Anaesthesia Trauma and Critical Care Course

A group of Cork doctors and an Advanced Paramedic spent most of last week learning and refining new trauma skills at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Headquarters.

The Anaesthesia Trauma and Critical Care Course (ATACC) prepares healthcare professionals to manage severely injured patients from the roadside to the Intensive Care Unit. This invaluable Continued Professional Development and Education opportunity brings together new and experienced clinicians in a unique network of prehospital critical care personnel from Europe and beyond.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nzdI5ILhvw

Dr. Karl Knapman, Dr. John Glasheen, Dr. Jason van der Velde and AP Brigid Wall are all experienced faculty whose expenses were covered by ATACC. West Cork Rapid Response, through the Arthur Guinness Fund, enabled Carrigtwohill GP Dr. Hugh Doran to attend as a new candidate. He excelled himself, achieving well above even Consultant Anaesthetists to achieve the instructor grade, thus joining the faculty.

This is no small feat and demonstrates how fortunate East Cork is to have the services of such a dedicated Doctor voluntarily responding alongside the HSE Ambulance service in their time of need.

The Arthur Guinness Fund’s purpose is to enable West Cork Rapid Response to assist other communities, such as East Cork, to develop a service of their own. East Cork interestingly has a greater network of volunteers, but lacks the organisational infrastructure West Cork has worked hard to achieve over the last four years. Both organisations have a lot to learn from each other.

It is important to note that the Arthur Guinness Fund is entirely separate development funding and cannot be used for the day-to-day running cost of West Cork Rapid Response. All monies raised in West Cork go solely to maintaining and developing services in West Cork.