Basic Life Support Training Given to 1,200 Students

Basic Life Support Training for 1,200 Students Turkey Emergency Medicine Association (TATD), Tuvana Reading-Willing Child Education Foundation (TOÇEV) and AstraZeneca Turkey have jointly implemented the "Run First to First Aid" project, through which basic life support training was provided to 1,200 students across five schools in Samsun. Within the scope of AstraZeneca Turkey's global Youth Health Program, the "Run First to First Aid" project was organized in cooperation with Turkey Emergency Medicine Association (TATD) and Tuvana Reading-Willing Child Education Foundation (TOÇEV), with its newest stop in Samsun. As part of the project in which volunteer emergency medicine specialists from TATD provide basic first aid training to high school students across various provinces in Turkey, approximately 1,200 students from İlkadım 19 Mayıs Anadolu High School, Nedime Serap Ulusoy Vocational and Technical Anadolu High School, Karşıyaka Anadolu High School, Cumhuriyet Anadolu High School and Piri Reis Vocational and Technical Anadolu High School in Samsun received practical training on basic life support, chest compressions and artificial respiration in adults and children, as well as the Heimlich maneuver and airway obstruction caused by foreign objects using mannequins. Pre- and post-training tests were also conducted to assess the knowledge of students who participated in the training. TOÇEV coordinated with schools selected through an announcement by the Ministry of National Education and worked with Samsun Provincial Education Directorate to coordinate the schools participating in the training. Through the project to date, more than 29,000 students have been reached across 80 schools in 11 provinces. 57 employees from AstraZeneca also volunteered to support training sessions held in different provinces. The project aims to train approximately 55,000 students across 155 schools in approximately 27 provinces by 2025. The next stop for training under the project will be Antalya. Dr. Assoc. Prof. Gül Pamukçu Günaydın, TATD Project Coordinator, made the following remarks on the matter: "It is very rewarding for TATD to be part of such a project. When many people experience cardiac and respiratory arrest, they cannot be saved because their relatives present until health teams arrive do not know how to provide first aid. We spend most of our time with our loved ones, and when something happens to one of them, it is very important to help with correct information. We believe that young people who become familiar with basic life support through this project will become first aid volunteers in the future. It will be very important for these trainings to be disseminated throughout society." Zafer GEDİK, TOÇEV Education and Project Manager, stated: "Between 3-7 April, we implemented the Samsun field program of our 'Run First to First Aid' project. Throughout our program, we conducted theoretical and practical training at five different high schools, bringing approximately 1,200 students together with first aid training. Students listened with great interest to the theoretical training provided by our emergency medicine specialist trainers. In the practical section, they successfully performed basic life support movements on mannequins voluntarily. We completed our Samsun field program efficiently and enjoyably." Erdal Kiraz, Corporate Relations Director of AstraZeneca Turkey, stating that since their first day of operation in Turkey they have considered supporting public health improvement among their corporate responsibilities and priorities, said: "Our 'Run First to First Aid' project, which we are carrying out with TATD and TOÇEV, is one of the valuable projects we have implemented in the area of access to health services, which is one of our sustainability focuses. We are pleased to bring together our young people in Samsun with this meaningful project that not only ensures that the young people, who are the guarantee of our future, grow up as healthy individuals but also instills in them the importance of being equipped with first aid knowledge. We wish our project to be beneficial to our young people and we thank everyone who participated in and conducted the trainings."