A FIRST aid trainer was suspended after telling a joke about someone suffering a seizure in front of a father whose son died from epilepsy.
The tutor was removed from duties after including the offensive comment in the section of the first aid course about the brain condition.
Craig Morrell, who helps run a youth football club in Dundee, was attending the weekend workshop and said he was angry and upset by what happened. His son, also called Craig, died suddenly three years ago at the age of 22 after suffering a seizure.
Mr Morrell said: "I suppose I would expect it in teenagers - but not from someone who is a qualified first aid person, who does it for a living." He said he had not received a direct apology from the trainer concerned.
Mr Morrell's son was diagnosed with epilepsy in his late teens and did not want to tell his friends about his health problem. "It was the old stigma of having epilepsy," said Mr Morrell. "He didn't want his pals to know about it. Only his really, really close friends knew about it really."
An apprentice joiner, Craig juggled his job, his social life and his condition. He was looking forward to a holiday from work and was with his friends when he died from a condition known as Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy in 2012.
"You never get over it, you learn to live with it," said Mr Morrell. "I think about him every day."
Mr Morrell became involved in youth football when Craig was younger and continues to manage a side for 11 and 12-year-olds.
He attended the First Aid training course at Dundee University in mid-April, which ended with an exam to obtain a certificate.
"You got a booklet and I knew on Sunday they were going to mention epilepsy," said Mr Morrell. "I was going to speak to the trainers and I was going to say do you mind if I walk out, but then on the Sunday I forgot about it and I thought I will just sit down and hear what they have to say about it."
He added that he "could not believe it" when he heard the joke. Mr Morrell said: "What most annoyed me was him (the trainer) laughing and a few others in the room had a wee snigger, but a lot of the people were clearly thinking it was not very nice."
After walking out Mr Morrell contacted officials about what had happened and also discussed it with one of the other course tutors.
The trainer concerned was suspended and later resigned from the National Sports First Aid courses.
Dr John MacLean, course director for National Sports First Aid - which is administered by the National Stadium Sports Medicine Centre based at Hampden Park in Glasgow, said as soon as they were aware of what had happened swift action was taken. Dr MacLean said: "I made contact with Craig to say the comment was unacceptable and we took it very seriously. It was out of context for any of our teachers to say that.
"There is really no excuse for the tutor having said what he said."
Dr MacLean stressed the course teachers have to meet rigorous standards including ongoing professional development. In the wake of the incident he said they had spoken to Epilepsy Scotland about working with the National Sports First Aid course on their training materials and to do a session on epilepsy at a training day for tutors.
Dr MacLean said the individual teacher concerned was also offered training from Epilepsy Scotland.
David Little, chief executive of the Scottish Youth Football Association, said he was "very, very disappointed" that the incident had taken place. He said 58,000 young people and 14,000 volunters were involved with the SYFA and they were interested in receiving signposting information from any organisation dealing with the health and welfare of young people to display on their website.
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