Youngsters have been learning how to save lives thanks to the skills of De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) students.
Pupils at Linden Primary School were visited by students on the Child Nursing course at DMU, learning vital skills which could help to rescue people in emergencies.
Over an exciting 90 minutes, the children were given a short presentation where they were shown x-rays of different breaks and fractures and given basic first aid advice.
Then they were split into four groups, each supervised by a different student volunteer, taught about electrocution, bandages, the recovery position, choking and road safety, among other things.
Gemma Hunt, studying her first year on the Child Nursing course, was teaching groups about electrocution and the recovery position.
She talked them through what should be done if they were to find someone unconscious and them guided them through practicals where they paired up and put each other in the position.
Hamza Patel, 10, said he would go home and tell his family about the things he’d been shown.
He said: “If I saw someone lying on the floor it would be a bit scary but I’d know what to do now. I wouldn’t just leave them.”
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Student Gemma, 19, said she hoped to work in neonatal nursing and that this experience was invaluable.
She said: “Children are frequently falling off bikes or getting nicks or burns and so this knowledge will be really relevant to them.
“In hospital as a children’s nurse, you will usually be seeing seriously ill children, or children with real emergencies, so it’s nice to be able to get a broader experience with healthy children, try and give them advice and knowledge they can use at home.”
Pauline Jones, a part-time lecturer at DMU and nurse at Leicester Royal Infirmary helps oversee the community sessions.
She said: “This is about teaching children safe ways to minimise common injuries like cuts and burns while, at the same time, giving students a really useful experience of spending time with children and communicating advice in informative and engaging ways.
“It’s another way in which DMU is working with the community, sharing the academic skills we have for a mutual benefit.”
Posted on Friday 17 June 2016