Cambs ACF wins National First Aid Competition

Cambs ACF’s first aid teams have seen off strong competition to become winners of the National Cadet First Aid Competition.

The competition was one of two events that took place on the weekend of 21^st-23^rd October at Holcombe Moor Training Camp near Manchester, and involved teams competing against each other in the respective National Competitions on the Saturday before moving forward to compete in the Tri-Service competition on the Sunday.

Our teams consisted of a cadet team and a young adult CFAV team, the cadet members being Cdt Rebecca Silk (Captain), Cdt Lcpl Eiva Davis, Cdt LCpl Jessica Parmenter and Cdt LCpl Alicia Hewitt. The Adults were SSI Rylan Ray and PI Mathew Parker.

Led and organised by County First Aid Officer SMI Jules Perry, the team had trained hard since the start of the year. They progressed through the Inter-Company competition in February, followed by the Brigade Competition in May, with Cambs ACF’s success here against other counties seeing them go on to represent 7th Brigade at the National Competition.

The National Competition involved scenarios in which the teams had to react quickly and correctly to different, unexpected, emergency scenarios with other adults and cadets playing the role of casualties. The young adults dealt with a situation in which a tent had caught fire and several people had suffered severe burns and smoke inhalation. SSI Rylan Ray said; ‘It was brilliant, very realistic, it felt very real. There was real smoke and people shouting and screaming.’ The team members were also set individual challenges, with scenarios including dealing with a person choking, a gas leak, and performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). By the end of the day, it was clear that our teams had performed outstandingly, both taking first place.

Colonel Sir Jonathan Van-Tam presented the shield to the winners and commented that some of what he had seen was of such a high standard that it reminded him of his days working within an emergency department.

After having put in so much effort, SMI Perry was thrilled with the result. ‘I cried, I screamed! I was like a proud mum! I was so proud of how their hard work paid off, how they remembered everything they had learned and put it into action. They really deserved their win.’

Our teams also competed in the Inter-Services Competition the following day, which saw the top two teams from each stream compete against each other on the same tests. Once again, they were challenged to deal with difficult scenarios, such as a collision between and car and two cyclists. In all the scenarios, they had to assess the situation, deal with bystanders, contact emergency services and make quick decisions. Our cadets won Bronze in this competition, and the adults, Silver.

Our Commandant, Colonel Deacon said: 'The County first aid team have been training hard over the last few months, with cadets and adults giving up their time. I am absolutely delighted the training has paid off with this amazing result, and so proud of everyone involved. This fantastic achievement shows that our cadets and adults can accomplish anything they set out to do. Everyone at Cambs ACF is proud of you.'

Thanks go to our team members, and those that supported them, especially SMI Perry, but also to SI Maria O Sullivan, SSI Lamonte, SSI Ray, SSI Parry, and SSI Smart, all of whom supported the event or the training.

Text by SI Doug Stuart