Week 9 - learning how to save a life

Well, if ever I was going to learn something useful throughout this year, this probably tops it.  Yes people, I can save your life!  I say it with an, oh so hint of trepidation and jaunty sarcasm at that. The reality of it is, of course, a totally different kettle of fish to sitting in a classroom practising with dummies.  Nevertheless, I thought this was a perfect opportunity for me to really learn something worthwhile and gain some hands-on, certifiable skills.

I had a search around on the internet to find places that do First Aid courses and I found One Day Courses, a First Aid training and health and safety company based in Covent Garden.  I must really be dedicated to my cause because I gave up an entire Saturday to do this and I wasn't even being told to do it for work!  It was sort of sweet actually, I was the only one out of the eight of us there that wasn't doing it for their work and so it was a bit of a novelty for everyone and I was singled out as the special one of the group.

The place is very sweet - its a small space but has some lovely little touches like this area with lots and lots of old first aid boxes and medicine packets dating back 100 years decorating the walls.  And of course, as soon as I walked in I saw a load of dummies scattered about on the floor, ready to be man-handled all afternoon.

Our teacher was Michael, a slightly eccentric, mildly camp foot surgeon taking us through everything.  Of course, I'm not going to bore you all with the whole day's laborious activities - I'll just talk about the highlights.  Actually there aren't that many of them.  Don't get me wrong - its not that this course wasn't useful, interesting and a great learning experience, its just that the whole process is quite dry.  The first half of the day is entirely theoretical and so we just sat and watched and listened, before anything practical could happen and there could be some body to body contact!

The main things to remember in every eventuality are D R and then A B C.  D is for Danger - i.e. are you in any immediate danger if you help the casualty?  R is response - is the person you are helping responding to you.  If not, you then have to think about ABC.  No, no, no, not Anything But Chardonnay but Airway, Breathing, Circulation. This is the prime concern - basically checking to see whether the person is breathing, because if they're not, you only have 90 seconds in which to respond and perform CPR before their chances of survival dwindle dramatically.  Time is always against you in these situations so you have to act fast and do your duty of care as a first-aider to immediately preserve life.

As you would probably imagine, First Aid is generally common sense.  I'm sure that if most of us that don't have eternal bystander apathy, happened upon someone in crisis, we would asses the emergency, try and remain calm, talk to the casualty, keep them warm and call 999.  That is pretty much it however, the D R A B C is the really important bit that we learn about in First Aid.  So what is interesting is that if a person looks like they might be unconscious or not breathing, you should check that before calling 999 as the first thing that the emergency services will ask you is if the person is breathing.

So, once you've established whether the person is breathing or not, there are one of two very important things to do.  If the person is unconscious but you can tell that they are breathing, this is when you need to put them in the recovery position.  This was definitley the one thing I wasn't sure of at all but is super important to know because it prevents the tongue from blocking the throat and encourages continous breathing.

Here's a picture of me practising the recovery position on one of the girls in the class.  Both of us are clearly trying not to laugh but to imagine a scenario where I'd discovered this poor girl having been thrown off her bike in the street.  

We then talked about what to do if someone is unconscious but not breathing. This is of course, when you perform cardiopulmonary rescusitation or CPR. We've all seen it in an abundance of films and TV hospital dramas but I have to say, its nothing in comparision to seeing it in real life.  We watched a video of a real life emergency, when an old man had collapsed in the street and some nearby observers plus police alternated between performing CPR.  It is really quite shocking and a bit disturbing seeing how much force is used on the body and seeing the belly move up and down so violently with the compressions.

Michael demonstrated on one of the adult dummies for us showing us where to place our hands, what pressure to use and exactly what to do.  The thing to remember is to do 30 compressions and then 2 rescue breaths and then repeat that until paramedics arrive.  Timing-wise, just sing The Bee Gees "Staying Alive" while doing the compressions - each beat is a compresssion - about 100-120 per minute.

In order to give rescue breaths you have to place the casualty's head back, pinch their nose and then seal your lips to the victim's mouth and blow.  We were told that a lot of people are put off by that and don't want to touch a stranger's mouth, but I would have thought that faced with the situation and the realisation that someone may die right in front of you, instinct would just kick in no?

We then talked about choking and what to do if faced with an unfortunate gasping human being.  I never have been thankfully, although I have to say that I've had some pretty mammoth coughing fits before - but just from air as supposed to a grape or a bit of sausage (apparently the most common food items to cause choking).   You should first slap the choker hard on the back 5 times. Then, if that does not dislodge the item you should do abdominal thrusts.

Ok thats pretty much the essentials. We did talk about and learn a lot more about strokes, head injuries, bleeding, asthma, angina, amputations, burns, poisoning and anaphylactic shock.  We also talked quite a bit about the heart and the types of conditions associated with the strongest muscle in the body (although not as strong as the uterus whilst giving birth).  Typically heart conditions are associated either with the plumbing or the electrics.  So for example a heart attack is associated with the pipes and could be a blood clot or a blocked artery.  If its the electrics, then its a cardiac arrest when the heart suddenly stops or has an abnormal heart rhythm.  I should have really known all of this, seeing as my Dad has had considerable heart issues over the years.

Finally, we did some practising of how to use epi-pens, make slings and do a whole lot of bandaging for every eventuality.  See below for the sterling work!

All in all, I'm very happy that I did this course and actually feel like I could really be of some use, if, god forbid I was faced with an accident and/or emergency.  If you have some time or get asked for work to do a First Aid course then do, please oblige.  Its slightly comforting to know how to put someone in the recovery position.