Following the fifth anniversary of the Manchester Arena bombing, St John’s Ambulance and BBC Radio Manchester have partnered together for a new campaign that will be bringing essential first-aid skills to members of the public and local organisations.
And on Saturday, ahead of our home ‘Family Day’ fixture against Charlton, the “Save a Life Campaign” is coming to the University of Bolton Stadium.
The event will take place the Premier Suite from 10am -3pm and will give staff, volunteers and fans the opportunity to drop in and learn some vital life-saving skills.
The key life saving techniques to be taught include:
- Delivering cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and using a defibrillator
- How to treat severe bleeding and catastrophic haemorrhage
- How to treat someone who is choking
All of these will be reinforced with knowledge of Primary Survey and how to put someone in the recovery position.
Sessions will be delivered by the local St John Ambulance team of volunteers and trainers in Greater Manchester.
BBC Radio Manchester’s Executive Editor, Kate Squire, says: “We all know life saving techniques are vital in emergencies and we want to provide these skills to as many people as possible in order to make sure we save lives in any future emergency situation.”
Figen Murray, the mother of Martyn Hett who died in the Manchester Arena attack is championing BBC Radio Manchester’s campaign.
She said: “It’s not good if people are not equipped to know what to do. They ought to be trained in life saving measures such as using tourniquets or applying pressure bandages.
“BBC Radio Manchester’s campaign is absolutely brilliant and is so needed, especially with all the knife crime that’s happening as well. I think society just needs to embrace that kind of skill.”
Dr Lynn Thomas, Medical Director at St John Ambulance, said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with the BBC on this new campaign.
“First aid is such an essential skill to have and we’re looking forward to raising awareness of key techniques in a variety of different ways to people across the 10 boroughs of Manchester over the next few months.”
Following on from The Kerslake Report and the ongoing inquiry, it was identified that 'zero responders' (members of the public with emergency first aid knowledge/training) were a tremendous help in saving the lives of many victims.
The aim of the campaign is to train 21,000 people in emergency first aid by the end of December 2022.
Wanderers are delighted to be playing their part and provide the opportunity ahead of Saturday’s match to get behind the campaign and be skilled up to help save a life.
Please come early and drop in to the Premier Suite.
Meanwhile, Phil Mason, CEO of BWitC and Club Chaplain, will also be a guest on BBC Radio Manchester on Friday afternoon to discuss the project and Wanderers’ support for it.