National Ambulance Service educates pupils of Sanso Methodist Primary school on basic life support techniques

As part of efforts by teachers of Sanso Methodist Primary School in the Obuasi Municipality to build the capacity of pupils and inculcate in them the need to adopt a good career path at the basic level, officials of the National Ambulance Service were invited to educate the pupils on basic life support techniques.

The programme forms part of the planned efforts of the Sanso Methodist Primary School to offer some form of role modeling to pupils of the school. The school previously engaged a lawyer who interacted with them on how they could develop their aspirations and achieve higher potential for a better community and the world at large.

During the engagement with the Ambulance Service, the pupils and their teachers were taken through Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Choking Management, and Blood Control techniques, and over two hundred and fifty pupils and staff of the school benefited.

AEMT Francis Koomson, the Obuasi Municipal Director of the National Ambulance Service, said the call for programme at the Sanso Methodist Primary School intersects with their outreach programme targeted at educating students at the basic and Senior High schools on basic life support mechanisms.

He took the children through the core mandate of the Service, which is the provision of pre-hospital emergency care services to the populace, and stated that the Service also helps in public safety and during national disasters.

“The National Ambulance Service was established in 2004 during the era of President J.A Kuffour, with the catalyst being the Accra sports stadium disaster, to strengthen the emergency care system in Ghana.”

He was optimistic that education will go a long way toward shaping their ideas and knowledge of basic disaster response or first aid.

"Though handicapped, the Service with the support of the Obuasi Municipal Assembly will continue to carry out its mandate and will speed up its efforts to offer public safety education to schools."

Madam Sabina Yankson, the Headmistress of Sanso Methodist Primary School, said the programme was put together to expose the pupils to a lot of information on different professions, emergency response, and the need to make a good career choice.

She said the use of role models is a perfect tool to encourage, arouse, and develop the pupils interest in education, as well as their appreciation of the value of education.

"We started with Madam Vivian Akosah, a fellow serving as the PRO for the Adansi Asokwa District Education Directorate, followed by a soaper with Lucky Cleaning Services who also gave the pupils skill training on how to make liquid soap, and then Benson Adu – Gyamfi, a private legal practitioner, and today we have men from the National Ambulance Service with us. We believe this will go a long way toward motivating the pupils," she said.

The Sanso Methodist Primary School recently moved to an ultra-mmodern school block with auxiliary facilities built for them by AngloGold Ashanti, Obuasi Mine. The Career Orientation and Skill Training Programme is part of a move to keep the pupils in school and abreast them with information.