John Horne, a DNASTREAM project manager, is also a volunteer at RNLI Kippford Lifeboat Station. He and the rest of the volunteer crew were grateful to receive the recent donation of a life size rescue dummy from Andy Milner, Managing Director of DNASTREAM.
Vital support for RNLI training
RNLI training takes place all year round and there are a variety of exercises which are used to simulate a person in the water. Around 140 people die by accident in UK and Irish coastal waters each year. Half of those people never intended to enter the water so the crew at RNLI Kippford know that time is critical in these situations.
The addition of this life size dummy will allow those training sessions to become much more realistic giving all of the RNLI volunteers the opportunity to experience working with an adult size model. These man overboard mannekins are manufactured in the UK but are widely used around the world. The mannekin is 1.8m tall and weighs 40kg, it is designed to float allowing crews to practice approaching and assisting an unconscious casualty.
Proud to support John and the work of RNLI
Andy said: "we’re all really proud of John and the volunteering he does with the RNLI. The business was keen to be able to do a bit more to support John, and the station as a whole, and I’m delighted that we could assist with something so practical. It was lovely to be able to visit Kippford in person to hand over the dummy."
Lifeboat Operations Manager, Gareth Jones said: "we’re very grateful to Andy and the team at DNASTREAM for this donation. We know that by providing our crew with the best possible training it can save lives when the skills are needed for real."
All of the volunteers are looking forward to getting a chance to put the mannekin to good use in the coming weeks and months.
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