Crash course in First Aid saves grans life

An eight-year-old became a lifesaver after taking part in a first aid course offered at a shopping centre by Red Cross volunteers and then minutes later putting into practice when her grandmother collapsed in an underground car park in Graz in southern Austria.

Schoolgirl Tina took part in the half-hour course while her grandmother Stephanie, 53, went shopping and she collected her and the pair went to the underground car park when gran had finished.

But after walking out of the lift into the empty underground car park the youngsters granny clutched her chest and then collapsed.

Stephanie gave her emergency first aid and then put her into the recovery position before alarming the Red Cross officials who said her quick thinking and putting into practice what she had learned had probably saved the older woman’s life.

The Red Cross courses are part of an initiative to encourage greater knowledge of emergency first aid among the general population and are generally aimed at adults but children can also take part like Tina.