Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands hold critical first-aid awareness event for organisations in Staffordshire

A first-aid awareness event was held in Stafford last week to increase public and organisational awareness of critical first-aid.

The event was hosted by Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands in partnership with Staffordshire Police, West Midlands Ambulance Service, citizenAID and St John Ambulance Service.

This is the third event held in recent months in the West Midlands to address the ‘care gap’ – the minutes before emergency services arrive on scene when critical first-aid is required.

Speakers from a number of organisations highlighted the importance of staff training and public awareness of first-aid that can save lives in the period of time before emergency responders arrive on scene to a terrorist or other major incident.

Representatives from The James Brindley Foundation spoke about youth violence and change, highlighting the work done through the foundation which was set up in memory of James Brindley who was tragically murdered in 2017 after a night out with friends.

Figen Murray OBE also spoke to present the victims voice after her son Martyn Hett was killed alongside 21 others during the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in 2017. Figen has dedicated her time since to Martyn’s Law – also known as the Protect Duty – which is legislation that would require publicly accessible locations to provide mandatory protective security measures against the threat of terrorism.

Further speakers at the event included NILO Keith Nevitt from West Midlands Ambulance Service, Luke Evans from St John Ambulance, Emma Beswick from the Civil Contingencies Unit and Professor Sir Keith Porter from citizenAID who provided practical advice and guidance that can be used by organisations in emergency situations.

Superintendent Nick Rowe, Head of Protect, Prepare and Operations for Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands, said: “We are delighted to have welcomed over 300 people to first-aid events held in Coventry, Wolverhampton and most recently in Stafford where, together with our partner organisations, we have been able to deliver advice and guidance about critical first aid during the care gap.

“We were also privileged to have been joined by Figen Murray OBE and Nikki Neville from The James Brindley Foundation who spoke of their personal experiences with violence and terrorism and highlighted the vital role first-aid can play in the first few minutes after an incident has taken place.

“My thanks go to everyone who helped to organise or contribute to all three events that have taken place over the past few months, and especially to those that have attended as these events can only happen if we have an audience to deliver to. Thank you to those that took time to engage with our speakers and we hope to see more confidence from organisations in providing first-aid across the region.”

Chief Superintendent Gemma Ward, Chair of Staffordshire’s multi-agency Protect and Prepare Board, said: “This event highlighted the importance of taking a partnership approach to delivering critical first-aid guidance and we were pleased to work with Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands to host and attend this event. We recognise the time and effort that goes into organising an event at this scale and we will continue to work with force and regional partners to develop our organisational preparedness and support local partners in this area of work.”