A charity-funded emergency rescue team is in the process of receiving oxygen tank resuscitation training in order to better serve casualties.

Crew members from Hope Cove Lifeboat recently acquired oxygen cylinders for use with the people they rescue, but were unable to use it until they were properly trained.

On Monday night, half of the crew received this vital training from Carl Gwinnutt, an executive member of the Resuscitation Council UK, with the remainder of the crew members to be trained this coming Monday.

Carl said oxygen is a vital adjunct to help the crew members give victims at sea the best chance of survival, especially if they have drowned, nearly drowned, or become very cold as these people need extra oxygen.

He started the training session, explaining to the crew members the theory and workings of how the standard oxygen cylinders work, guiding the crew through the parts of the cylinder, how and when to check its pressure and contents, ensuring the cylinder valve was open and how to tell when oxygen is flowing through a face mask, among other skills.

He also demonstrated the use of different kinds of mask to deliver oxygen, depending on whether victims were breathing or not.

The evening ended with all members of the crew taking turns being tested on the theory and then showing that they could use special face masks, together with the oxygen cylinder, to ventilate a manikin to Carl’s satisfaction.

Carl was able to obtain a few of these special face masks from medical company Laerdal UK.

He said: “This kind donation is particularly appropriate because the founder of the Laerdal company, Asmund Laerdal, developed the Resusci Anne manikin to enable people to practise the mouth-to-mouth technique for use in people who had drowned or become unconscious in the water, having used this skill successfully to resuscitate his own son.”

Graham Phillips, chairman of Hope Cove Lifeboat, said: “We are an organisation that relies on volunteers, which include not only the recruits but the people that are doing the recruiting.

“We also rely on the kindness of people such as Carl who come along and do external training with their expertise, which we’re very grateful for.

“We are always looking for new volunteers to assist in any way, such as training to be a crew member, or helping with fundraising, putting on an event, or joining our 50/50 club.”

If you’re interested in helping Hope Cove Lifeboat in any way, contact Graham at 01548 562047.