A weekend of Casualty Care for Barmouth RNLI
RNLI volunteer crew members spent their entire weekend at Barmouth lifeboat station on a Casualty Care course held in the boathouse from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th November 2018.
Funded by the Lloyd's Register Foundation and led by RNLI Instructor Nick Darlison, it acted as refresher training for experienced lifeboat crew as well as vital training for newer volunteers who have joined the RNLI more recently.
The course consisted of various aspects of caring for casualties and volunteers learned how to deal with a wide range of conditions that they might face during their lifesaving rescues, from treating trauma and resuscitation to dealing with various accident scenarios.
Coxswain Peter Davies said:
‘The casualty care course provides essential training that enables our lifeboat crew members to treat casualties who are injured and in shock. Many of our rescues are fairly straightforward, but others can be a lot more serious.
‘If a person is injured out at sea they will need treating immediately and crews cannot wait to get them back to shore. Our volunteers need to be highly skilled in order to administer first aid, which is often vital in the immediate aftermath of an accident or injury.
‘Our volunteer crews give up a lot of time already, leaving their family and work whenever the pager goes off. They gave up a whole weekend of their busy lives to do this training so it was a big commitment from them. Here at Barmouth we have had a couple of incidents in recent years that proved quite challenging, but we are fortunate to have a very enthusiastic crew who are always keen to learn, and it is testament to their dedication that they wanted to take part in this course.’
The casualty care course is part of the RNLI’s Competency Based Training framework, a well-established infrastructure which lifeboat crews undertake to receive the training and assessments necessary for their role. Delivered by instructors from the charity’s headquarters in Poole, Dorset, the training ensures crews are ready to handle any situation the sea can throw at them.
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.
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