Gucci new kit

One advantage of us needing to do a 1st Aid refresher course every 3 years is that it provides a convenient moment in time to introduce new kit and new ideas to a station. Paul Savage is full of new ideas and tonight produced a whole load of exciting new shiny toys for us to play with. And that's precisely what we did for the best part of 3 hours. We took each bit of kit and tried it to see what it felt like to use, find out how it worked and whether we liked it. In the photo is a new style oxygen bottle. It's made out of spun carbon fibre so is way lighter than the old ones. It also has simpler, lifeboat crew proof dials. There is a new pump thing for sucking fluid and vomit out of a casualties' airway and a new bag and mask. All well received and I would say a significant improvement over the old kit.

We finished the session with some scenarios based on what we've learnt so far. Working in pairs we found that our recent training gave us much confidence. On the whole the failings were small and relatively insignificant. By relying on the basic assessments we sorted the 'Big' from the 'Little' sick and, had it been for real, I would like to think we could have saved a few.

Overall? Another memorable session. 15 minutes over time but certainly caused by our enthusiasm, not Paul's tardiness. Great stuff!