How much do you know about first aid?
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15 / 06 / 2009 | Author: dnorris
How much do you know about First Aid?
How much do you know about First Aid?
In my case the answer is quite a lot ...............on paper.
That’s because like many other teachers I have been on a few training courses. One lasted 4 days and two others lasted for a day (both of which were identical.) I even have a certificate from the Zambian St. John’s Ambulance Brigade. But in between them I took a school party to a history visit to a Roman Villa. One boy fainted in the heat. My response was to sit him up.............which is exactly the opposite of what the text books tell you to do.
That is the conundrum. Like many others, I know how to bang someone on the shoulder blades and even grip them from behind to dislodge anything stuck in the throat, but only in the safety of a training room.
I am fine pressing down on a plastic torso 32 times and giving a dummy the kiss of life but again it is not in real life.
I can put on a pretend head bandage that looks perfect as long as there is no real blood and I can do a nice arm sling when the arm works perfectly well.
The difficulties come the minute I join the real world.....I literally freeze.
In Kenya in the middle of a thunderstorm, a friend got an electric shock. It came through the telephone. She screamed and then dropped the phone.
For my part, I tried desperately to remember my training day.
“Turn off the electricity.” I barked, but of course the phone wasn’t on the mains supply.
“Dial 999.” I suggested but this was not very sound advice as it was the phone that had given the shock in the first place. And in any case, Kenyan Police did not respond to that kind of call in a thunderstorm.
So what was I to do? When my colleague stopped shouting “I’ve been electrocuted!” all I could think of was to have a cup of tea.
On my most recent course the tutor was very re-assuring. “Oh you just get on and do it.” She then explained how she helped someone who had collapsed on the pavement when she was on holiday in America. “It comes back to you. You automatically check to see if they are conscious, you check the breathing, then you see if they have broken anything, set them in the recovery position and then call an ambulance. Believe me, you do it automatically.”
I wished I could believe her.
I have been in a building where someone tripped over a step.
It took ages to find the accident book and the first aid box only had one bandage in it when I really needed two. I did remember that the foot needed bandaging from toe to knee to stop it swelling but that was of no use with just one bandage.
So what would I do if someone really did need first aid?
I have nightmares about someone having a heart attack or a stroke.
Sit them down, call an ambulance and give them an aspirin – probably none of the above would occur. If they collapsed, would I remember to check to see if they had any medication on them like insulin for being diabetic or have an asthma spray. In truth I doubt if I would remember any of them.
And all of this is not unique to me.
I do not have an aptitude for first aid. It is just not my subject even though I want it to be. Unfortunately legislation demands that every large building has a designated first aid person and so much of the training is built around this requirement.
My contention is that with all the training that goes on it doesn’t mean that the right action will take place.
The trainer was very sanguine.
“If someone is really badly injured and you are on your own and the chances are that they will die, what have you got to lose? Try what you can.”
All very well, but I see myself as being the one who tried on the one who didn’t die. Whats more I think I am not the only one.
