Category Archives: Uncategorized

 

Zoe Hardman reveals how her first aid training saved her baby’s life

Marianna Manson 10th April 2017

TV presenter and Heart FM favourite Zoe Hardman suffered every new parent’s worst nightmare when she had to nurse baby Luna through a seizure.

Barely three months old at the time, Luna’s seizure was thought to have been caused by a urine infection and a fever peak of 40 °C. Zoe, who described the incident as ‘the worst thing that could ever happen to a parent’ had taken a first aid course only five days previously, and was able to stay calm under the pressure. ‘If I hadn’t had the first aid course I wouldn’t have known what to do and would probably have panicked. But then the training kicked in and I knew I needed to stay calm – I put her on the floor in the recovery position and called 999.’ Describing the horrible moment the terror kicked in, Zoe says: ‘I heard this horrible noise on the baby monitor from the nursery, and bolted over there. Luna was shaking and convulsing. She was deathly pale and was having problems breathing.’

Thankfully, emergency services were quick to respond and mother and baby were rushed to hospital where Luna was treated by healthcare professionals and has now made a full recovery.

Zoe has spoken out about the traumatic experience to mark the launch of this years’ St John Ambulance Everyday Heroes Awards. The event honours local lifesavers, community heroes, organisations and members of the public who have used their first aid to help others. ‘If I hadn’t known what to do when she had the seizure, it could’ve been so much worse,’ adds Zoe. ‘It was so lucky that I’d had my first aid training.’

Zoe and her rugby player boyfriend Paul Doran Jones welcomed Luna back in September 2016, announcing the news with an adorable black-and-white snap of her little hands. Of the birth, Zoe admitted that she found it ‘gruelling’ and ‘traumatising’ after she had to abandon her planned water birth for a forceps delivery. But she’s clearly loving her new role as mum, saying ‘It’s everything I could have hoped for times about 10.’

Canberra First Aid will teach you how to treat young babies also in our first aid training courses. We offer an affordable and good training session at our venue Parklands Hotel in Dickson.

Book in now for a first aid training session in the future. You wont regret it.

 

South Sydney under scrutiny after Sam Burgess played on with concussion

 

Mar 23rd, 2017

The NRL will review a concussion suffered by Sam Burgess against the Sydney Roosters on Thursday night after the South Sydney lock remained on the field for four minutes before finally leaving for a Head Injury Assessment (HIA).

The concussion issue has bubbled along this week after the NRL handed down a record $350,000 in combined fines to the Gold Coast, Newcastle and St George Illawarra for failing in their duty of care to players who had suffered head knocks.

Burgess came off second best after rushing out of the line late in the first half to put a hit on Sydney Roosters hard man Isaac Liu. The Souths captain remained on his haunches before slowly rising to his feet and re-joining the play.

The NRL review all HIA’s at the completion of the round to determine if the strict rules have been breached and they have already signalled their intentions to clubs over concussions this week after issuing heavy fines.

Channel Nine commentator Phil Gould said on his “Six Tackles with Gus” podcast for 9Podcasts that his greatest concern over the NRL’s tough stance was there would be a knee-jerk reaction from clubs now over concussion.

“It’s a difficult issue and if you’re going to throw $50,$100, $150,000 on top of that well now we’re going to be jumping at shadows,” Gould said

“As soon as a bloke rubs his head because he’s got a knock they’re going to be saying you’ve got to come off and have a HIA.

“We’re more and more and more sanitising the game of rugby league and now that we’ve actually got litigation around this concussion issue it’s a real problem. I don’t know how we play the game and avoid head knocks and avoid people getting hurt.

“It doesn’t mean that they’ve always got concussion and that’s the thing. We’re going to keep running players on and off to the HIA and I don’t know where it’s going to end.”

Gould said clubs placed their faith in their medical staff and it was sometimes difficult to diagnose concussion.

The Titans have already indicated they will challenge their fine, claiming one of the players the NRL had identified Joe Greenwood as suffering a concussion had actually copped a poke in the eye, while the Dragons and Knights are reviewing their options.

“People think it’s easy to determine if a player is concussed or not,” Gould said.

“It’s not.

“A player may be stunned, a player may be hurt, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s concussed and you trust your medical staff out there who have had the experience at this as to whether or not the player (is concussed).

“Just because a player goes down injured we shouldn’t have to get him off to test him for concussion all the time.”

Read more at http://wwos.nine.com.au/2017/03/23/21/52/nrl-expected-to-investigate-concussion-suffered-by-south-sydneys-sam-burgess#mVy5jb0MqDeMIWBW.99

 

Back to Your Roots: First aid in your own yard

I’m not too sure on this one and its first aid remedies. I know that doing a quality first aid course in Canberra with Canberra First Aid will give you many of these healing features. You will learn how to treat lots of common first aid incidents when completing a first aid course with us. We can also offer private first aid courses at your venue so please contact us as soon as possible and book in.

You have seen it. You may have stepped on it. It is a very familiar, perennial weed that will penetrate a crack in a sidewalk, or diligently follow alongside a walkway or trail.

With common names such as “Snakeweed” or “Englishman’s Foot,” in some circles plantain, Plantago major, is regarded as a weed.  One of the “Super Weeds” that the chemical lawn industries have declared war on.

It is powerful indeed, and it is useful. This common plant thrives just about anywhere. This is plantain. I know it and use it regularly, and I am going to share a few of its uses that will have you looking forward to seeing it all season long.

Plantain has a long history of being used as a food plant and healing herb in many diverse cultures around the world. Native Americans used it to heal wounds, treat fever, and to draw out toxins from snakebites. They called the plant “White man’s foot,” as it sprang up wherever the Englishman settled.

It is a common little herb with ribbed, broad shaped leaves and a very subtle flower-spike. The leaves are soothing on external inflammation and can be used on bites and stings, rashes, burns and cuts. It has a drawing quality that is helpful in removing splinters, stingers, venom, or glass from a wound.

Keeping a tub of plantain salve ready can be useful in situations when you cannot be outside and find the herb seasonally. For its wound healing ability, I keep a container of it in my herbal first aid kit. It is soothing on skin conditions like eczema or psoriasis and handy for all kinds of skin irritations, burns and bites.

An infusion or strong tea of plantain leaf, fresh or dried, can be sprayed on sunburn or burns. I keep a little spritzer bottle of this tea in my refrigerator. It cools an afflicted area. This can also be used for rashes and reactions from poison ivy, oak or sumac. Drinking  plantain tea will also support your digestive system. It is helpful for situations of indigestion, heartburn or IBS. The tea is green, and mildly bitter tasting.

Here is the quickest way to use this healing herb. If you are lucky and find a patch of it growing in your garden or yard this season, keep note of where it emerges. You will want to know where you can find it if you need it for an emergency. Make sure that the plants have not been sprayed by either pesticides or pets. Take a few leaves and crush them between your palm or bruise them with a stone. Apply directly to the skin. If you are using it on yourself,  just chew the leaf and apply that to the skin.

I was once with my father when he was stung on the neck by a raging hornet while moving a piece of heavy equipment he needed. I looked immediately for plantain in the work yard, it is usually always growing somewhere nearby. I found one, picked a few of its leaves, chewed it and applied it to the back of his neck and covered the pulp with another whole leaf. It helped to draw out the stinger and relieve his pain. The pain for my father, not the hornet.

The hornet was pinned to a card, mounted on my father’s office bulletin board with a date. Next to it, a plantain leaf. To remind us all of its power.

 

St John’s Ambulance has issued the following first aid advice ahead of the upcoming bank holiday weekends

A good amount of information from St Johns, please remember that the phone number for emergencies in Australia is 000.

 

WITH the bank holiday weekends approaching, the nation’s leading first aid charity is issuing first aid advice to homeowners.

Figures show around 200,000 people are admitted to hospital every year because of DIY accidents.

Injuries often tend to vary in scope; with 4,000 people admitted to hospital following accidents involving furniture, while a fall on or off a ladder led to almost 7,000 hospital admissions¹.

Tools and machinery have shown to result in the highest number of DIY injuries, accounting for nearly 40 per cent of all DIY-related hospital admissions.

In some cases, knowing first aid and how to treat injuries that could occur from these accidents, including head injuries, fractures and severe bleeding, could potentially save a life.

Isobel Kearl, training officer for the nation’s leading first aid charity, St John Ambulance said: ‘It’s important that everyone learns basic first aid, especially as so many accidents happen at home.

‘First aid is such a simple skill but it has an incredible impact. Armed with this knowledge, we can all be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.’ DIY first aid advice from St John Ambulance Head injuries All head injuries are potentially serious; they can lead to damage of the brain and cause someone to become unresponsive. The severity of a head injury would depend on how someone injured their head, and how hard the impact of the injury is.

What to look for:

1. Brief loss of responsiveness

2. Wounded scalp

3. Dizziness or nausea

4. Loss of memory of events before or during the injury

5. Headache

6. Confusion For a severe head injury, you should also look for:

1. Reduced level of response

2. Loss of responsiveness

3. Leakage of blood or watery fluid from the ear or nose

4. Unequal pupil size

What to do:

1. Advise the casualty to sit down and give them a cold compress to hold against the injury.

You can use a cold compress, bag of ice or frozen peas wrapped in a towel.

2. Treat any scalp wounds by applying direct pressure to the wound.

3. Check if the casualty’s response levels using the AVPU scale (below).

4. If they’re unresponsive, or not quite right, don’t hesitate – call 999 immediately.

Use the AVPU test below to help you decide their level of responsiveness:

A- Alert Is the casualty alert? Are their eyes open and are they responding to questions?

V- Voice Do they respond to your voice? Can they answer simple questions and instructions?

P- Pain If they are not alert or responding to your voice, are they responding to pain? Do they move or open their eyes if you pinch their earlobe?

U- Unresponsive Are they unresponsive to any stimulus? Call 999 or 112 for an ambulance and explain their response to the AVPU test. Wait with them until an ambulance arrives, open their airway, and monitor their breathing, pulse, and look for any changes in their level of response. If their breathing becomes noisy or they begin to snore, turn them on their side into the recovery position.

A break or crack in a bone is called a fracture. In most cases a broken bone cannot be seen; this is called a closed fracture, but sometimes bits of a broken bone can puncture the skin. This is called an open fracture.

What to look for:

The seven things you may see if someone has a fractured bone are:

1. Swelling and bruising

2. Difficulty moving

3. Movement in an unnatural direction

4. A limb that looks shorter, twisted or bent

5. A grating noise or feeling if the limb is moved

6. Loss of strength

7. Signs of shock

What to do:

1. Support the injured body part and immobilise it with a sling or by tying it to an uninjured part of the body.

2. If it is an open fracture, cover the wound with a sterile dressing and secure it with a bandage. Apply pressure around the wound to control any bleeding.

3. Call 999. Don’t move the casualty unless they’re in any immediate danger. 5. Check for signs of shock, which is often caused by losing blood. Do NOT elevate an injured leg.

6. If they become unresponsive, and their breathing becomes noisy or they begin to snore, turn them on their side into the recovery position.

When bleeding is severe, it can be dramatic and distressing. If someone’s bleeding isn’t controlled quickly, they may lose a lot of blood, become unresponsive and/or develop shock; this is not emotional shock, but a life-threatening condition which is often caused by loss of blood.

How to treat severe bleeding:

1. Protect yourself by wearing gloves and remove any clothing around the wound.

2. If there’s nothing in it, apply pressure directly to the wound with a clean non-fluffy cloth or sterile dressing. Apply a firm bandage over the dressing, but don’t cut off their circulation.

3. If there’s something in the wound leave it where it is and apply pressure around it, pushing the edges together to stop the bleeding.

4. Call 999/112 for emergency help.

6. Lie them down and raise their legs to treat shock.

7. Keep checking their breathing and whether they can respond to you.

8. Be prepared to treat someone who is unresponsive.

9. If they become unresponsive, and their breathing becomes noisy or on their side into the recovery position.

 

Kids’ lives at risk in childcare first aid fail

CHILDCARE workers with fraudulent first aid certificates are risking kids’ lives, the childcare watchdog has warned the federal government.

The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) has blown the whistle on dodgy training colleges for handing out qualifications to incompetent students.

It says state childcare regulators have expressed fears that some childcare workers with first aid certificates have no idea of what to do in a medical emergency.

All staff in family daycare, and at least one carer in each long daycare centre, must be trained in first aid, anaphylaxis and asthma management.

“A situation where a student has completed one qualification and is incorrectly deemed competent, could present a serious and significant risk to children being educated and cared for,’’ ACECQA warns in a submission to the Department of Education and Training.

“A … failure of graduates to properly administer first aid to children in their care in times of emergency carries a high risk to children and could have life-threatening consequences.’’

ACECQA also criticises the poor English skills of some childcare workers and calls for mandatory literacy tests before students graduate.

It says childcare centres have complained about qualified staff who “do not possess the basic literacy skills expected of them’’.

The Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) of private daycare centres also demanded the federal Education Department to take “bold action’’ against training colleges that fail to properly train staff.

“The very nature of the industry evolves around very young and, as such, vulnerable children who are reliant on the competency and skills of their educators,’’ it said.

NSW Early Childhood Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the state government would “use the full extent of the law’’ to deal with dodgy childcare qualifications.

“Services and individuals that have submitted fraudulent documentation will be investigated and can be prosecuted,’’ she said.

This is becoming more and more of an issue.  make sure you get your first aid course and certificate through a qualified trainer and from one of the greater companies. We are the best in Canberra for you to get a nationally recognised first aid course. call us now.

 

From Stayin’ Alive to Another One Bites the Dust: Hospital reveals Spotify playlist perfect for performing CPR to Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4343902/The-playlist-save-life-best-songs-CPR.html#ixzz4dAVZMqC2 Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Here it is the article you have all been waiting for. The best songs to perform CPR to. We like the staying alive song the best and use this in our course but all will be at a good speed. Book in to a first aid course to get trained in CPR as soon as you can. You never know when you will arrive at a CPR emergency.

  • New York Presbyterian Hospital released a 40-track CPR playlist
  • The songs have about 100 beats per minute, matching the rate of at least 100 chest compression per 60 seconds
  • The Bee Gees’ 1977 hit Stayin’ Alive came out as the most recommended song
  • Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love and Justin Timberlake’s Rock Your Body were also on the playlist

Sometimes, music literally save lives.

In an effort to help train first responders in hands-only CPR, New York Presbyterian Hospital has released a 40-song playlist whose beats per minute match the number of chest compressions.

The Bee Gees’ 1977 hit – and aptly named – Stayin’ Alive took the number one spot.

Artists from Beyoncé to Justin Timberlake to ABBA also had songs on the set list.

Scroll down to listen to the playlist 

On a 40-track playlist released by New York Presbyterian Hospital, Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees came out as the best song to perform CPR to

TOP 10 SONGS FOR SAVING LIVES

1. Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees

2. Cecilia – Simon and Garfunkel

3. Hard to Handle – The Black Crowes

4. Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd

5. Rock Your Body – Justin Timberlake

6. I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor

7. MMMBop – Hanson

8. Gives You Hell – The All-American Rejects

9. Heartbreaker – Mariah Carey ft Jay Z

10. Another One Bites the Dust – Queen

Stayin’ Alive, the disco hit made popular by the movie Saturday Night Fever, has a rhythm of 103 beats per minute.

This is close to the recommended rate of at least 100 chest compressions per 60 seconds that should be delivered during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Additionally, doctors say, the song is well known enough to be useful in teaching the general public to effectively perform the lifesaving maneuver.

The 40-song list, which has a duration rate of two hours and 28 minutes of CPR jams, also includes songs like ABBA’s Dancing Queen and Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love.

Pop fans can enjoy tracks from Missy Elliot and Justin Timberlake, while alt-rock aficionados can choose from Fall Out Boy or the All-American Rejects.

Despite the number of times CPR ‘saves’ someone’s life on TV, it has an abysmal success rate in real life.

Only about eight percent of CPR patients are saved by the procedure, even when backup help is called immediately.

Those who’ve had to be saved with CPR are likely to experience other painful injuries, as well, such as crushed or ruptured organs.

However, performing CPR more than doubles the survival rate of patients who go into cardiac arrest.

THE CPR PLAYLIST

In a study, researchers at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in Japan used new songs to instruct a group of newly-hired nurses to perform CPR.

‘The quality of CPR is the key to [helping] the victim recover,’ lead researcher Dr Yoshihiro Yamahata said.

‘Our solution to master adequate CPR skills is to put the educational words on several famous songs with 112 beats per minute and eight beats per measure, he said.

Researchers used two tracks in the study. The first was The Beatles’ Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, with educational words replacing the original lyrics.

The other track was an entirely new song composed by children, which the researchers called New Melody.

For the study, 74 nurses were divided into several groups. The nurses learned how to perform CPR to the beat of either the New Melody or Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.

Another group learned without music and instead used a device that provides verbal feedback on the efficacy of chest compressions.

This group was later tested without the device.

Results showed that the nurses performed chest compressions better with music and that CPR was best performed to Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.

The power that music has to help people memorize tasks has long been noted, in many settings other than just CPR, Dr Yamahata said.

In a music class for school children that he instructed, experimenting with adding educational words on famous animation songs helped them learn concepts better.

HOW TO PERFORM CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a lifesaving technique useful in many emergencies, including heart attack or near drowning, in which someone’s breathing or heartbeat has stopped.

When the heart stops, the lack of oxygenated blood can cause brain damage in only a few minutes. A person may die within eight to 10 minutes.

CPR can keep oxygenated blood flowing to the brain and other vital organs until more definitive medical treatment can restore a normal heart rhythm.

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that everyone – both untrained bystanders and medical personnel alike – begin CPR with chest compressions.

CPR doubles the survival rate of patients who go into cardiac arrest even though only about eight percent of CPR patients are saved by the procedure, even when backup help is called immediately

To learn CPR properly, take an accredited first-aid training course. CPR for adults is different than for children and infants.

The American Heart Association uses the acronym of CAB – compressions, airway, breathing – to help people remember the order to perform the steps of CPR.

1. Compressions: Restore blood circulation 

  • Make sure the person is on their back on a firm surface
  • Kneel next to the person’s neck and shoulders
  • Place the heel of one hand over the center of the person’s chest, between the nipples and place your other hand on top of the first hand
  • Keep your elbows straight and position your shoulders directly above your hands
  • Use your upper body weight to push straight down on (compress) the chest between two and 2.4 inches
  • Push hard at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions a minute
  • If you haven’t been trained in CPR, continue chest compressions until there are signs of movement or until emergency medical personnel take over. If you have been trained in CPR, go on to checking the airway and rescue breathing.

2. Airway: Clear the airway

  • If you’re trained in CPR and you’ve performed 30 chest compressions, open the person’s airway using the head-tilt, chin-lift maneuver
  • Put your palm on the person’s forehead and gently tilt the head back.
  • Then with the other hand, gently lift the chin forward to open the airway
  • Check for normal breathing, taking no more than five or 10 seconds. Look for chest motion, listen for normal breath sounds, and feel for the person’s breath on your cheek and ear
  • If the person isn’t breathing normally and you are trained in CPR, begin mouth-to-mouth breathing

3. Breathing: Breathe for the person 

  • With the airway open (using the head-tilt, chin-lift maneuver), pinch the nostrils shut for mouth-to-mouth breathing and cover the person’s mouth with yours, making a seal.
  • Give one breath for one second and, if the chest doesn’t rise, do a second breath
  • Thirty chest compressions followed by two rescue breaths is considered one cycle
  • Continue CPR until there are signs of movement or emergency medical personnel take over.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4343902/The-playlist-save-life-best-songs-CPR.html#ixzz4dAVeRLMi
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

 

Why learning first aid is important

 

Family first aid: A family first aid course is being promoted by the national organisation Wonderwoman Children.

Fast forward six months, and the national organisation Wonderwoman Children will on Saturday April 8 offer a Family First Aid course to Port Macquarie-Hastings residents.

For Kyrie, the course came about because of her lack of knowledge.

“We welcomed our first child to our family last year but one particular day she was struggling and I realised that I did not have the skills to revive her,” she said.

“As a new mum I recognised the need for better information on what to do.

“My husband and I – like every parent – would be devastated if something ever happened to our children and we didn’t know how to help them from a lack of education.

“So I contacted Wonderwoman Children, and they will be here for a practical, family-focused course.”

Kyrie said the course was built around practical, everyday situations and would be delivered in a two hour time frame.

“The course will cover CPR, choking, allergies and what to do if there is a reaction, seizures and convulsions, poisons, tips on safe proofing your home and temperature management.

“I believe the course would suit parents and grandparents.

“We are firm believer’s that knowledge is power, and we wanted to empower ourselves to save our child’s life.”

 

 

Seattle detective stresses importance of CPR training after saving a woman’s life while off-duty

CPR training is an important aspect in the community. We need to address it by getting people trained as best as we can. Please get trained in a CPR course today so that you know how to save a life.

SEATTLE – Some are saying it’s a miracle she was there when it happened. A Seattle police officer, who was off the clock at a birthday party, rescued a woman this weekend after she stopped breathing.

That officer is sharing her story, in hopes more people will get CPR-certified.

“It seemed like I was doing it for hours and hours,” said Detective Cookie Bouldin with the Seattle Police Department.

You could say the detective was at the right place at the right time.

“This was my very first time performing CPR on a human,” Det. Cookie said.

Right away, she told Q13 her instincts kicked in..

“I checked to see if she had a pulse and I could not get a pulse,” said Det. Cookie.

And in the end, she said she believe her training helped save a woman’s life.

“It just happened that this woman was enjoying herself at a social birthday party event where everyone was having a good time, and then all of a sudden she just lost consciousness,” said Det. Bouldin.

Last Friday the detective said she was at a party in Tukwila a woman in her 50’s was sitting in front of her and stopped breathing.

So she quickly performed CPR on her, but she told us it wasn’t easy.

“My arms were getting extremely tired,” said Det. Cookie. “They were feeling like spaghetti, but I had to keep going. Even though I wasn’t seeing any improvement in the lady, I knew I had to keep going.”

As of right now, the woman is recovering in the hospital.

That’s why the detective is now pushing for more people to get CPR-certified.

“It’s just a matter of knowing how to put your hands, where to put your hands because you have to push down quite hard.”

According to the American heart association, almost 90 percent of people who have a cardiac arrest out of the hospital, die.

Health experts said CPR, especially if performed in the first few minutes, can double or triple someone’s chance of survival.

“Anybody could do it, whether you’re young or you’re old. You could still do this.”

She also said it’s never too late to sign up for classes, and hopes more people will get involved.

“You just need to the proper training, and the proper training is not hard to get.”

 

Knife-crime first aid should be taught, surgeon says

 

We are lucky here in Australia and Canberra that this is not anywhere near as commonly occurring as it is in the UK. Still some great skills for first aid management of bleeding situations. Apply pressure and do not remove the impaled object. Have  great weekend first aiders. We look forward to seeing you in a first aid course with us soon.

First aid skills should be taught in schools to counter the rise in knife crime among young people, a leading London trauma surgeon has said.

Duncan Bew, a consultant at King’s College Hospital, said he has seen increasingly ferocious stabbing injuries inflicted on children.

In 2016, 299 children were caught carrying knives in schools, up from 152 in 2011, according to the Met Police.

The first-aid skills would mean fewer deaths from stab injuries, Mr Bew said.

The number of pupils caught in possession of knives in schools has risen for a fifth successive year, according to Met Police statistics.

“There’s a need to raise public preparedness,” Mr Bew said.

The surgeon co-founded Growing Against Violence which provides training in schools for 10-15 year olds to reduce gang membership and tackle violence, including equipping them with first aid techniques.

“We see more stabbing victims around the end of school than any other time,” Mr Bew said.

“Gone are the days of children coming in having fallen off their bikes, now it’s all because of knives.”

The family of murdered teenager Quamari Barnes told BBC London that for some children carrying a knife came as naturally as picking up “their keys or mobile phone”.


‘Wanted to look cool’

Image captionJustin’s mother who did not want to be indentified, says she “wasn’t angry at all; I’m just really concerned.”

Justin (not his real name), was 12 years old when his mother found a hunting knife in his bag as he left for school.

“All the bigger boys in my class bully me and make me feel scared, they threaten me,” he told the BBC.

“I wanted to carry a knife to look cool.”

His mother said she “wasn’t angry at all; I’m just really concerned.”

“I live on an estate and I see bad things all the time. The situation will get worse because young people are competing against each other,” she added.


First aid is taught in some schools as part of the personal, social, health and economics education (PSHE) curriculum – but it is not compulsory.

In March, the government announced PSHE would be made compulsory in all state schools, but there is no timetable for its introduction.

The government is currently consulting on what to include in the permanent curriculum.


First responder skills

  • Protect yourself and any casualties from danger
  • Comfort and reassure casualties
  • Assess the injury
  • Put pressure on the wound to slow down the flow of blood
  • Call emergency services

 

The majlis: First-aid lessons can save children’s lives

In an emergency situation, the first few minutes are crucial in saving a child’s life. In those few moments, when for example you’re driving the child to the hospital, you could do something yourself to help save their life.

If a nanny is looking after a child and realises that the child is choking, she might take a minute to make a phone call to the child’s mother, then another to call to an ambulance, or perhaps another to get to a car or a taxi.

I don’t think most parents or nannies are equipped with the skills they need to deal with emergency situations. Many nannies in the UAE are more like babysitters, but that doesn’t mean that they’re certified to handle emergency situations.

That’s why I decided to organise a paediatric first-aid course through my initiative, The Mama Bear Club, in Abu ­Dhabi. The idea came about when I saw a few videos on social media about how to save your child in a choking situation.

It struck me that although it’s easy to watch the manoeuvres in a video, to do them in real life is a different story. During the four-hour paediatric first-aid course, there’s theoretical and practical training, and mannequins are available for people to practise on.

I have noticed that there are more and more first-aid courses being taught in the UAE, especially at child-focused centres and playhouses, which means people are starting to realise the importance of learning first aid. Most of these courses focus on CPR, whereas a full first-aid course, like we are organising, ­covers situations such as drowning, seizures, eye or head injuries, fractures, poisoning, choking, insect bites, electric shock, burns, CPR and more.

Let’s assume that you’re a working mum who isn’t with the child when an emergency happens. That’s why the course is offered to fathers and nannies, not just mothers. It will also be offered in a variety of languages, including English, Arabic and Tagalog.

Thankfully, I have not yet had to face any life-threatening situations with my own 3-year-old daughter. There was a small incident in which she had an insect bite, but it wasn’t severe. You can imagine, when you see a lump on your child’s skin, you immediately panic. Even getting the right ointment for an insect bite can be tricky – how do you know which one to choose? And what are the emergency numbers? Do parents and nannies know? Are they written down somewhere in the house where they can be easily read?

As I learn first-aid skills, I also want to be able to pass them on to other parents. Once I have been certified, I can teach the basic techniques to my friends and family who also have children. It’s about spreading knowledge and raising awareness for other families.

I’m sure that a paediatric first-aid course will give parents the peace of mind to know that in the event of an emergency situation in the future, they would be equipped with the right skills to deal with it.

* As told to Jessica Hill

Hamda Al Hadrami is the founder of The Mama Bear Club, a community initiative to connect and build a network of mothers in Abu Dhabi. The paediatric first-aid course, from Health and Safety Solutions, and a healthy cooking session by Mama Lu Kitchen will be held on Saturday, April 8, at Rosewood Abu Dhabi hotel from 11am to 3pm. Guests can register for either of the sessions on the day or via www.eventbrite.com

 Great to see that first aid is getting to the middle east. Make sure that you get trained in first aid today so that you can save a friends life if needed. We are offering great frst aid courses in Canberra and we hope you can spend a day that will save a life.