Six-year-old from Shropshire spends their summer holiday learning how to save lives
A six-year-old from Shropshire has spent the summer holiday becoming a 'Little Lifesaver'.
Shelby, whose dad is a community first responder in Oswestry, enjoyed a visit to a local West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) base where she was given a tour of an ambulance.
The six-year-old has received a 'Little Lifesaver' certificate for her work to learn crucial lifesaving skills throughout the school holidays.
The WMAS Little Lifesaver campaign teaches children lifesaving several skills, including how to make an emergency 999 call, understanding what kind of situation is an emergency, how to perform CPR and how to place someone in the recovery position.
Celebrating Shelby's achievement, a social media post by the ambulance service said: "Someone’s been hard at work!
"Shelby spent her six-week holiday becoming a little lifesaver.
"Her dad, a community first responder in Oswestry, treated her to a Hub visit and ambulance tour.
"Rumour has it our recruitment team’s already saved her a spot."
As the summer holiday period draws to a close, WMAS is urging parents and carers to keep children busy with its 'Little Lifesaver' booklet.
"Making a 999 call can be a high pressured and stressful situation for many of us, but it is particularly important that children know how to make one, in addition knowing what kind of situation warrants a call to the emergency services," said WMAS.
"The Little Lifesavers activity book gives children an opportunity to learn how to call 999 and when by exploring different scenarios.
"If a person is unconscious but is breathing and has no other life-threatening conditions, it’s always a good idea to place them in the recovery position. Watch our staff explain how to place someone in a recovery position until help arrives.
"Knowing how to do CPR is, in our opinion, a key life skill. We encourage every single person to learn CPR as you could help to save someone’s life. Watch a video of our staff explaining how to perform CPR.
"Finally, there’s a virtual tour of an ambulance to give children the chance to ‘jump on board’ with a paramedic and learn about the equipment kept on board and how it is used."
Further information can be found here.
