Knowing First Aid can help save lives
The campaign which is the first of its kind, will kick start at the Earls Court Baby Show later this month on 26 October, and runs until the end of the year.
It has been designed in a bid to answer a survey of over 2,000 parents, undertaken by Bounty’s Word of Mum panel, which found that 96 per cent of respondents agreed that all parents should have some first aid knowledge.
The British Red Cross’ First Aid Challenge campaign aims to get thousands of parents across the UK to learn first aid skills and feel confident enough to use them.
We hope this challenge will make all parents stop, think and decide to learn some first aid. We all know that as children grow and explore, inevitably they will have some kind of accident be it big...
Joe Mulligan, British Red Cross head of first aid education, said: “We know that the majority of parents want to learn first aid, but may not get round to it for all sorts of reasons. We’re asking parents to set themselves this challenge – learn something, no matter how much time you have. Even 15 minutes is enough to learn something that could make all the difference in an emergency.”
With over 24,000 parents expected to attend the Earls Court Baby Show over three days, the British Red Cross First Aid Challenge will be launching at the popular event and parents will be able to kick-off the challenge with training sessions taking place every hour.
The website (www.redcross.org.uk/firstaidchallenge) will also launch the same day, featuring free videos, emergency advice and information on first aid courses around the UK – the campaign will also encourage parents to download a letter to send to head teachers to ask local schools to teach first aid in the classroom.
Tracey Turner from the British Red Cross said: “We hope this challenge will make all parents stop, think and decide to learn some first aid. We all know that as children grow and explore, inevitably they will have some kind of accident, be it big or small. We are passionate about giving everyone the skills and the confidence to know what to do.”
Signing up to the First Aid Challenge is completely free and each participant will receive information on how to deal with day-to-day mishaps confidently and updates about free first aid demonstrations across the UK. Alternatively, if parents prefer to keep a how-to hard-copy in the house, a brand new First Aid manual focussing on treatment for babies and children is available now, priced £10.99.
Tell us if you're taking part in the campaign, in the comments below or tweet us @FemaleFirst_UK
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