Some people think first aid training is only for saving people’s lives with CPR or “mouth to mouth” resuscitation when they have a heart attack. (Spoiler alert – we don’t do it that way anymore!)
While others think it’s only about knowing how to apply a bandage properly to a child’s sprained ankle or helping them if they have an allergic reaction.
The reality is that First Aid is about saving people’s lives. Often that including everything in between applying CPR or a bandage.
For example, did you know that dozens and dozens of Australians choke to death each year? (And often they die because no one around them knows how to help them.) Dozens of others bleed to death because no one knows how to help them stop the bleeding. And of course, we regularly hear of people drowning each summer, many of whom could have been saved.
The simple truth is when faced with a life-threatening emergency many people simply freeze in fear and don’t know what to do beyond calling an ambulance or hoping someone else knows first aid.
A recent survey discovered that some 59% of people (nearly 2 out of every 3) would not feel confident enough to even TRY to save someone’s life in an emergency and 24% (1 in 4) would do nothing beyond calling for an ambulance.
Given that someone with a blocked airway can be dead in 3 – 4 minutes, there is no point standing around waiting for an ambulance that could be 8, 10 or even 12 minutes away. The person will be dead by the time it arrives.
Even more frightening is that surveys of new parents have found that up to 82% of them would not know what to do if their child started choking, was burned or even stopped breathing!
This is why first aid training is so vital. As the name implies “FIRST Aid” is the aid applied to a person FIRST and ideally immediately AFTER an incident, accident or injury. It’s whole purpose is to improve the victim’s prospects of surviving UNTIL proper medical care, like a doctor or ambulance arrives.
That’s why it trains you how to open a person’s airways, stop bleeding or administer CPR to keep them alive until real aid gets there. It’s also why first aid training is mandatory for so many people in critical roles like childcare, education, aged care, etc. To book your first aid training with Melbourne’s best trainers visit https://www.resultsfirstaid.com