Twenty people from Lentegeur have been trained as Emergency First Aid Responders (EFAR)to help Metro ambulance services with the many calls they receive.
“If a situation occurs that one would need the ambulance, one of the members can be contacted through the Metro’s control room to find out the nature of the emergency and provide the necessary first-aid assistance and stand by while ambulance is en route,” said Candace Williams, a Bachelor of Emergency Medical Care student at CPUT Bellville.
Another student, Gabeeburragmaan Gabriels, added: “The skills that they receive, they need to use for those around them. If something happens in their areas, they need to respond to this.
“We targeted any group that was willing to learn, but we later realised that people sit with these skills and then decided that the best canditates to teach were the neighbourhood watch members.”
The training is part of the students’ course, which requires them to run a project raising awareness in the community about Emergency Medical Services (EMS).
“They chose Lentegeur as it is a red zone for crime as well as ambulances being delayed in this area. Equipping the community in this training will help create a secure and punctual response time for emergencies,” said Glenda Arendse, the co-ordinator of the Walking Bus initiative, and Lentegeur Neighbourhood Watch.
