Key learning from childhood
“Young children are a population that we often forget, whereas at that age, they remember a lot of things,” explains Thomas Bogaert, emergency nurse in Brussels and director of Be Life Rescue Training. The director of the association deplores the lack of funds from which schools benefit, preventing them from implementing such prevention activities for their students.
Developing these courses then seemed obvious to him. “Our goal is not for children to know how to perform resuscitation like emergency doctors. Our goal is that by giving them all this little information, the day there is a problem, they already know how to react.”
A craze that is already perceptible
In any case, the initiative seems to respond to public expectations. “At this stage, normally, all the summer courses do not yet have reservations, but the first aid one already has people registered,” rejoices Hélène Souply, establishment director at ADSL.
And the price does not seem to be a barrier, although it turns out to be higher than for a traditional course. Allow €165 to register your child. A difference that the director explains by the partnership with the training organization: “We have an agreement with our operator, which we obviously have to pay for the mobilization of a nurse. This becomes an additional cost for us.”
An initiative that challenges
The initiative, although original, is not new. The Red Cross also organizes courses during the holidays for young people. The ADSL initiative therefore represents “competition” for the organization. But Sophie Köhler, director of the Youth Red Cross, sees the development of these courses favorably: “All the better if there are other initiatives that emerge so that as many children as possible can be trained in life-saving actions.”
The director, however, remains wary about learning resuscitation techniques from the age of 8: “Introducing these concepts too early could hinder the child’s confidence in his ability to act in a real situation and become counterproductive.” Sophie Köhler, based on recommendations from 112, considers it preferable to wait 12 years to initiate this type of practice.
She also emphasizes the question of accessibility: “If we want to maximize the impact, it must remain financially affordable”, according to the director. A week of training with the Red Cross costs around €100.
