Over 15 students complete St John Association Guyana Courses

More than 15 students from Region Four, on Friday received certificates for successfully completing the St John Association Guyana/St John Ambulance Brigade’s First Aid/CPR/AED Courses.
The students were all trained within a 10-week period. They now have skills which will be used to assist persons through volunteerism.
Speaking at the simple graduation ceremony held Friday, St John’s Association Guyana Chairman, Vibert Parvatan, highlighted some of the objectives of the organisations training programmes.
“All forms of training have three common goals, one is to enhance knowledge; to give you knowledge, and that applies to you who are getting your certificates; two: to improve your skills knowledge and skills,” he advised.
The Chairman revealed that these programmes also aim to improve citizens’ attitudes. This he noted, is crucial in the patient care sector.

“And thirdly, no less important: to change your attitude, the knowledge you have today will have no value, it will have no meaning whatsoever, if you are selfish. If you’re walking with your fancy clothing along the way and there’s someone bleeding on the road, your attitude could be, ‘I don’t want to spoil my clothes today, I’m going to go around the corner and call the ambulance’. You have to have the right attitude, the attitude of right, the right attitude to others,” he noted.
Moreover, as part of efforts to give back to the community the Chairman noted that his organisation will offer CPR training free of cost to persons.
“To conduct CPR training here, free to persons who can organise 15, 20 people; they come here, we arrange it, we offer that service to you, in your organisations, your cooking club, your volleyball club, your church group organise persons put them together, have a venue, and we will come there and train them on CPR,” he disclosed.

Additionally, apart from training persons, the Chairman noted that the St John Association also assists members of the public, among other activities.
“But besides training in first aid, and training in home nursing, we have a brigade, which is the parliamentary arm of the organisation and what do they do? They attend all large gatherings, standing by to offer help, if someone needs help and they visit homes for the elderly kindness, they go to the homes of the elderly, say prayers with them, fix their hair, fix their nails, general check on their blood pressure, everything they should do, and lift their spirit,” the Chairman stated.
The St John Association Guyana was established in 1933. Its para-military arm, the St John Ambulance Brigade started in 1952. The St John Association is a non-profit, non-governmental, humanitarian organisation supporting healthcare in Guyana.
The St John Association is administered by a Council which comprises a number of experienced persons who serve as volunteers and do not receive any payment for their services.