Courses for Parents, Carers, and Childcare professionals

Hello, I’m Colleen! I’m a qualified Operating Department Practitioner (ODP), living in North Tyneside. I’ve worked in busy hospitals for the past 14 years, specialising in anaesthetics. Whilst being in this type of environment I’ve become more aware of the importance of parents, carers and other family members knowing basic first aid and life support skills. However, it also highlighted how few people actually have this vital knowledge.

I’m a mother of two beautiful children who are 4 and 7 and definitely keep me motivated and active. My children often ask me to teach them new skills and like to role play what to do in an emergency. Young people have a natural interest in this – if we start to help teach our kids and show them what to do, first aid will be a lot less scary when they’re confronted with these situations.

Equally, adult friends and neighbours ask for first aid advice. Teaching them has increased their confidence when dealing with minor accidents and ailments and enabled them to feel more in control of the situation.

It was then that I realised I should share my potentially life-saving skills and knowledge with the rest of North Tyneside and became a part of the Tumbles and Grumbles team.