Russet Homes help residents deal with emergencies

Published by Barbara H for Russet Homes in Housing and also in Communities, Education, Environment, Health

Russet Homes helped local residents discover what to do in an emergency, especially if it involved a child or infant, during a half day first aid training session at Hadlow College.

Funded and organised by Russet Homes in conjunction with St John Ambulance Kent the certified SJA course introduced local people to a range of life saving techniques including child and infant resuscitation, how to stem bleeding, treating an unconscious casualty and choking.

Marilyn Smith, Russet Homes Community Investment Manager, said: “Burns, choking, suffocation and drowning are the leading causes of unintentional injury or death at home among children. The worry is that many people simply would not know what to do without the proper training and may panic or simply freeze if faced with a life threatening accident, especially if it was their own child.”

Fiona Bond, a Russet Homes tenant who attended the course said: “I was a bit nervous before the course started but it was far easier than I expected. I now feel 100% that I could help someone if they needed help in an emergency. I know it was aimed at helping children and infants who need first aid, but I feel a lot of what I have learnt will be really useful to me if I need to help my Dad as he suffers from a range of health problems.”

“As the borough’s leading landlord we are committed to raising health and safety awareness in the home and community. With just a few hours training parents and other people who look after young children have learnt how to perform emergency first aid and more importantly gained the confidence to carry it out. The care given before the emergency services arrive can literally mean the difference between life and death. A blocked airway can kill someone in three to four minutes, so every second counts.”

Part of Circle Anglia – one of the UK’s leading providers of affordable housing, Russet Homes own and manage around 6,600 properties in Tonbridge and Malling.