First Aid Basics

Information Connection: First Aid basics

Get First Aid!

by Jerry Dawson, Founder
http://www.GetFirstAid.com

Anyone can suddenly and unexpectedly face a life-or-death situation that requires quick action. You could be with a loved one who has a heart attack...you might be babysitting a child who burns herself with hot water...you may face a victim of a fall who is now unconscious...or you may come upon a traffic accident with injured victims. Will you know what to do? Will you have the resources to take proper action?

Unfortunately, many times the answer is no.

The first thing you should do in any situation requiring administering of first aid is to follow the three C’s:

Check, Call, Care

To Check the victim, you must first survey the scene to ensure your safety. If you get hurt trying to help, you may only serve to make matters worse. Next, do a primary survey. This involves checking to determine if the victim:

is conscious
has an open, unobstructed airway
is breathing
has a heartbeat
is not bleeding severely

After checking the victim, Call the EMS, giving them a description of the emergency situation as well as the location of the scene.

After calling the EMS, provide appropriate Care based on your primary survey of the victim until EMS or other advance medical personnel arrives and takes over. Remember, do not attempt Rescue Breathing or CPR without certification. To obtain certification, ask your employer's Human Resources Department about adding you to the first response team or establishing one if there isn't one where you work. Or, in the United States, you can contact the American Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org).

Based on your survey, you can then administer to the victim based on the level of training you have had and the equipment and supplies available to you.

First aid kits are now available for almost any situation or location. For just a few dollars you can actually save someone’s life or help prevent further injury. Custom first aid kits are available for camping, boating, driving, hiking, sports, and outdoor survival.

A new trend, made possible by the power of the Internet and online customization, is to custom configure first aid kits to match your specific needs.

Remember, prevention and preparedness are essential. Take the necessary instruction to be able to administer first aid properly. Ensure you have the necessary supplies with you at all times. Waiting until a crisis hits is unwise and dangerous. Also, the experience of being helpless while someone else dies can leave you scarred for life. You can make all the difference between tragedy--and some very thankful hugs.

Jerry Dawson, Founder
http://www.GetFirstAid.com

Disclaimer: The intention of this article is to give you basic information about first aid. It is not a first-aid course. Neither the authors nor the editors are licensed medical professionals or practitioners.

Additional thoughts on First Aid

It's not medical practice. But, it does take practice. What happens in an emergency situation depends on how well you drill and prepare. The typical reaction is to freeze up rather than act. That can cost someone his or her life.

If you can't join a group to practice, form your own. And if you can't do that, then set aside an hour each month (schedule it into your calendar) to do dry runs of First Aid. Use a body pillow or something like that to simulate a person, if you don't have a First Aid doll (if you do have one, people might get the wrong idea and they also cost money). Then mentally rehearse the First Aid steps.

This practice won't make you a First Aid expert. But it will program your mind for an automatic response other than fear, panic, and paralysis.

Some key points about health:

Health care and medical care are two entirely different things.
Health is what you protect or damage via the decisions you make. Medicine is an attempt to fix disease or injury. Current medical practice generally works against health; good health practices support good medical outcomes.
Health care requires attention to what you eat, how you exercise (and when), how much rest you get, how you handle stress, and how you manage your environment for toxicity.
There is no real mystery to what behaviors and decisions improve or degrade health. Poor decisions are typically made due to carelessness and willful ignorance rather than not having access to "the secret."
Exemplars of health are all around us, but the most famous was probably Jack LaLanne. We do have role models.
We also have common sense. Obviously, eating a diet rich in nutrient-dense, low-calorie foods such as fruits and vegetables is a better choice than eating a diet low in nutrients but rich in toxins (such as corn sweetener and hydrogenated oil).

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