The first five, ten or twenty minutes after a serious incident could mean the difference between life and death.
Often first to respond to a traumatic scene, local emergency services and volunteers are required to sustain the patient until professional medical help arrives. It is for this reason that CareFlight’s MediSim program was developed, building upon first responders’ training and skills in order to significantly improve the long-term outcomes for trauma patients.
Travelling aboard Spirit of Tasmania, the MediSim education team recently spent two weeks in Tasmania, training over 70 local non-clinical emergency responders. CareFlight MediSim Coordinator, Eileen Verde said it wasn’t just the participants who benefited from the Trauma Care Workshops (TCW).
“The more people that know how to deal with something catastrophic in the first instance, the more people are going to survive,” Ms Verde said.
“A patient’s recovery will be faster, their chance of survival is greater and if you’re keeping someone alive, you’re keeping a family happy and together, so it is really important.”
Travelling 3,300 km from Sydney and between Bruny Island, Devonport, Cradle Mountain and Hobart, CareFlight’s experienced professional emergency specialists placed participants into a number of realistic, high pressure scenarios, in order to give them greater knowledge and confidence for the next time they faced a critical situation.
“The most rewarding part of this tour was that we introduced a revised program that two educators re-wrote,” Ms Verde said.
“We know that the Tasmanian first responders are really well trained, so we decided to roll out an upgraded version of the workshop which was really well received.
“The feedback given to us from each workshop is taken to the educators who then develop the TCW further, so it’s always evolving to be up to date with the latest thinking and being improved.”
Since launching in 2011, more than 420 Tasmanian emergency service first responders from SES, TFS, Police, Volunteer Ambulance and Tasmania Parks and Wildlife have been trained under the free program, thanks to the support of Spirit of Tasmania, as well as the community.
“We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Spirit of Tasmania for their ongoing support,” Ms Verde said.
“Thank you also to SeaLink, who helped us with the transport across to Bruny Island and to all the individuals in Tasmania that support CareFlight to help people build medical resilience in their local community.
“Every dollar that we save helps us to purchase equipment to train with or helps us to develop, makes a big difference.”
To help CareFlight continue taking this vital training around Australia, please donate here.
Corporate groups interested in helping MediSim, please click here.
