A few weeks ago the Oxford Mail became the first company in Oxfordshire to take South Central Ambulance Service up on its offer of free ‘start a heart’ CPR training sessions. Reporter Pete Hughes learnt some lifesaving skills, but also realised how little he knew about first aid in general. So he spent another morning getting a crash course in first aid from St John Ambulance, which trains volunteers to provide free emergency health care at public events up and down the country

To save the life of someone choking, you have to hit them hard enough to hurt.

If you want to check if a person lying on the floor is unconscious or just very drowsy, you have to hit them hard enough to get a reaction.

And if you want to perform CPR hard enough to actually keep someone’s heart pumping blood, you will probably break a few ribs.

The lesson is – if you want to save a life, there are no half-measures.

The person giving me that lesson is St John Ambulance trainer Nick Lambert, a man who has saved a few lives in his time.

I am having my first ever (and long overdue) first aid training course at the charity’s Kidlington base.

With me are two professionals in their 20s, a middle-aged husband and wife from Eynsham, an ice hockey coach from London and a 70-year-old author from Bicester.

Our first lesson is the Primary Survey: what do you do if you see someone lying in the street with their eyes closed?

1. Look for danger: are they attached to an electrical wire? Have they passed out because of some noxious fumes?

Before you help anyone, make sure you’re not in danger yourself otherwise you just end up with two people on the floor.

2. Response: shout at them to check they’re not just resting their eyes in the middle of the road.

If they don’t respond, get down next to them and hit them on the shoulders hard enough that if they’re just very sleepy you’ll get a response (some people suggest pinching the skin on the ankle – the point is it has to hurt).

If they don’t respond, call 999.

3. Shout for Help.

4. Airways: once you’re sure this person isn’t conscious, make sure they can breath – once the brain starts to be starved of oxygen, the damage is irreversible.

Tilting the head backwards, listen and watch for breath. There’s more to it than that – if you want to get the full details, go on a first aid course.

If they’re breathing but unconscious, put them into the recovery position, which is satisfyingly simple to do: you move one arm out of the way, pop the other hand under their head, and then lift up a leg and gently roll them over so their head is on their hand.

No matter how big or heavy someone is, you’ll always be able to dollop them onto their side using this method.

Next we learn about choking: first lean the person forward, then give them five of the most powerful blows you can give them with an open palm on the back between the shoulder blades.

Oxford Mail:

  • Course: Practicing CPR on a child dummy is NGO aid worker Sally Trench instructor as Regional Ambulance Instructor Nick Lambert, gives pointers

As Mr Lambert points out, “It’s going to hurt”.

If that doesn’t solve the problem, give them five abdominal thrusts – what used to be called the Heimlich manoeuvre, where you put one balled fist just below the sternum then use the other to heave it “up and inwards” in a sharp motion.

Mr Lambert explains: “We don’t practice this one on each other because it can break the little bone at the bottom of the sternum.

“If you do it in real life, you should always take the person to the hospital afterwards for a check up.”

In our three-hour session we also learn the difference between angina, a heart attack and a stroke, and what to do with someone experiencing each, and we also covered major bleeds – far more than I can fit into this article.

The point is, it was worth going. It was three hours of my day and now I could potentially save someone’s life.

* Disclaimer: This is a news article and not intended as a reliable guide to providing first aid. To find out more about first aid go to sja.org.uk