Scots_Charles_River
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Our local Red Cross do 1 day first aid courses on a random sporadic basis that are totally free. See if you can find a local Red Cross group and if they run courses.
I agree about the schools and colleges thing. Every member of staff in a school should have a minimum of an 8 hour first aid course trained on a regularly updated basis. It would be interesting to see how many teachers are in date with an emergency first aid cert. After all the first few minutes in a "situation" are the most important whilst you are waiting for the ambulance to turn up.
In my corridor, 7 staff = 140 kids, we have 3 staff with 2 day in date frist aid quals. But that't only cause we run climbing, DofE or teams. Not a requirement of a school to have many first aiders. Actually one first aider for 860 kids. The law is for a ratio of staff to first aiders, not for kids !
I teach CDT/Tech and we only have occasional minor (small plaster) cuts. Most nurse work is for sprains and lunchtime stuff.
I have only used my first aid kit/skills while taking kids outdoors/indoors climbing, for the last 14yrs, on members of the public not my kids !
Deciding when to call an ambulance - epileptics, asthma, anaphalaxys (spelling?) - is the key thing.