Young minds saving lives in Scotland
Lifesaving workshops in schools that provide young people with the skills they need to respond in a medical emergency.
Glasgow, Scotland
A pilot of this project was made possible thanks to funding from NHS Charities Together.
Knowing something as simple as recognising when someone is having a stroke can save a life.
The Young Minds Save Lives pilot programme is run by the Scottish Ambulance Service. It provides young people with the knowledge and skills they need to respond in a medical emergency.
Sharon and Frank are paramedics who lead the programme. They teach pupils skills such as how to help someone who has had a cardiac arrest, or how to recognise a stroke. They make sure the sessions are fun and interactive with equipment like virtual reality headsets. To test their knowledge, the pupils finish the programme with escape room challenges.
The programme also helps them learn more about careers in health care and volunteering opportunities.
It has been so successful that it is now being rolled out to even more schools across the country.
Meet Sharon and Frank
We spoke to Sharon and Frank about the difference the programme has made. They said:
Sharon: “Currently only one in ten people in Scotland survive an out of hospital cardiac arrest. The key to more people surviving is training in schools and with the public.
"We have already trained over 600 young people in this lifesaving skill and our ambition is to keep training as many young people across Scotland as we possibly can. With most cardiac arrests happening at home, knowing CPR and being confident to act could save a loved one’s life.
"I have enjoyed teaching these sessions, seeing the young people’s enthusiasm grow each week. It’s completely different to my frontline paramedic job, it’s very rewarding but in a different way."
"We feel we have made a difference and long term this will achieve better health outcomes."
Frank: "We differ from other courses as we can tell them about emergencies from a first-hand perspective. We can talk about treatment for a broken arm, but hearing about these types of injuries from paramedics adds a unique realism to the training.
"We could see as the weeks developed students felt more comfortable talking to us about topics that they might not address with their parents or teachers.
"I was quite apprehensive about teaching this pilot initially, I had never done anything like it previously and it could not have gone better."
