By Precious D Freeman
The Liberia Medical Students Association (LMSA) in partnership with the U.S.-based Welikermah Foundation and the A.M. Dogliotti School of Medicine at the University of Liberia (UL) has held a day-long Basic Life Support Training program for medical students.
The training which was held on the UL Medical campus in Congo Town over the weekend, included 60 medical students from various universities in Liberia.
Welcoming participants, Ms. Patricia S. Gray, President of the Liberia Medical Students Association said the Basic Life Support Skills training is a continuous thing; recalling that LMSA held the training last year, and another one was held on 4 February this year.
She added that the LMSA’s goal is to seek the welfare of every medical student academically and in all aspects, once one is a member of the association.
She urged participants to give their undivided attention during the training. According to Ms. Gray, participants will receive a card from the Red Cross which is renewable after two years, and they will also receive certificates for the training.
The LMSA president expressed hope that succeeding LMSA leadership will build upon this dream that her predecessors began, and urged future leaders to continue providing basic life-support training when her administration shall have ended.
“We are happy that since we started this training, we have always had people from diverse institutions, not only the students of the A.M. Dogliotti that have been trained,” she said.
She stated further that they have had people from the School of Pharmacy, Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts (TNIMA), Mother Patern College of Health Sciences, Adventist University, and the University of Liberia Pre-Med. Program, and many other universities in Liberia.
Ms. Gray explained that the Basic Life Support Skills have different components that can be applied to save lives out there.
“All over the world people pay money to acquire Basic Life Support Skills, but as Liberians, the participants have an opportunity to take advantage of these skills,” she stressed.
“Whenever you are called upon, you don’t have to be a health practitioner to do your basic life-support skills, because the life you save out there tomorrow may be mine, or the life I save out there tomorrow may be yours,” Ms. Gray said.
She emphasized that basic life-support skills are very important because one doesn’t know at what point a child might experience choking; somebody might drown, and when there might be a fire incident, among others.
However, she noted that these life-support skills could be used to save lives.
