Says the regional mayor: “We are giving young people the skills they need to save lives”
Over 100 West of England youngsters will be trained in life saving skills so they know what emergency steps to take if someone has been stabbed.
Their actions could make the difference between life and death in the first few minutes after someone is injured.
The region’s directly elected Mayor, Dan Norris, said he was responding to recent stabbings in the region by “giving young people the skills they need to save lives” in his patch.
The training, run by anti-knife crime campaigner Leanne Reynolds from Bristol-based Safeguard Medical, will take place at the mayor’s annual West of England Schools Summit (Ashton Gate Stadium, Ashton Road, Bristol, BS3 2EJ, Tuesday 12 March at 12.15pm).
Youngsters will learn how to use ‘bleed kits’ which contain everything needed to give first aid to someone who is losing blood.
While there are already a number of bleed kits located around the region, not enough people are trained up on how to use them. Participants will also learn about CPR and defibrillators during the ‘Save a Life’ workshop.
Mayor Dan Norris says: “People across the West of England are rightly concerned about what appears to be a growing trend of knife crime. We all want the violence to stop. I truly hope no young person who is trained today ever has to use the skills they learn. But if we can empower local young people with the ability to save a life, then that’s the right thing to do.”
A 30-year-old was killed in the St Paul’s area of Bristol on 5 March; 16-year-old Darrian Williams tragically died after being stabbed in Easton in February; Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, died from knife wounds in Knowle West in January; there was also an attempted murder of a woman in her 20s in Bath in February; and 16-year-old Mikey Roynon was stabbed and killed at a birthday party in Bath last summer.
The mayor added that he was working with anti-knife campaigners on introducing Bleed Kit training in more schools in the West of England, and had written to the education secretary after backing calls for such training to be compulsory in every school in the country.
The 2024 West of England Schools Summit is being hosted by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority at Ashton Gate Stadium on Tuesday 12 March.
Main image: tribute to Knowle West knife crime victims Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16