The San Pedro Branch of the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) working with the Belize Red Cross, held a two-day first aid training session in San Pedro Town. Held on November 20 – 21 at Fido’s Courtyard, the training was intended to ensure that more community members are trained in first aid, which is vital to save and minimize the loss of life during an emergency.
Various resort personnel, public officers, law enforcement officers and volunteers from the community undertook the intense course. “First aid is given by trained First Aiders until professional help arrives. This is basically to render assistance to an injured person in an attempt to avoid a casualty,” said Jeromey Timrose Augustin, the NEMO Coordinator on the island. “Targeted participants were from the resorts, hotels, dive shops, airlines, boat handlers, Town Council sanitation engineers, teachers, police officers, firemen, transport officer, administrators and health workers, all who can play a key role in an emergency.”
The training is one of many activities conducted by NEMO in an effort to better prepare islanders to tackle emergency situation as first responders. According to Augustin, topics covered were: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), choking, burns, how to remove a trapped casualty from a vehicle, safety in first aid, how to recognize an emergency and the proper procedure on how to perform CPR on an infant, a child and an adult.
A total of 46 members of the community were trained over the two-day period and all received certificates of completion at the end of the course. The training was coordinated by NEMO and facilitated by Winnie Parche from the Belize Red Cross Belize City Branch. The San Pedro NEMO coordinator would like to thank all those who made the training possible.
