CPD opportunities for trainers

Our 3rd Annual Trainer CPD Day proved to be another enlightening, entertaining and productive session for London-based trainers. We discussed how to continue making training instructive, inclusive and memorable and how to encourage learning at all levels. Our first aid trainers‘ wealth of experience led to lively debate and new practical solutions. External contributors have always been an important part of our CPD days. We had two excellent guest speakers join us this year.

Learning about the London Air Ambulance

Having supported the London Air Ambulance (LAA) charity for over ten years, we felt it was time to learn more about the organisation. Our guest speaker, Steve Jones, is a Senior Flight Paramedic with more than 20 years of experience with the LAA. He’s also a Clinical Course Director with the Institute of Pre-Hospital Care. Steve spoke about the history of the LAA and gave us some fascinating insights into how it operates within the capital’s emergency service programme. The LAA’s vision is to end preventable deaths in London from life-threatening injuries. To date, the service has supported over 45,000 patients with an average of five new patients added to the tally every day. Steve’s passion and dedication were palpable and infectious. Our trainers were hugely entertained by stories of front-line first aid at its most critical and the support given to the elite team of professionals who provide this vital care. The importance of the service’s continued survival has never been clearer. Unfortunately, LAA’s helicopters are going out of service and more money is needed to replace them. If you can spare a contribution, please support the Up Against Time appeal.

Supporting delegates with hearing loss

Our second speaker was Vickie Deeks of Sound Training Solutions. Vickie is a hearing-impaired teacher who has created interactive seminars on effective communication strategies for learners with hearing loss. Astonishingly, up to 20% of the population suffers from hearing loss, yet stigma associated with the disability may make sufferers reluctant to acknowledge their condition. As a sufferer, Vickie brought the reality of dealing with hearing loss on a day-to-day basis to life. She also provided simple, practical solutions for our trainers to use to ensure that all our delegates can learn to the best of their abilities and remain fully engaged. These included the promotion of visible speech and hand talk. Both speakers brought significantly different training solutions to our group. However, they will all undoubtedly enrich our training processes going forward. And then the Prosecco came out… well, it was almost Christmas! Wishing everyone a very happy, healthy, safe and sound Christmas and New Year, from all the team at Safe and Sound.