Two novel schemes for the safety of students are to be piloted this upcoming freshers week.
‘Nightsafe’ and ‘The Alcohol Recovery Centre’ are two exciting initiatives aimed at providing help and comfort for those a little too intoxicated during the Freshers week period.
Nightsafe is run completely by volunteers who patrol the city centre offering students water, first aid, sweets, blankets and even flip flops for those a little worse for wear. They will follow designated routes in town and will be equipped with radios to get to people in need fast.The volunteers receive training in all areas of distress and will therefore be able to patrol riverbanks, wait with lone individuals and provide low-level first aid during Freshers and Wednesday and Sunday YUSU club nights.
YUSU Activities Officer Chris Wall said: “Nightsafe is an exciting proactive approach to safety from YUSU, that is unique to our Union across the UK. It’s fantastic that we’re strengthening relationships between the City of York as well as giving a fantastic amount of personal development for our students. We look forward to protecting and aiding our students and other members of the local community”.
The Alcohol Recovery Centre will work with Yormed, providing an emergency ambulance on call for students throughout Freshers.An intoxicated individual, after being dealt with by the paramedics is then sent to the ARC to ‘sleep off’ their intoxication under trained supervision.After the staggering amounts of students seen in A&E during Freshers, the scheme hopes to leave a positive effect on students, making sure they enjoy themselves socially while being aware of the pressure and danger that alcohol can cause.
YUSU’s Welfare and Community Officer, Jemima Busby, is very positive, saying “We are really pleased to be working in partnership with the University to deliver not only schemes to discourage binge drinking but also to keep students safe if they do drink too much as well as reducing disturbance to other residents and pressure on local services such as A&E, which can be swamped with students during Fresher’s week; as well as ensuring the safety of our members.”