Like many grandparents, Irving Winson regularly looks after his grandchildren – so when the Red Cross put on a special child-centred course for older carers he nipped along.
Irving (79), who has six grandchildren aged under 12, was just one of many grandparents attending the busy – and bespoke – first aid session in Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire.
He said: “My wife is a nurse so I’ve always relied on her to act in an emergency – but there are odd occasions when she’s out and I’m left looking after the kids by myself. Having some first aid skills means I’ll now know what to do if anything bad happens.”
Basic skills
The Everyday First Aid course covered basic skills such as dealing with burns, fractures and bleeding injuries – and also what to do if a child or baby starts choking.
Irving said: “Recently, my youngest grandson – who’s just 12 months old – swallowed a tiddlywink. Luckily, he didn’t choke and was still able to breathe, but he couldn’t eat and had a strange cough for a while. Finally, the doctors were able to remove it.
“However, it definitely made me think ‘what if that had happened while I was looking after him and he had started to choke?’ Before doing this course I wouldn’t have known what to do.”
Caring grandparents
Jo Riches, first aid co-ordinator, said: “We felt it was important to hold a course specifically for grandparents as more and more are responsible for caring for their grandchildren while parents return to work.”
Following the course, Irving said: “I did a first aid course many years ago but the techniques have changed over the years. This one was so easy and made it simple to grasp the key skills – I certainly feel I could respond to an emergency now if I had to.”