From the 1st October 2014 schools are now able to hold Salbutamol Inhalers for emergencies!

Approximately 20 children of school age in England and Wales die every year from asthma and most deaths occur before the child reaches hospital. A survey from Asthma UK found that 64% of children with asthma have at some point been unable to access a working reliever inhaler in school, having either forgotten, lost, broken or run out of their own. 62% of children with asthma have had an asthma attack while at school.

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The Department of Education has reviewed the regulations for childcare and from the 1st September 2014 the Level 2 Awards in Paediatric and Emergency Paediatric First Aid courses will change to become Level 3 Awards in Paediatric and Emergency Paediatric First Aid.

What has changed?

In essence it is pretty much just a re-grading of the Level that the qualification holds, ie Level 2 to Level 3, apart from that there are very few changes to it. At the moment the Level 3 Award in Paediatric First Aid will stay as a 2-day course (Unit 1 and 2, 12 hours teaching time) and the Level 3 Award in Emergency Paediatric First Aid course will stay as a 1-day course (Unit 1 only, 6 hours teaching time), the content for both will stay exactly the same. The Guided Learning Hours (GLH) have changed from 20 hours to 22 hours and if the need is there, home study can be offered. The assessment process will stay the same with a mixture of practical scenarios throughout the course and a multiple choice question paper at the end of each unit.

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There are many stories in the press about how young children have saved lives by simply knowing how to call 999 or 112….could your child do the same?

Most children have a great awareness of the emergency services from seeing police cars whizzing down our roads, hearing the loud roar of sirens from an ambulance and watching programs such as Fireman Sam. You can expand on a child’s interest by explaining what these vehicles are for, who is in them and why they are used.

We don’t think a child is ever to young to learn what the numbers 999 and 112 are used for but it should be taught in a way that clearly states that it is only used for genuine emergencies. Depending on their age you may need to make sure they understand what an emergency is, as you’d agree their reason for an emergency can be very different from ours ie; a lost toy is NOT an emergency. You must make sure that they know calling 999 is serious and under no circumstance should they call the number as a joke or to see what happens, even if a friend has told them to do it.

You could possibly talk to older children about the different reasons you might need to call 999 or 112 ie: there has been a car accident, someone is having difficulty breathing, there is a fire, someone has fallen into a river etc. Children need to know that calling 999 or 112 can be done even if there is no adult around and that all emergency services can be contacted through the same number….even the coastguard!

 
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It’s well known that where it comes to accidents, prevention is much better that the cure!!! So we’ve put together some summer safety tips for dealing with a few common holiday hazards.

Bites and Stings

Planning to spend time outside means planning to spray yourself and your children with insect repellent — repellents don’t kill insects, but they can help reduce bites from mosquitoes, ticks, fleas and other bothersome bugs. There are different types of repellents: those that contain DEET and those that don’t. DEET (medical name N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide) is a slightly yellow oil and is the most common active ingredient in insect repellents

Use insect repellents containing DEET on children sparingly. Never use repellent on infants and check the levels of DEET in formulas before applying to older kids — DEET can be toxic. Repellents with 10 to 30 percent concentrations of DEET can be used on exposed skin, clothing, and shoes but do not apply it to faces or hands. If you want to avoid DEET, experts recommend repellents that contain Picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus; both are non-toxic and able to reduce mosquito bites just as well as formulas with low levels of DEET.

Being stung is very painful especially for a child. If it is a Bee that has stung someone remember that they leave their sting in the wound. DO NOT try to remove it with your nails or tweezers as you may push it further in or inject more of the toxin into the wound. Use something with an edge (ideally a bank card, Club card etc) and swipe it over the wound. This should knock the sting out easily. Apply a cold compress to the swollen area and contact 999 / 112 if the swelling increases or they have difficulty breathing. There are a number of different sprays and creams you can buy to help heal and ease the pain of a sting, but make sure you know what they contain before applying them

TOP TIP

Wearing light-coloured clothing can help reduce the chance of bug bites and bee stings!!!!

 
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Accidental drowning causes more than 400 UK deaths every year, is the third highest cause of death in children and claims the lives of at least 360,000 people worldwide each year.

The Royal Life Saving Society’s (RLSS) Drowning Prevention Week (20th – 28th June 2015) raises awareness and encourages everyone to have an active role in having fun whilst being safe around and near water.

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Around 3.2 million people have been diagnosed with Diabetes in the UK and an estimated 630,000 people are living with the condition but do not know it!!!!!

People with diabetes have too much glucose in their blood because their body can not use it properly. This is because their pancreas doesn’t produce any insulin, enough insulin or the insulin that is produced does not work properly. Insulin is a hormone that allows glucose to enter the body’s cells so it can be used as energy to help us live our everyday lives. We get glucose from digesting carbohydrates and it is also produced by the liver. If you have diabetes the glucose builds up in your blood and can not be used as energy!

Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes develops when the body is not able to produce any insulin. It accounts for about 10% of all adults diagnosed with diabetes and is treated with daily injections of insulin as well as eating healthily and leading an active lifestyle. It can develop at any age and is the most common type of diabetes found in children.

Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes develops when the body does not produce enough insulin or the insulin that is produced does not work properly. It accounts for 85 – 95% of all people diagnosed with diabetes and is treated with a healthy diet, an active lifestyle and where necessary, medication and insulin. Type 2 diabetes usually develops in people over the age of 30 but it is increasingly becoming more common in children, adolescents and young people of all ethnicities.

 
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Every year there are approximately 152,000 strokes in the UK. That’s one stroke every five minutes. Most people affected are over 65, but anyone can have a stroke, including children and babies……A stroke is a brain attack!

Stroke happens when the blood supply to part of your brain is cut off. It can be caused by a blockage (Ischemic Stroke) in one of the blood vessels leading to the brain or a bleed (Hemorrhagic Stroke) in the brain.
 
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As it is Allergy Awareness Week we thought we would offer you something a little different. We have already said allergies affect different people in many different ways. Did you know a surprising amount of women (and men) are allergic to make-up? As always we want to give you the very best advice so we’ve asked a professional makeup artist, Kat Green from Hadassah Makeup.

Kat Green is an international makeup artist with over 7 years experience. Kat started out as a Beauty Therapist working within some of the top spa’s in the UK (including the spa that held the renounced 2010 Ryder Cup). Since then Kat has been working within the makeup industry, being published worldwide within magazines such as Vintage life, Ifathom, Hoffington post and working with Nottingham University fashion students on Ted Baker Ted’s Travels menswear collection. This experience has given Kat the knowledge of not only makeup but also skin care.

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This week is Allergy awareness week (28^th April – 4^th May) so we wanted to make you aware of Anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction! Allergies affect approximately 1 in 3 of the population of the UK at some point in their lives. Allergic conditions can affect all ages, take on many different forms and vary in severity from the mildest hayfever to life threatening anaphylaxis.

There are a huge variety of things we can be allergic to, below is a list of just some of them:

• Pollen from flowers and trees
• Pets
• Eggs, Milk and Nuts
• Fish
• Wheat and seeds
• Fruits and Vegetables
• Drugs and Alcohol

As there are so many different types of allergy we have left it up to the experts at Allergy UK to go into detail about what they are and how they can affect you, you can read all about them here.

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Aim High Training are very proud and excited to introduce our new Facebook page Parent First Aid – Tips from Aim High, where we can keep you all up to date and informed on any changes, tips or information relating to baby and child first aid.

Our bespoke parent first aid courses have become increasingly popular over the past couple of years, and having listened to our customer’s feedback, we understood that there needed to be a place where parents could update their knowledge easily and ask any questions. Read more!