THE FIRST INSTRUCTION CLASS to train volunteers in the Basic CPR life-saving techniques took place at The Old School House on Tuesday February 11.

The whole exercise has been triggered by the Amovate-led community €4,500 purchase of two defibrillators—one to be kept permanently here on Vale da Telha, the other to be used by the Bombeiros right across the Aljezur area—and a special defibrillator trainer.

Sixteen people took the first three-hour course overseen by the Bombeiros and Vale da Telha’s own retired surgeon Dr David Quinton, assisted by former police officer Steve Baker.

Vale da Telha resident Sue Kenyon, a UK-certified trainer and instructor in Hands-Only CPR and also use of AED (automatic devices) also worked with the team from the Bombeiros to train up the class to the required level.

As you will know by now the Bombeiros are keen to establish a corps of volunteers of all different nationalities on VdT and the surrounding areas to be trained by them, initially in Basic CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), which you may recognise from the Vinnie Jones “Stayin’ Alive” commercials.

Those volunteers who become certified in CPR through this training are then being asked if they wish to be further trained to become part of a group of individuals thus qualified to use the defibrillator kept on Vale da Telha.

More than 70 people turned up at Amovate for the inaugural meeting hosted by the Bombeiros at the Old School House in Vales on Thursday January 9^th when their experts outlined their plans and explained what the classes involved.

More than 50 people immediately signed up for the CPR training course, with more registering their interest in the following weeks. If you have not yet applied but wish to take part, please contact us at info@amovate.com or e-mail Sue Kenyon direct at diversue@gmail.com at which point we will add you to the list, letting you know in due course when your training session is to be held.

It was decided that the training sessions will each be restricted to a maximum of 16 people, in four groups of four, to make each session more manageable.

Sue will be booking the training sessions and contact will be made directly by e-mail or telephone to let all the volunteers know which group they are in and when their training sessions will be held.

The photographs here give you a guide to how each class will unfold.

First there is a brief introduction, then Bombeiros officer Davide Costa and his colleague Antonio take you, in English, through an audio-visual display to show what is required when you come across an emergency situation—and explaining that these are the steps you will be taught during the session.

The first part of the procedure, working with standard resuscitation training dummies, is an assessment of the emergency situation, and, if the patient is not breathing, calling 112 and beginning basic CPR—a procedure with which you will probably be familiar from the aforementioned Vinnie Jones “Stayin’ Alive” UK Government video.

Then you will be taught to turn the patient into the recovery position if the patient is still breathing, before calling 112, and waiting for professional help.

Incidentally, at this point, it is worth noting that ladies may prefer to wear slacks or jeans for comfort as they will be required to kneel over and crouch over the “patient” to administer the necessary treatment.

Finally, each volunteer will undertake a combination of the two procedures—discovering the patient, making an assessment (clearing the airway etc.) taking the necessary action and, of course, dialling 112.

Part of the training involves teaching the volunteer the exact procedure for calling the emergency services, such as giving the operator full and precise details of your telephone number, name, location, description of the nature of the emergency (including a visual description of the patient) and anything else the operator will ask.

It is a very detailed and informative session and as one of the 16 volunteers said afterwards:

“If someone had collapsed in front of me at lunchtime he’d have been a goner. Now he’d have a fighting chance”.

All 16 candidates are reported to have “passed successfully with ease and some laughter” and will be receiving an official Bombeiros certificate in the near future.

More sessions—all of them at The Old School House—have already been drawn up, the next one being Tuesday 25th February 2014 at 2pm. All 16 volunteers due to take part that day have been informed by Sue Kenyon.

If you have not already volunteered, and your interest has been stirred by this article and a desire to be in a position to help when emergencies like this arise in what—we must all reluctantly conceded!—is an ageing population, you can contact Sue at her e-mail address included earlier in this article.

The Bombeiros, Sue, Dr Dave and Steve say they are quite happy to continue adding further training classes as and when more people step forward to take part.

Sub-Section leader Costa says the more people they train in these life-saving techniques the happier they are, as it makes their job easier when such an individual is first on the scene of an emergency.

So, step forward and sign up—the life you save may be that of someone in your own household or family! 

ENDS

Amovate’s new entertainment committee has drawn up its Calendar of Events for this area through 2014, which not only mirrors last year’s successful range of activities, but will build on them.

You may wish to make notes in your diary of the list of these social gatherings and reserve your places at any which capture your interest.

You may be aware of our recent announcement that, following suggestions from several people, we have now introduced a bonus for Amovate members to provide a tangible benefit for those who have joined the Association.

From now on, anyone who holds Amovate membership will be entitled to discounted ticket prices for all of these events, and also will be entitled to “priority boarding” when it comes to reserving your places.

This will take the form of a week’s “grace” after the initial announcement when only members of Amovate will be able to reserve their tickets at the discounted prices before they go on general sale.

And remember, Amovate’s rules say that a €15 annual membership covers not just that named individual but also their spouse or partner, entitling both to the discount.

If you are not a member but have enjoyed our various events then, by joining, you will quickly recoup your €15 membership fee simply by purchasing the discounted tickets to which you would then be entitled.

The year’s social events begin with a Valentine’s Day Dinner at the Vale da Telha Restaurant at the Pines Roundabout, on—of course!—Friday February 14^th.

The price here will be €17 for members and €20 for non-members, and numbers are limited to 80 diners. There will also be live music with Carlos Agapito.

Steve Baker will be selling the tickets, which can be reserved by contacting us at info@amovate.com or by contacting Steve on 968 166 570.

Once reserved, they can then be collected and paid for either on a Tuesday or Thursday between 4-5pm at the VDT Restaurant where he will make himself available.

As we have explained, there will be a week’s grace for members to purchase ahead of non-members and you can also contact an Amovate Committee Member to help secure the reservation / purchase.

This will be the case for all Amovate events throughout the year, which are (fuller details of each event will be announced closer to the date):

FEBRUARY 14, Friday: Valentine’s Day Dinner, Vale da Telha Restaurant, €17 for members, €20 for non-members.

MARCH 29, Saturday: An ABBA evening at the Vale da Telha Hotel Marquee. Tickets €5 for members, €7.50 for non-members.

MAY 3, Saturday: A Family Fun Day Of Tennis and a Barbecue at the Amovate Tennis Courts on the Monte Clerigo road from Vale da Telha. No charge—bring your own picnics etc.

JUNE 21, Saturday: Our second annual Summer Solstice Dinner at O Paulo Restaurant on the Arrifana headland. Details to be announced.

JULY 19, Saturday: Family Fun & Music Day, perhaps Country Music, on the land between and behind The Karisma and the Vale da Telha Restaurant on the Pines roundabout. Details to follow.

AUGUST 16, Saturday: Annual Vale Da Telha Music Festival in the grounds of The Old Schoolhouse, Vales. Admission Free.

SEPTEMBER 20, Saturday: Annual Gala Ball at the Vale da Telha Hotel marquee on the Pines roundabout. Details to follow.

OCTOBER 25, Saturday: Portuguese Night at the Vale da Telha Restaurant.

DECEMBER 20, Saturday: Christmas Party in the marquee at the Vale da Telha Hotel, Pines roundabout. Details to follow.

Amovate is proud to announce that thanks to the amazing generosity of our members and the people of this area we have now bought the defibrillators that will be such a life-saving asset.

This incredibly warm-hearted community leapt into action once we announced the project to raise €4,500 for these two machines and a piece of training equipment. Such was the incredible response that the money was raised WITHIN A MONTH both on Vale da Telha and from the surrounding areas.

These state-of-the-art defibrillators were ordered from the United Kingdom, and are now in transit to Vale da Telha.  The more sophisticated of the two machines, which is to be donated to, and used exclusively by, the Bombeiros had to be calibrated in Portuguese.  The defibrillators have computerised spoken instructions as you work with them, and this more advanced machine had to its vocal software re-calibrated from English to Portuguese. This is due to the fact that the defibrillator is to be used by the professional paramedics of the Bombeiros to service the entire Aljezur region and its 5884 inhabitants, from Odeceixe in the north to Carrapateira in the south.

Up to now the Bombeiros have possessed only one defibrillator for their four ambulances, so the new machine doubles their capacity to respond to the type of emergency where their use is essential.

The simpler, but still highly-sophisticated, defibrillator to be kept on Vale da Telha will continue to voice the instructions in English, with a number of volunteers from the Portuguese and Expat community being trained to use it.

And there is no shortage of volunteers! 

As you will know by now the Bombeiros are keen to establish a corps of volunteers of all different nationalities on VdT and surrounds to be trained by them, initially in Basic CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), which you may recognise from the Vinnie Jones “Stayin’ Alive” commercials.

Then, they will ask those volunteers who become certified in CPR through this training if any of them wish to be further trained to become part of a group of individuals thus qualified to use the defibrillator kept on Vale da Telha.

More than 70 people turned up at Amovate for the inaugural meeting hosted by the Bombeiros at the Old School House in Vales on Thursday January 9^th when their experts outlined their plans and explained what the classes involved.

Vale da Telha resident Sue Kenyon, a UK-certified trainer and instructor in Hands-Only CPR and also use of AED (automatic devices) worked with the team from the Bombeiros to explain what will be required.

More than 50 people immediately signed up for the CPR training course, with more registering their interest in the following weeks. If you have not yet applied but wish to take part, please contact us at info@amovate.com or to Sue Kenyon direct at diversue@gmail.com we will add you to the list, letting you know in due course when your training session is to be held.

It was decided that the training sessions will each be restricted to a maximum of 16 people, in four groups of four, to make each session more manageable.

Sue will be booking the training sessions and contact will be made directly by e-mail or telephone to let all the volunteers know which group they are in and when their training sessions will be held.

The first takes place at The Old School House, Vales, on Tuesday 11th February 2014 from 14:00 – 17:00, and the 16 people involved have already been informed.  Sessions will then take place every two weeks until every volunteer has been trained to the required certified standard.

Sue explained: “As you will appreciate, we have a large number of people wishing to train so, in an effort to provide the best initial distribution of trained personnel, we are offering one place per household for the first few sessions.

“Please rest assured that nobody will miss the opportunity to train; there will be as many sessions held as is necessary.  “We look forward to working with you on this great initiative.”

Incidentally, if you or anyone else is unable to make it to the training session allocated to them, you needn’t worry.  All you have to do is let us know, and that place will be offered to the next person on the list, whilst your name will be put down for a later date.