John King
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Dec 02/05) - During an intensive two day course, healthcare workers learned how to save a child's life.

Doctors, med-flight nurses, and heath centre nurses listened to pediatric experts during a recent course at the Yellowknife Church of Christ.

Pediatrician and instructor Marie-Claude Lebeau, left, teaches a student about air obstruction. - John King/NNSL photo

"The great thing about this course is that everybody is learning the same processes so that when they are faced with a situation at work, they can work well as a team," says Susan Murdoch, course co-ordinator.

Instructors use different stations to practice several real life scenarios, says Murdoch.

One station had students learn what to do when a child is sick, vomiting, and dehydrated.

"There were scenarios where we used kids with different heart rates and blood pressures," Murdoch says.

"This way students learn how to treat children at different ages," Murdoch says.

The course is designed to instruct students to help children from newborns to 16 year-olds - "anyone who's not an adult."

The course will certify the healthcare workers in Pediatric Advanced Life Support, and gives them the knowledge to make the sort of quick assessments that can save children's lives, says Murdoch.