Thursday, February 05, 2009

Urban First Aid for Kensington children and young people (Liverpool)

I was invited onto City Talk Radio tonight to talk about the ground-breaking project in my ward to teach children and young people about urban first aid.

Seven nurses from the Liverpool Royal Hospital have teamed up with the British Red Cross Society to offer what they are calling urban first aid to our kids.

They will learn how to tackle knife wounds and gun shot wounds, and also how to help their mates who are very drunk and have collapsed, so that they can do their bit befor paramedics arrive.

Obviously this scheme has its critics, there are those people out there who want to deny that such things happen and dont want our kids to learn what to do because this will damage their innocence. And because it should not be necessary.

On the other hand, supporters like me would say that while we hope our kids never need to apply those skills, it can only be to their benefit to be pre-warned and prepared should they find themselves in the situation of having to help friends or neighbours or indeed strangers that are injured in this way or have had far too much to drink.

Rhys Jones was with his pals when he was shot, Joseph Lappin was with his pals when he was stabbed and Anthony Walker was with his pals when he was violently attacked. Michael Causer, according to the ongoing court case, was with his friends when he was attacked, and he was taken outside and left on the pavement.

I have no idea whether any it would have made any difference in any of these cases if the pals had known what to do, but it might have, or if not, then it might have on other occasions with other young people.

What is obvious to me is that our kids can only benefit from knowing how to manage wounds - whether deliberate or accidental - you could fall on a fence post or railing for instance and need urgent care before the ambulance arrives.

And they all need to know what to do if a mate becomes insensible with drink, we all know that happens!

I also said on the radio that this is not a slur on Kensington, it is simply that the nurses live in Kensington and want to offer their skills to their own community first. If it is successful then they want to roll that out across the city.

I know that Richard and Ibrahim, whom I have met and talked to about this project, are very genuine in their desire to help young people and I think this is a ground-breaking, innovative project, typical of the way that we as a community tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in Kensington.

I took soundings from members of the As One steering group (tackling anti-social behaviour and finding youth diversionary activities in Kensington) this afternoon at our meeting before I went on to the radio and they were all very supportive. Residents, Police, LASBU, C7 wardens Kensington Regeneration Community Officers, LCC staff, RSLs, Business Crime Direct, Youth workers and all the other partners and agencies thought it was a great idea and are really behind it.

Sergeant Simon Joyce particularly asked me to stress that Kensington has seen a 28% reduction in crime over the last 3 years and that it is now the safest place to live in North Liverpool.

What do you think about this project?

4 comments:

scouseboy said...

I think this is an excellent initiative. If just one young life is saved as a result it will be worth it. Its just a pity that knife crime sadly happens far too often in today's society.

Louise Baldock said...

And I forgot to tell you what happened when I got there.

Are you familiar with the St John's Tower? It is a bit like the Post Office Tower, something like 450 feet tall. The radio stations (I think there are three there) transmit from the circular housing at the top of the tower.

I came in the front door, in the basement, more or less, and got in a lift with only 2 floors on the punch buttons, 1st or 2nd.

I think Gary Quinn and I got out at the first floor. We came out of the lift and into a corridor, where I am sorry to say I rocked back on my heels and clutched the wall next to me. We were hundreds of feet up in the air, the city laid out below us and the wall was glass from floor to ceiling. Now I could cope with the glass from about waist height upwards, but the glass that ran from my waist to my toes, allowing me to see all the way down, completely upset my equilibrity. I did get round the corridor and into the recording studio, but only because I was clutching onto the wall.
Oh the shame of vertigo! The views to the horizon were magnificent but the views to the ground were big time scary!

scouseboy said...

I thought you were made of stronger stuff Louise!!!

Anonymous said...

Find out more about the wide range of first aid services and training at the British Red Cross on www.redcross.org.uk/firstaid