Sunderland pupils learn vital life-saving skills as NHS education bus rolls into town

Melissa (Mobile Educational Learning Improving Simulation Safety Activities) rolled into the car park at Hetton Lyons Primary School with specialist neurology doctors onboard, accompanied by a giant brain and life-size patient simulator dummy.

Pupils learned about the 370 different jobs in the NHS, as well as the importance of the brain and how to look after its physical and mental health.

The children also took part in a CPR lesson and found out about the organisations history.

NHS Careers coordinator, Stephen Cooper, said: “Most children know about medical jobs such as doctors and nurses, but there are so many other different professions in the NHS. One of the roles of Melissa is to promote engagement in potential careers in the NHS by getting out to schools which are outside the main cities.”

NHS Careers programme coordinator, Laura Watkins, added: “Gender and job stereotypes are set by around the age of eight and so it’s important to get into primary schools and plant those seeds of opportunity to help educate these children from a young age.”

For headteacher Val Wilson, the bus also provided the children with crucial skills.

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She said: “The bus really captured the children’s imagination and the lesson in CPR has provided them with a potentially vital life-saving skill. A lot of children’s mental health has been effected by the pandemic and so it was also very important for them to learn about the significance of looking after their mental health.

"It was also good to have two doctors in school who the children were able to speak with and ask questions. I think the pandemic has raised the profile and appreciation of the NHS.”

It was a sentiment shared by the children.

Luke Julian, 11, said: “I think now people really appreciate the NHS even more. I have learnt about lots of different jobs in the NHS and I would like to be a doctor when I’m older.”

Olly Nelson, 11, added: “It was good to learn how to do CPR, so you know what to do if someone collapses. The doctors also showed me how to use a defibrillator.”

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