Alstom powers on with first aid courses

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Alstom has teamed up with the West Midlands Ambulance Service to provide its staff with access to on site defibrillators and free life saving first aid courses. 
 
The two organisations joined forces approximately twelve months ago to further strengthen Alstoms first aid capabilities on their Generator, Transformer and Grid sites in Stafford.
 
The initial project saw Alstom installing an additional five defibrillators to their existing six devices within their Stafford sites. Alongside this West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) rolled out the free lifesaving defibrillator course to twenty first aiders within these sites.
 
The project has been extremely well received and has led to a total of 35 defibrillators being installed throughout all Alstom sites within the UK. In January, eighteen members of Alstom staff from around the country attended a train the trainer session provided by WMAS, enabling these individuals to take these essential first aid skills back to their own work place and teams. 
 
The first aid programme hasnt stopped there and Alstom has now joined the other 1,800 people in Staffordshire who have become involved with the Services HeartStart programme.
 
West Midlands Ambulance Service embarked on the HeartStart project back in April with the aim to train 60,000 members of Staffordshire public in basic first aid techniques over the next five years. The free two hour courses are for anyone aged ten years old and up and cover various lifesaving and first aid techniques including CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), the management of severe bleeding, loss of consciousness, choking and chest pain.
 
WMAS Community Response Manager, Duncan Parsonage said: It has been excellent working alongside Alstom on this project; the organisation and its staff have been extremely enthusiastic and positive about the initiative and it really has gone from strength to strength.
 
It is inevitable, as with all large organisations with such a large and varied workforce, that staff and potentially visitors could become ill or injured whilst on site. Alstom have taken those extra steps to help ensure that should anyone ever become seriously ill or suffer a cardiac arrest that they have the right equipment and trained staff available to provide the best care possible in those first few critical minutes, prior to the arrival of an ambulance.

Gavin Terry-Short, Alstom Health, Safety & Environmental Manager said: This is a great scheme for anyone to take part in. We now have a core of people who have received some fantastic training that could save lives. We also now have access to additional equipment and resources that means were prepared for all first aid issues, from the relatively minor to the life threatening.
 
As the largest private sector employer in Stafford, its absolutely vital to us that we keep our 2,000 staff as safe as possible and teaming up with the West Midlands Ambulance Service has helped us do just that.

In recent years WMAS has worked with numerous large organisations to assist in the installation of lifesaving defibrillators. Any organisations, large or small, who are interested in finding out more about defibrillators and the training programmes that WMAS has to offer are asked to contact Duncan Parsonage via duncan.parsonage@wmas.nhs.uk  or call 07793040321.

Any members of the public who are interested in undertaking the free HeartStart course should contact the Staffordshire HeartStart team via heartstartstaffordshire@wmas.nhs.uk or call 01785 237341 (phones are manned Monday Friday between 8.30am 4.30pm).