This article is from page 20 of the 2007-07-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
TWELVE members of the Clare branch of the Irish Red Cross are making final preparations ahead of their participation in the biggest first aid event to be held anywhere in the world this year.
Members have been put on high alert ahead of the FACE Internation- al First Aid Competition, which will take place in Ireland for the very first time at the University of Limerick this Saturday, July 7.
More than one thousand people from 26 countries right across Eu- rope will travel to Ireland for the competition. As hosts, the Irish Red Cross members are prevented from taking part in the competition itself, but will have the greater task of man- aging the safety of the competitors as they take on the designed scenarios.
The competitors will face more than a dozen specially constructed disaster scenarios which will each use the latest of special effects tech- nology to make the situation as real- istic as possible.
According to John Costin of the Clare Red Cross, the members will never have faced a more demand- ing event in their time with the Red
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“IT got involved in the Irish Red Cross because after I joined FAS as an instructor, I was on the Limerick Road a lot and that Limerick Road was next only to the Belfast Road for accidents and I found I was coming across a lot of accident but I could do nothing,” he said.
“It’s a big challenge to us in the Irish Red Cross to organise this event because we are just volunteers organ- ising the event in our spare time and keeping all our other local services going as well,” he continued.
“But most importantly it’s a great chance for our young members and for young people who want to know more about the Red Cross to get involved because it’s going to be a huge event, as big as the Special Ol- ympics.”’
John joined the Red Cross in 1980 and has used his skills in a number of voluntary organisations over the dec- ades including the Civil Defense. On Saturday he will take charge of the of the count centre where the scores of all the competitors will be tallied.
Admission for the public is free and their will be a regular free shut- tle buses from Limerick City Centre to UL all day.