First Farmer on Scene courses equip NI farmers for emergencies
The inaugural ‘First Farmer on Scene’ NI courses have been successfully piloted this week. 24 farmers completed the training at Anderson’s Farm, Ballymoney on Thursday 20th August, and are now better prepared with the skills and confidence needed to respond to serious emergencies before professional help arrives.
The course has been generously backed by Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies) and launched during their recent successful Farm Safety Week campaign. Both initial courses were fully booked in a very short space of time.
Consultants in Emergency Medicine and Pre-Hospital care Dr Davy Green, Dr Ian Erskine and Advanced Critical Care Paramedic Mr Mike Patton led farmers through the 3 hour course which featured realistic farm-based scenarios. Farmers also practised managing situations such as severe bleeding, major trauma and cardiac arrest simulated in the authentic environments where farm accidents commonly occur.
Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies) are proud members of the NI Farm Safety Partnership and the NI Agri-Rural Health Forum. Stephanie Berkeley, Manager at Farm Safety Foundation commented, ‘We are delighted to fund this innovative first of a kind course for farmers in NI. Our recent survey highlighted that younger farmers are increasingly prepared to respond in an emergency, there remains a significant proportion of the workforce, particularly among older farmers, who may lack the confidence or skills to act in those critical first moments after an incident.’ A Farm Safety Foundation UK wide survey of 408 farmers and agricultural workers highlighted over two-thirds (68.3%) of farmers under 40 say they have received first aid training however just 58.9% among those aged over 40 have.
Dr Rebecca Orr, GP and Chair of the NI Agri Rural Health Forum commented, ‘This course will save lives. We would like to thank the Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies) for their generosity and vision in supporting this course and the local farmers who donated funds too. The course grew from initial discussions at our forum and has been informed by the latest research in pre-hospital care and simulation. The high-quality interactive teaching from local expert clinicians was reflected in farmers’ feedback. The course has proved to be very popular having developed a lengthy waiting list. I am pleased to say there is already interest also from other forum members and farmers to help host further dates too.’
The next courses will take place on 1st October at Patrick Magee’s farm, Ballyhornan with spaces released soon. If you would like to join the waiting list please register at www.agrimedni.com. You can also register your interest in helping to host future courses or sponsorship via the contact page. The team aims to run the course every 6-8 weeks if there continues to be a high level of interest.