First Aid component of the First Lady’s ‘Care for the Elderly’ Workshop opens today -Thirty-five women to benefit

Georgetown, Guyana – (February 12, 2018) A one week training in First Aid, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and use of the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) commenced today for 35 female caregivers who are participating in First Lady, Mrs. Sandra Granger’s ‘Care for the Elderly’ Workshop, which started last Monday at the Regency Suites, Georgetown. The participants, who are drawn from the Central Islamic Organisation (CIOG), Women Across Differences (WAD) and the St John’s Bosco Orphanage, will be trained by facilitators at the Guyana Red Cross Society (GRCS) at Barrack Street, Kingston, Georgetown, to provide essential first response care.

The First Lady, who spoke briefly at the opening, noted that each participant will be involved in an intense week of training that will comprise of interactive, practical and theoretical sessions in First Aid.

“You are going to learn something that is not only going to help you professionally as caregivers, but something that will help you in your day to day life…It is something that you can take into your ordinary life with your family, neighbours [and] friends, so you will know how to render  First Aid,” Mrs. Granger said.

The First Lady said that at the end of the training, participants will be certified in First Aid, which she added, was a criterion stipulated by the collaborator in the workshops, the Ministry of Social Protection, as part of the Caring for the Elderly and Child Care programmes. “When you come out and you complete the workshop, you have a certificate that you can take anywhere and it is recognised for a job and it will be certified by the Board of Industrial Training,” Mrs. Granger said.

The First Lady also encouraged the women to absorb the teachings of the training which will be conducted by experienced facilitators of the GRSC.

Meanwhile, Coordinator of the First Aid programme at GRCS, Mr. Devon Lewis, in an invited comment, said that the aim of the workshop is to equip the participants with basic training in the American Red Cross First-Aid- CPR and AED courses and to certify them with a skill that will help save lives.

“At the end of the programme the participants will have the full knowledge of CPR, First Aid and the knowledge of AED…The course will contain practical sessions, where they will be lifting, getting down on the ground to do CPR, transporting, and extricating persons with a spinal injury out of a vehicular accident… It is a lot of topics that we will be covering with these young ladies,” Mr. Lewis said.

Participant, Ms. Althea Lewis said that she hopes to learn various techniques in First Aid which will benefit her in caring for children. “It is my first opportunity [to learn]  First Aid, and I would like to take away a lot because I deal with a lot of children and I feel that First Aid does be the first response to any situation on the ground…this is a nice initiative to have in… any worse case scenario,” Ms. Lewis said.

Present at the opening were also Lieutenant Colonel (ret’d), Yvonne Smith of the Office of the First Lady,  and Administrative Officer of the GRCS, Ms. Bernadette Adonis and other First Aid Facilitators.