ESOL Magazine March 2014 March, 2014 | Page 8

HERE TO HELP: Interview with Fiona from the Red Cross By Joanna, Maciek and Jurgita from ESOL 2 J: Can you tell us about any previous emergency you helped with? F: Yes, I recently helped an old man who fell on the pavement; he landed smack down on his face. He broke his nose and his glasses had cut his face. We needed to get an ambulance for him. His wife was there and she was all distressed so like we were saying earlier, we had to keep her calm making sure that she was all right. Somebody phoned for the ambulance for me. The ambulance appeared and they took him off. His nose was broken, but he had a really good recovery and it was nice just to be there for him. It is not always life saving, sometimes it’s - little things that people need help with. J: How do you become a Red Cross worker? On Wednesday 5th of February a trainer from the Red Cross came to speak to ESOL 2 and 3 and give them some training on how to help people in an emergency. Those who attended the training sessions received a certificate. Joanna Kuc, Maciej Kuc and Jurgita Jasmontiene Interviewed Fiona about her experiences J: Why do you volunteer with Red Cross? F: I started to volunteer because I had time to spare and I wanted to do something. Now I do this because I love it. J: What do you like the best about your work? F: I love coming out and meeting people. Meeting people like you today is great. F: You give us a ring or go on e-mail to us and tell us that you are interested. We will bring you in. We will have an interview with you, and find out what part of Red Cross will be best for you. We do a lot of things everyday first aid, event first aid which is when people go f.e: on football matches or concerts, we go to people’s homes to look after them on them own: We do all sorts of different things, and we would find out which of our roles will match best with your skills or see what new skills you would like to learn to work in with what we have got to offer. J: Do you have qualifications? to have any F: No qualifications are required. If you want to be an event first aider we will train you up to the level you will need to