Barry Howard

Qualified St John Ambulance first aider

Barry Howard, a former Head of Geography at The King John School in Benfleet and a passionate outdoor pursuit’s hobbyist, hasn’t looked back since completing a first aid training course with St John ambulance.

Working in a busy comprehensive school with over 1,500 pupils and a passion for outdoor pursuits, Barry decided to complete an initial ‘first aid at work’ course at the Essex branch of St John Ambulance in 1986. Over his 30 years of teaching at The King John School, Barry has treated cases of shredded fingers to impalement to major trauma cases and cardiac arrests.

‘You get a whole variety of accidents happening in a school, because there are so many people on site. You don’t need a first aid qualification to become a teacher, but I think it is a necessity. You have a duty of care to protect each and every child in your care.’

‘Once you put your training into action, you find that it goes beyond running through the actions in your head to the emotion and logistics involved in the accident. Since my training I seem to have gained a magnetic attraction to accidents. On many occasions I have found myself in the right place at the right time. The training has allowed me to be able to help.’

Barry has continued to refresh his skills by attending the four-day training course every three years. ‘You can go on a first aid training course and learn the correct skills, but I think it is so important to restore these skills every couple of years,’ explains Barry. ‘You are not likely to need to administer first aid every day and if you don’t use the training, the knowledge won’t kick in when you finally need to use it.’

Realising that there was a need for more qualified first aiders on the school premises, Barry introduced and supervised a first aid team, who are on call during the day should an emergency arise. This started as a team of two and when Barry left the school last year a team of eight teaching staff were fully trained first aiders.

‘First aid accidents happen when you least expect it, you can’t plan for them, you just need to act quickly. The training takes over in an emergency and allows you to control the situation. You just think I wouldn’t want that to happen to me.’

Barry now runs his own outdoor pursuits business which he believes is thanks to the initial training course he took years ago. ‘I advocate first aid training and I cannot thank St. John Ambulance enough. I have them to thank for my career, I want to go on and maybe become a St John Ambulance first aid trainer – that way I can give something back to them.’