Legacy of YEP first aid campaign lives on with rise in city lifesavers

Businesses in Leeds have trained more than 50 people a week to learn vital lifesaving skills with St John Ambulance in 2015, according to new figures from the first aid charity.
first aid: Volunteers take part in a YEP First Aid For All workshop with St John Ambulance trainer Janet Wilson.first aid: Volunteers take part in a YEP First Aid For All workshop with St John Ambulance trainer Janet Wilson.
first aid: Volunteers take part in a YEP First Aid For All workshop with St John Ambulance trainer Janet Wilson.

And the charity praised the Yorkshire Evening Post’s award-winning First Aid For All campaign for helping to raise awareness of the importance of learning basic first aid.

We teamed up with St John Ambulance to recruit an army of more than 550 first aiders from across the city.

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Through a series of workshops our campaign helped to teach the vital skills to help readers become the difference between life and death.

And now St John Ambulance, which raises funds for its charity work by providing commercial workplace first aid courses, said it has trained more than 2,500 people over the course of a year at its venues in Leeds and Harehills.

It has also reported a 26 per cent increase in use of its new Leeds City centre venue.

John Cavanagh, director of workplace training from St John Ambulance, said he hopes even more businesses show their commitment and sign up to learn first aid skills to cope with emergencies.

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He said: “Our figures show that businesses and other organisations in Leeds are committed to meeting their first aid responsibilities and ensuring the health and wellbeing of their staff and customers.

“We hope the upward trend continues into 2016 and even more businesses step forward to train their staff this year.

“The skills that we teach on a workplace first aid course are life skills, essential in a workplace and which people also use to help others and save lives at home or in their communities.

“First aid emergencies really can happen at any time, anywhere.”

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In West Yorkshire as a whole, the charity has trained almost 5,500 first aiders - more than 100 people per week.

The high demand for workplace first aid and health and safety training from organisations in Leeds prompted the charity to open a state-of-the-art training venue in Leeds City centre in March 2014, expanding its offer to local companies.

The additional facility with new resources in the heart of the city at St Andrew’s House, on The Headrow, has enabled the charity to double its capacity to extend its training for even more people.