Med students organise free first-aid course

First-aid training typically costs between 3,000 kroner and 6,000 kroner. But, if you are a UCPH student, you can take a free course taught by students at the medical school.

The motivation for offering the course was a survey by TrygFonden, a Danish charity that makes grants to projects promoting public health, that found that most university students did not know how to give first-aid, according to Theo Walter Jensen, one of the med students who started the Student2Student group to provide first-aid training.

“The aim is to teach more students how to save someone’s life, should it ever become necessary,” Jensen says.

Taking our class for free is a good way to save the thousands of kroner a course normally costs

Theo Walter Jensen, med student and co-founder of Student2Student

Backed by TrygFonden

Most of TrygFonden’s 140,000 kroner grant has gone to purchasing educational material and classes for the 12 instructors. Over the past year, 18 courses have been held for Physics, Veterinary Medicine, Anthropology and Psychology students. A course takes four hours, and instruction is given to groups of between four and six participants.

Jensen reckons about 100 people have completed the course.

“This is hands-on training. We need to keep the groups small if we want to make sure that everyone gets the chance to use the defibrillator. A lot of workplaces prefer that their employees know first-aid, and it is mandatory if you want to get your driving licence. Taking our class for free is a good way to save the thousands of kroner a course normally costs,” Jensen says.

Students who successfully complete the first-aid course receive certification that they have participated. The training is valid for five years. More information about the course, including how to sign up, is available at student2student.sats-kbh.dk (website is in Danish).