First Aid Saves lives

Kelly was on her way home last week when she witnessed a bicycle accident. The young man on the bike had hit a speed bump, fell off his bicycle and hit his head. He was unconscious but breathing. He was surrounded by a group of people but nobody knew what to do. Kelly moved everybody out of the way, checked his breathing and organised some of the helpers to call the emergency services. She knew what to do because her work place had recently put her on a first aid course. The thing about first is that you never know when you might need it. Complying with health and safety in the work place is all very well – but 1 in 50 people trained in first aid is not enough. EVERYBODY needs to learn first aid. It is not rocket science – it is not expensive but it is probably the most important life skill you will ever learn. Once the heart stops there is only 3 minutes before irreversible brain damage occurs. So you need to be able to do good CPR immediately, I am not sure why we are so bad about this in the UK. But hardly anybody that I meet out of my industry knows what to do if someone stops breathing. “Put them in the recovery position” is something I am often told – recovery position what’s the point they are not breathing!!!! When my children were at junior school many years ago I remember asking the Head if he would like Safe and Sound to come in and train all the staff in first aid. “We don’t need it”, he said. “It is too expensive to train everybody. We have one teacher per year.” “ But what about if a child swallows a rubber or something similar and starts choking the teacher will not have time to find the trained first aider”, I said trying to keep calm. “That has never happened,” he replied dismissively. It is this attitude that flaws me. How short sighted. Yes you might never need it but what if…… And as for too expensive – training is cheap. I guess it comes down to how much you value a life. So I urge everybody who does not know what to do if someone stops breathing, starts choking, has an anaphylactic shock, a heart attack or a head injury to attend a first aid course. It doesn’t have to be ours – although I think we are the best – well I would say that… Actually everybody tells us so. I think it is because all our trainers are paramedics and nurses with extensive experience of accident and emergency medicine which means they know what they want to find when they arrive at an emergency. And your job is to keep that person alive until the emergency services arrive. And because I feel so passionately about everybody learning first aid – mention this blog when you call us 0208 445 8998 and I will give you a discount on the training. The next Safe and Sound First Aid course is on 1 October in our venue opposite Euston Station. www.safeandsound.uk.net