Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a type of first aid used if a person is not breathing correctly or if his or her heart has stopped. Using chest compressions and rescue breaths that keep blood and oxygen circulating in the body.
World Trauma Day – Can anyone tell me anything about this awareness day?
World Trauma Day
So today as you may be aware is World Trauma Day. While starting some research this morning I came up with nearly nothing.
Actually that is not quite true – the Hindustan Times has produced an excellent article on the day and why it is so crucial in India. Indeed they argue for emergency and first aid training in schools.
Up to 400,000 deaths death year in India could be prevented with better emergency care. While I except that it is a bigger issue in developing nations, without the sorts of infrastructure which you and I seem to take for granted, it beggars belief that it is not considered a big issue in developed nations.
So does anyone know anymore? It would be great if you could share any information you might have about the day. Please use the comments section to share any links and so forth.
PS For our purposes trauma her refers to an injury such as you might receive from a road accident.
The Benefits of First Aid Training – How it helped saved a three year old from choking!
Andy Cave
St John Ambulance have produced a number of cases studies which we feel show that value of formal training. Today’s example looks at choking.
Andy Cave, 35, experienced every parent’s fear when his young daughter choked on a coin in November 2013 but he drew on skills he’d learned just weeks before to save her.
Three-year-old Keerah had been playing with her money-box when suddenly she started to struggle. As she began to turn pale, Andy began to perform first aid on his daughter. After three back slaps, the coin eventually dislodged, clearing Keerah’s airway and saving her life. Following the incident, Andy reached out to his friends on social media, encouraging them to learn first aid. Since his experience, he believes all parents should be taught basic life saving skills that he said helped him to deal with an incredibly scary situation.
First Aid Part – Why would should consider formal training in First Aid! Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
Kirsty Perry and Dave Moreland
An elderly customer who had entered the supermarket had collapsed in an aisle and was found by 26-year-old Kirsty. As the store’s duty first aider, she quickly assessed the man and thought he’d had a seizure. As the man was unconscious but still breathing, Kirsty and her colleague Dave placed him in the recovery position to keep him safe and monitor his condition while they called for an ambulance.
However, while on the phone with the emergency services, Kirsty quickly noticed that the 81-year-old man had stopped breathing. Springing into action, she and Dave commenced CPR on the customer and continued for 10 minutes before the ambulance crew arrived with a defibrillator. Thanks to the actions of the two employees, the crew were able to restart the man’s heart before he was taken to hospital.
Save a Life September – find out how St John Ambulance are promoting life saving skills and first aid in September!
Save a Life September
This September, you could learn how to save a life, as St John Ambulance’s annual awareness month, Save a Life September, returns. The nation’s leading first aid charity will be putting on free demonstrations across the country and urging people to download the free St John Ambulance first aid app, so you can carry life saving advice around in your pocket.
Research* carried out earlier this year by St John Ambulance has revealed the following statistics:
- 97% of people believe that learning first aid is important and yet just 10% of people have taken steps to learn it in the last 3 years.
- Less than 10% of respondents has had any form of first aid training.
- Almost one in four people is too scared of harming the victim to learn first aid.
- Only 38% of households have a first aid kit at home. Of those, only 8% check the kit.
St John Ambulance believes that with a few first aid skills, anyone can be the difference between life and death. The charity’s Save a Life September campaign sees volunteers from the charity demonstrating five easy to follow techniques that could potentially save a life, and giving out pocket-size first aid guides so that people can carry the advice wherever they go. The free, chart-topping St John Ambulance first aid app is available on smartphones, and the website (www.sja.org.uk) offers demo videos, an interactive game, and plenty of first aid advice.
The charity’s CEO, Sue Killen, said: ‘Learning first aid is one of the single most important things you can do in your life. You may need it anywhere – at work, at home, in school, playing sport – you just don’t know. With basic first aid skills, anyone can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.
‘By holding free first aid demonstrations across the country, we want to reach as many people as possible, so that more people are equipped with the skills to save a life. Anyone who needs first aid should get it – and the more of us that can help in an emergency, the better. No one should die for a lack of first aid.’
To find out how you can learn to save a life this September, visit www.sja.org.uk/sals.
Key facts about Save a Life September
- Save a Life September is St John Ambulance’s annual awareness month, designed to encourage more people to learn vital first aid
- Now in its fourth year we will be giving demonstrations in around 200 locations, such as shopping centres, schools, markets and other community spaces, and giving out free first aid guides to over 100,000 people
- Demonstrations will take place all over the country – visit our website to find one near you.
- We’ll be demonstrating five easy-to-follow techniques (choking, severe bleeding, recovery position, heart attack and CPR) at selected locations and distributing pocket-sized first aid guides, providing people with first aid knowledge at their fingertips
- We are offering free demonstrations to community groups as well – contact us to find out more
- Since Save a Life September launched in 2010, we’ve given 400,000 people pocket first aid guides – that’s the equivalent of the entire population of a city the size of Stoke-on-Trent
References:
* Research conducted by ICM, February 2014, using a weighted sample of 2000 adults aged 18+ in England. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. Further information at www.icmresearch.co.uk