Air ambulance teaches schoolchildren how they can save lives

Persimmon Homes Wessex has given the money through its Community Champions scheme, which donates up to £750,000 a year to good causes. It will support an emergency awareness training programme that gives interactive sessions for children at primary and secondary schools.

Representatives from the business visited Castle Mead Primary School in Trowbridge to witness the programme first-hand

Since 2019, it has reached more than 25,000 schoolchildren, teaching them skills such as how to make a 999 call, perform CPR, manage an unconscious patient, and help a person who is choking.

Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s deputy director of income generation Rebecca de la Bedoyere said: “As the air ambulance service for Wiltshire and Bath, we are best known for our lifesaving helicopter emergency medical service, which is there for critically ill and injured people when they need it most. Even though we can reach anywhere in Wiltshire in11 minutes, it is usually a member of the public who is first at the scene.

“Our emergency awareness training gives young people the skills, knowledge and confidence to act in an emergency, so that if they are ever at the scene of an incident, they could make a lifesaving difference.

Since 2020, all state-funded schools in England are required to teach first aid as part of the PSHE elements of the National Curriculum.

The organisation’s training sessions for children can be tailored to engage all ages and community groups, in addition to the school’s programme.

Persimmon sales director Pauline Fletcher said: “Wiltshire Air Ambulance is a fantastic organisation which goes above and beyond each and every day. To witness the training programme first-hand was fascinating and it’s great to see such skills being taught. It means a lot to our local business that this funding will support many local schools and over 1,500 local children with vital emergency skills."