SOHAR Port and Freezone, in partnership with Sohar Hospital Training Centre, is running a first aid training programme targeting over 500 members of the surrounding community. The programme will focus on members of community sports teams, to raise awareness of the importance of having fundamental first aid skills to help save lives amongst community members.

The courses are designed to provide information on the appropriate actions to take and the right people to contact in an emergency. Participants will be trained in incidents involving blood or other potentially infectious materials; stopping bleeding; treating shock; preventing choking; treating burns; providing first aid for broken bones; and how to handle suspected spinal injuries. The course will go on to cover the basics of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, an emergency procedure that combines one hundred chest compressions a minute with artificial ventilation, or so-called mouth-to-mouth procedures.

Mark Geilenkirchen, SOHAR CEO, who for many years was closely involved in establishing and managing a volunteer lifeguard network on the beaches of the treacherous North Sea, in his native Netherlands, said: “The ability to preserve life by carrying out emergency first aid procedures correctly is a basic skill that everyone should have access to. We see this as a critical part of our work in the local community. For example, currently around 90% of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside a hospital die — this figure can be reduced dramatically if everyone around them knew a few simple life-saving procedures.”