When your training becomes real

Setting up early for Day 2 of a three day First Aid at Work course, the door opens and one of your candidates walks in with a big bunch of flowers. He came in towards me and with tears forming in his eyes he hands the flowers in my direction and says "Thank You". He continued to explain that the previous evening during his family dinner his 8 year old boy showed signs of choking. In his words he described how he had managed to swiftly act, on the third back blow a piece of fish finger made its way out of the blocked airway and the colour returned to his son's face once again. He continued to tell me how he hadn't wanted to do the training, his workplace had sent him, but how grateful he was that skills learnt on day 1 would be called upon that same day to potentially save his son's life. Real life stories like this really back up the importance of training, not just because 'you have been sent', but because you never know when you might need the skills learnt.