RNLI crew member from Cornwall trains in Finland

An RNLI crew member from Falmouth has been training in Finland as part of an international crew exchange.

Tamara Brookes was one of six people chosen to take part in the International Maritime Rescue Federation's lifeboat crew exchange programme.

Ms Brookes was hosted for five days by the Finnish Lifeboat Institution along with lifeboat crew members from Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, France and Iceland.

She said: "It was an exhilarating, interesting and inspiring experience, so much was fitted in."

The exchange included training in collaboration, networking, sharing experiences and best practice and practical activities, both on and off the water.

Ms Brookes said much of the learning was centred around hypothetical emergency situations, sometimes with no briefing.

She explained: "One of these was an exercise involving locating a casualty with a suspected spinal injury and assisting them from their vessel to the shore, including doing some casualty care.

"Between us, we just all fell into a role. We communicated very easily and efficiently and, despite being strangers, we all worked very collaboratively - your training really comes out."

Ms Brookes said she joined Falmouth RNLI as a trainee crew member seven years ago and qualified as a helm on the station's Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat last December.

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