Last week, cardiac arrest survivor John McCann, 62, whose life was saved by a first aid trained First Bus driver, shared his experiences with party leaders, ministers and MSPs at a parliamentary reception on behalf of St Andrew’s First Aid, Scotland’s only dedicated first aid charity.
John, who lives in the West End of Glasgow, spoke of the great importance of first aid and emphasised the vital need to ensure more people are equipped with the knowledge and confidence to intervene in any emergency. He underlined how his life – and ability to tell his story at the event – was entirely down to the actions of one man.
The reception was attended by Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar, Minister for Public Health, Woman’s Health and Sport, Maree Todd and Collette Stevenson as sponsoring MSP, amongst others.
The event was held to mark the 140th anniversary of the charity and provided an opportunity for political and wider stakeholders to find out more about St Andrew’s First Aid’s mission to transform Scotland into a nation of live savers by providing vital first aid training to everyone.
The reception also included a speech from Molly Jansen, 17, a St Andrew’s First Aid volunteer. Molly spoke about the valuable experiences of being a volunteer and the importance of St. Andrew’s First Aid’s school projects such as the Ready for Life programme which teaches a certificated emergency and mental health first aid course to secondary school pupils.
Stuart Callison, Chief executive at St Andrew’s First Aid said: “We’re delighted that the vital work being completed at St. Andrew’s First Aid is being recognised and celebrated.
“We are very grateful to everyone who attended our event and helped us to celebrate these 140 years of providing essential first aid training and support to Scotland.
“As Scotland’s only dedicated first aid charity, we have a responsibility to train as many people in lifesaving skills and raise awareness of the important campaigns and initiatives we have in place to achieve this.”
- Anyone interested in finding out more about the campaign, or first aid training should get in touch by emailing community@standrewsfirstaid.org.uk
