CHESTERFIELD INLET
Staff members at Victor Sammurtok School (VSS) used their professional development days to be certified in the skills of first aid in Chesterfield Inlet this past week.
Amanda Mulder checks to see if her 'baby' is breathing during a first-aid course at Victor Sammurtok School in Chesterfield Inlet earlier this month. - photo courtesy of Glen Brocklebank |
The course was facilitated by Kevin Bussey of Rankin Inlet.
Student support teacher Cindy Kim organized the staff's participation in the course.
Kim described the course as being both fun to take and very useful.
She said first aid was chosen because of the number of students who attend the school from the Naja Isabelle Home in Chester.
"We have a lot of kids attend our school who are wheelchair-bound and have all these different medical needs," said Kim.
"So, we just wanted to be prepared, as a staff, to be able to handle anything that comes about in our school regarding those children, as well as the other children who attend VSS."
The two-day course was attended by 20 people and included both theory and practical learning.
Kim said the participants were split about 50-50 between those with first aid experience and those completely new to the training.
She said of the ones previously trained in first aid, many had their certification expire a number of years ago.
"At the very beginning of the course, during our initial try, it was a bit difficult because we really didn't know the proper techniques.
"But once we kept on practising, we had it down pat.
"The course is great for all of us in having peace of mind that, if anything were to happen to a student or a staff member, we know what to do."
Kim said as with all learning, some parts of the course were more challenging than others.
She said one exercise in particular, during practical learning, proved itself to be quite challenging for most of the participants.
"I'd say the most difficult part of the course was when we were doing compressions (pushing down on the victim's chest to aid breathing).
"Getting the right rhythm down was challenging because you have to do 100 compressions and two breaths within one minute.
"It was tiring for some and we didn't want to do it too fast or too slow, so just getting the right rate with the compressions was, probably, the most challenging part of the whole course.
"The Government of Nunavut provided funding for any government employee to take the course, so we had one person from the health centre join us, as well as two workers from the daycare staff."
