For the love of blogs - episode 17

Firstly, I need to apologise to all my loyal readers, yes, all three of you, for being late in producing another outstanding piece of journalism. I think I will start with “Hi, my name is Jen, and it has been 85 days since my last blog” – now it is starting to sound like an AA meeting! Having said that, writing one of these things is enough to drive anyone to have a drink or ten, but needs must. Now, where have those 85 days gone, I hear you cry? Was I marooned on a desert island? – definitely, nope. Did I win the lottery? – sadly, nope. I do not really know, but they have flown by, and if being honest, there has been quite a lot happening, so I'd better get on with it.

Let me start by saying we have hit the big time – oh yes. We, CTS, have secured our own premises right in the heart of Castleford town centre, opposite a tattoo shop, so everyone can have a CTS tat done (please ask for discount code) if they so wish, or pop next door to us, where there is a beauty parlour where you can have your eyebrows plucked!! The best part is we are near a real ale pub which is within staggering distance and dog friendly, what more could we want? Seriously, though, it has been a lot of stress, money, and hard work, but we are finally seeing the results. We have delivered several courses from our new premises with lots of positive feedback. I mean, I am no interior designer, but I have to say I could give Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen a run for his money. But now I come to think about it, so could most of the population of the British Isles!!! I chose the wood panelling, whilst him indoors fitted- I like to see this as a 50/50 split of rolls, although I doubt he thinks the same!! The biggest issue we had was sorting out the broadband, which is pretty non-existent due to only having copper in the area. With download speeds of around 6 Mbps, I mean a hamster on a wheel could create more download speed than that!!!  Thankfully, I had an extremely helpful man from BT who produced a workable solution until fibre is eventually fitted, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, but in the hands of the council, it certainly won’t be happening until the next century. So, in short, we have Wi-Fi, a bean to cup coffee machine, delicious biscuits, and a very modern training room. If you do not believe me, well, you know what to do, “book ya sen onto a course pretty darn sharpish, if tha’ knows what’s gud for thi.”

Note the excellent choice of wood panelling!!

We have delivered a couple of new courses for the first time recently, and all were well received. The Understanding Adult and Paediatric Immediate Life Support 2-day course was an in-depth course covering deep clinical understanding with highly practical, hands-on learning. This course gave the students the knowledge and confidence to respond effectively in critical life-or-death situations. It also contained a twenty-five multiple-choice paper, which was hard, but thankfully, everyone passed. The other course was Understanding Minor Injuries and Wound Closure, where the students were taught how to assess and manage minor wounds, burns, and musculoskeletal injuries. The practical section included wound care techniques and basic wound closure using glue and steri strips on a pig’s trotter. As you can see, the contents of my freezer at home can be varied courtesy of the array of courses we have to offer. Everything from lambs' hearts, lambs' lungs, and pigs' trotters. No wonder no one wants to come round for dinner at our house, it sounds more like a bush tucker trail!!!

Medic work has been quite busy and varied over the last couple of months. Everything from Jason Manford to Level 42 (one of my favourite bands growing up), Francis Rossi to Sir Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats. We even covered the Potato Festival at Harrogate Event Centre last week. Now I defy anyone who didn’t read the “Potato Festival” in a half-Irish and high-pitched voice either in their head or out loud!!!| We are currently on day 2 of Snooker at the York Barbican, and we are enjoying the atmosphere. Ask us again next Sunday after covering eight out of a possible nine 12-hour shifts, and you will probably, no make that definitely, get a different answer from me and one that is not printable on here.

We have also been out and about on our travels lately, delivering several Basic Life Support & Medical Emergencies training at a series of dental practices in the Greater Manchester area. We decided to mix it up a bit and include a practical scenario of a patient going into anaphylaxis and getting both the dental nurses and the dentists involved in drawing up adrenaline and administering it to the patient. They were also taught how to snap an ampoule safely without cutting themselves. Shame that was not the case for Shaun, who ended up cutting himself on the ampoule, causing him to bleed heavily due to the blood thinners he is on and tried to style it out but failed miserably. He claims he was showing them what not to do, well, that went well, didn’t it dear? Lots of wonderful feedback was given, with everyone saying the practical scenario made the course far more engaging and interesting. Now we just need to think about what to do to keep it interesting for next year. We also delivered a Level 3 Safeguarding Children, Young People or Vulnerable Adults course. Now this is a course that we do not often get to do, once a year, but it is an interesting and emotive course, one that is so important right now.

Anyway, I think I have bored everyone sufficiently for now, just to let you know I am planning to produce another blog before the big guy in the red suit makes his yearly visit. I mean, I cannot afford to lose any more of my valued readership; otherwise, it would just be me babbling away to myself – wait, isn’t that what I do in every one of these blogs? I mean, who would have thought I would have found enough material to cover seventeen blogs, even I do not know how that has happened. Just admit it, you would really miss these if I stopped producing them, right? I think I will leave it there for now, as I could really do with a cup of tea in my new cup, which says “The Boss” on it, but there’s no kettle and no teabags, oh and no milk in this med room, so no chance. Until next time……….

Sayonara

Jen