Emergency services training supports RLSS Drowning Prevention Week

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Emergency services including the Maritime & Coastguard Agency and other rescue organisations took part in a series of training sessions around the River Spey, as part of support for the RLSS Drowning Prevention Week.

Held last week on the 22 June, the event brought together Scottish Fire & Rescue Service Swiftwater Rescue Response, HM Coastguard the search and rescue arm of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency and responders from BASICS Scotland and the Sandpiper Wildcat Project, including staff from Dr Gray's Hospital in Elgin.

Training featured swift water rescue and the resuscitation of victims of drowning as part of the
Faculty of Pre-hospital Care Scotland regional educational programme.

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All the organisations – some of which are charities - train together on a regular basis in their role saving lives in victims of cardiac arrest and include volunteers giving up their own time.

Scenarios using simulated live casualties demonstrated rescue from the fast-flowing waters of the Spey and helped all those involve understand each other’s roles a little more bringing benefits to helping victims needing resuscitation.

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Training and communication with the SAS Helimed and HM Coastguard helicopter was also a vital part of this training. The event also demonstrated the use of a mechanical cardiac compression device to enhance CPR during transfer, supported by physio control who loaned a Lucas III device and attended to support training on its use in the pre-hospital environment.

Thanks to the kind permission of the Knockando Estate, the training event took place on the River Spey at Tamdhu, and around 60 people attended.

Senior Coastal Operations Officer Colin Wood said, ‘We know that training matters. We know that what we do saves lives and we spend a lot of time making sure all our training is up to date. It’s also good to train with the other organisations as the more we understand what they do, the better we will work together and ultimately that helps the people we are working to rescue.’

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