The Guyana Police Force (GPF) last Friday concluded its Police First Aid Competition for the Smellie Cup at the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) Drill Square, Police Headquarters, Eve Leary and the Felix Austin Police College A was the winner for the fourteenth time.
Second was CID Headquarters and Immigration A was third while defending champions, General Office, finished fourth.
The finals were delayed for a few months because of inclement weather and the General and Regional Elections. The preliminary round of the competition was held last November when fourteen teams participated and four advanced to the finals.
The judges thought that all the participants did an excellent job in handling the simulated situation and so did acting Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell, who congratulated the participants for the work done.
The teams were all questioned on their knowledge of delivering reliable first aid treatment, utilizing the skills they acquired during training and they were also tested as first responders in a scenario where someone was severely injured in a road accident.
The CID Headquarters was the first team to respond to the scene of an accident. The driver of a motorcar was speeding when a cow came into his path. As the driver tried to swerve from the animal he applied brakes and the car toppled several times before he was thrown through the windscreen. He sustained injuries to his spine and lacerations about his body.
Participants were all tasked to deliver proper first aid treatment to the driver and summon an ambulance to transport him to the hospital.
The CID Headquarters handled the situation fairly well but the audience found it funny the way one member of the team kept on reassuring the driver that “Everything is going to be okay”.
They were followed by the Immigration squad, who mastered the situation as they utilized crime scene tape to keep the imaginary crowd away from clustering their supposedly injured driver while they rendered assistance to him. Their procedures went smoothly.
Defending champion, General Office, was disturbed by the rain during their question and answer segment but the programme got underway when the rain stopped, and they did a fair job at handling the situation but they too had the audience laughing when one member told the patient, “If you can hear me winkle your eyes” and she also kept reassuring the injured driver, “Just relax” as many of those in attendance just could not contain their laughter.
Crowd favourite, Felix Austin Police College, handled the situation calmly and while assuring the injured driver brought him to safety. They were also awarded the Best First Aider prize which went to Constable 21589 Grant.
