The MELISSA Bus Made a Stop at Northern Counties
Students and staff were thrilled when the MELISSA bus made a special stop at Northern Counties School this week.
Who is MELISSA?听
MELISSA is a double decker bus that delivers healthcare education across the North East and North Cumbria, and it stands for Mobile Educational Learning Improving Simulation Safety Activities. It鈥檚 a state-of-the-art training tool that includes the latest simulation equipment, audiovisual equipment and other devices to enhance the learning experience.听
Some of our students hopped on the bus to receive training about asthma and resuscitation. In the morning, they learned all about the symptoms and causes of asthma, making model lungs with paper, before they watched training videos on how to conduct CPR.听听
The students took turns to provide CPR to a series of mannikins 鈥� first up was a 15-year-old boy called Gerry who had stopped breathing.听听
Our students reacted by:听
- Checking the area was safe to approach听
- Asking Gerry if he was OK to see if he would respond听
- Asking someone to call 999 whilst they stayed with Gerry听
- Providing the address of their location to the 999 call handler听
- Providing CPR听听
The students were surprised by how tiring providing chest compressions can be, and helped each other out by taking turns to make sure Gerry was looked after.听听
The second mannikin was more lifelike, named Ollie, with a simulated pulse in the neck, hands, chest, feet – he even blinked! Students learned how to read an observations machine which gave readings of oxygen rate, heart rate, and blood pressure. They discovered that with asthma, the observation machine can show low oxygen, and they learned how the hospital would go about treating this.鈥�
The third simulation was a mannikin of a baby, where the students learned how CPR is different for adults and children. This opened up a discussion of whether our students would like to go into jobs within the medical sector and included conversations about the many different job areas there are in the hospitals, including drivers, technicians and IT personnel.鈥�听
At the end of the training, our students left with a deeper understanding of asthma and CPR and are now our new Asthma Ambassadors. This means they鈥檒l be able to share their understanding and learning with other students, becoming the go-to people within Northern Counties to share their knowledge.听
To find out more about the MELISSA bus, click here: