Project Name: First Aid Training

Project summary and highlights:

Lanark County Federation hosted 3 First Aid Courses for OFA members and Community Members (priority given to OFA members).

Over 3 sessions in April, 34 individuals attended First Aid/CPR/Defibrillator Training certified by Red Cross. The courses aimed to increase a person’s knowledge and confidence to help in emergency situations. The small class sizes allowed for personal, hands-on experience so participants are more comfortable when real-life situations arise. While ensuring all First Aid, CPR and AED training requirements were met, our fantastic instructor, Alison Wark also focused on farm specific situations that arise and related potential incidents back to the type of operations that participants are involved in.

Were there any organizations that partnered in-kind contributions? The Township of Beckwith graciously provided the use of their space for free. They would normally have charged our organization $40/day thus making their contribution $120. This is an already discounted rate due to our strong relationship with the municipality and their support of community organizations.

Describe lasting and relevant impact to the OFA membership. It is difficult both financially and time wise for individual farmers to plan and take first aid courses due to business and farming responsibilities. This opportunity was offered to our members who may otherwise not be able to afford the training. We are proud to have helped more members of our county know what to do and how to help in an emergency.

Bonus – any lessons learned, or surprises?

Overall, things went very smoothly. Feedback from participants was that they didn’t realize (I guess I wasn’t clear enough) that there was an online component that needed to be completed before attending. Next time we offer similar training, we will emphasize this in a different way.

A wonderful surprise was interest from one of our participants in purchasing an AED for their farm and community. This was something that both the farmer and LFA wanted to investigate prior to the training. As a result, we have partnered with them to provide a unit for their farming community – see separate report for this project.

We strayed from our original plan. We found a trainer that would provide the courses at a much lesser cost as well as more in-depth training so obviously that was a win!! Additionally, we chose to not have the lunches catered but instead use Subway Restaurant party platters and purchase veggies and fruit platters from the local grocery store. The decision for this change was due both to costs as well as a focus on limiting disruption to the training as much as possible. Having a caterer come in to set up and serve would have created too much noise and distraction. These two decisions made it possible to save enough money to purchase the AED.