MOSSEL BAY NEWS -  EMS Ambulance Services has launched a project called Rural Emergency First Aid, in which people in rural areas are taught basic first aid techniques to help in emergencies until trained paramedics arrive on the scene.

This is according to a statement from the Mossel Bay Provincial Hospital Board.

The board, in partnership with the community policing forums of Mossel Bay, Da Gamaskop, KwaNonqaba and Great Brak, decided to collaborate with EMS to make use of the project to include teachers and neighbourhood watch members.

Very few educators are currently trained in basic first aid. Neighbourhood watch members are community members that are well known in their communities and most of the time arrive first on the scene.

The EMS Ambulance Service cover a vast area and it can sometimes take a long time for one of the ambulances to get to a scene. 

The Emergency First Aid Responders (EFAR) project aims to train everyday people to become emergency first aid responders until an ambulance arrives or until someone can be safely transported to hospital. 

It is untrue that the Mossel Bay Provincial Hospital will show patients away if they do not arrive by ambulance, according to the statement.

In the past this programme drew people who, through attending, discovered that being a paramedic or a first aid trainer was what they wanted to do as a career.

"In October 2019, a Hillcrest learner was fatally stabbed by criminals during a normal school day, so today, almost three years later, we launch this programme at Hillcrest school," the statement noted.

Email Yolanda.Avontuur@westerncape.gov.za (cc swanepoeldeidre8@gmail.com) if you would like to make use of this opportunity.

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