Parents of current and former pupils of Monkey Puzzle Pre-School are being given the opportunity to learn life-saving skills through Paediatric First Aid training with St John Ambulance Guernsey.

The training is being offered as part of Monkey Puzzle’s 21^st birthday celebrations and money raised by the event will be donated to local children’s charities.

The three-hour long session on Saturday 16^th May will be delivered by Heather Langlois, Training & Development Manager at St John Training Services, who has specialised in children’s medicine and worked as a Paediatric Nurse Practitioner in the United States. Heather has also managed community clinics on foreign medical missions in developing countries.

Skills covered in the course will include baby, child and adult CPR; choking; asthma; bleeding; meningitis and fevers and is based on the longer two-day course.

Caroline Blondel, owner of Monkey Puzzle said “The idea of offering this training to our current and former parents came about after staff at Monkey Puzzle attended a paediatric first aid course with Heather towards the end of last year. We were all impressed with Heather’s knowledge and enthusiasm for children’s healthcare. Since going on the course our staff are noticeably more confident and empowered in dealing with children when they get ill or hurt themselves. Children don’t come with an instruction manual or a trouble shooting guide, so we felt that the skills gained by our staff should also be shared with parents. I can’t think of a better legacy for our 21^st birthday.”

Heather Langlois, added “Being faced with a sick or injured child can be a daunting experience for parents and carers, so it is really important that they have the skills and confidence to give first aid when they need to. The training will also help parents identify when a child needs to be taken to the GP or needs further care and when a child can safely be looked after at home.”

The training takes place between 9am-12 on Saturday 16^th May in the Harry Bound Room at Les Cotils. Pre-booking is essential and tickets are priced at £5 with proceeds being donated to the Monkey Puzzle 21^st birthday charities and are available by email Monkeypuzzleis21@gmail.com.

St John Ambulance Guernsey provides a variety of training courses of different levels for groups and individuals, including Basic First Aid, First Aid At Work, Paediatric First Aid, Fire Marshal Training and Manual Handling.  The full two-day Paediatric First Aid Course, which meets the OFSTED standards is designed for teachers, parents, playgroup leaders, childcare providers and nannies. The course is run at various times through the year at Les Cotils.