees.

All possessors of first-aid certificates and others who desire to receive training in first-aid methods are invited to attend at the Masonic Hall, Childers road, this evening at 8 o’clock. Certified first-aid men will be given a refresher course, and general instruction will be available for those not already qualified. Parents of boys between the ages of 12 and 16 years are invited to encourage their sons to undertake junior cadet instruction.