Have you ever realized how grateful your hands are? First Aid is the safe and the simplest way to save lives in an emergency. Treatment is given to a casualty for sudden illness or any injury by trained personnel before the ambulance arrives. We all praise Doctors as God for saving lives. Likewise everyone should be aware of the first aid treatment for expected emergency to save the lives of people and property.
The aims of first aid are;
- To preserve life
- To limit the worsening of the condition
- To promote recovery
Why first aid is important?
- Before the arrival of emergency services, 57% of all road victims die in the first minutes after the car crash.
- 2000 people paralyzed in Sri Lanka due to spinal cord injuries every year.
- Around 700,000 cardiac arrest per year in Asia.
- 3003 road accident deaths in 2017. One road death in every 3hours.
Like that every day in newspaper we can see death news due to accidents, suicide, bomb blast, fire and some unexpected incidents. There is a confrontation between conventional first aid methods and medically preferred first aid methods for some emergency cases. Let’s look at them one by one.
- Animals bite :
Mostly people considered about dog and snake bite. For dog bite as a first aid wipe the saliva away from bitted point. Wash it with soap in running water for 15 minutes. Apply antiseptic solution and seek medical aid. For snake bite place them in a comfortable position, make them calm to be free from fear. Immobilize the affected limb; wash the wound with soap and water, then take the patient to hospital to give emergency treatment like tetanus toxoid, anti-venom. All the snakes are not poisonous. so be calm to face the situation without panic.
Nowadays people are not aware of small insects bite. It is very dangerous in current scenarios. Previously they applied tamarind, turmeric and lime. If you don’t give proper treatment the germs or poison may spread and infect the whole body may cause fatality. Always assure the proper medical treatment is seeked.
- Electric shocks :
Before you treat the casualty make sure the all power sources are isolated. If the source generating high voltage electricity stay 25m away until the power disconnected. If generating low voltage turn off the mains and remove the conduct of cables from the casualty. First of all insulate the ground in contact with you with non-conductive materials like rubber matting or paper or wood and use a low or non-public conductive material to push away the power source.
Check the casualty is conscious. For unresponsive casualty give airway and breathing treatment. If it is not working give Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) treatment on a flat surface. Compress the chest for 30 times at a rate of 100 compressions per minute. Give airway breathing treatment again. Simple DRSABCD plan is used. Continue this until emergency service arrives and the casualty gets recovery.
- In case of fire :
You might be heard that for fun some people say they will show water to fire. They should know that you can’t show water to all types of fire. For small fires if you are in office use the following extinguisher for the correct type of fire extinguisher. If you are at home in case of fire wrap the patient or objects with wet blanket, roll the patient until fire extinguished. For electrical fire you can use dried sand.
- While handling chemicals and burns :
Avoid contact with sole hands. Rinse the chemical off the skin with Cool running water for 20 minutes, remove contaminated clothing and jewellery, gently wrap the burned area with clean cloth and take the patient to hospital. When eye is affected tilt the head and let the affected eye downwards, rinse the eye with running cold water for about 10-15 minutes. Wrap a clean cloth piece over the injured eye take the patient to hospital.
- Injuries and wounds during road accidents, and playing :
If you get bleeding when you fall down remove the cloth exposed to wound, clean the wound in running water, and wrap the wound with bandage if it is non-stop bleeding take the patient to medical aid. During sports accident gives ice cube treatment, move spray treatment, small stretch up exercise based on the accident type.
- Aches and cramps
For these kinds of issues before accessing medical service give first aid treatment to reduce the pain and ache. For cramps give hot water massage and apply sidhalepa or Vicks or any balm. Or else you can prefer ice cubes treatment. For aches you can drink ginger tea or lemon tea, roasted garlic or any other conventional method you used to be at home. Never forget to prefer doctor if it goes worse.
Based on the above mentioned methods you can react quickly in case of an emergency to save the lives and property. Be calm to think of the situation and confident to give proper first aid treatment rather giving a worst treatment ended up in failure to save the lives. Always ensure to keep a first aid box in homes, school, work environment, and while going on a trip. You should be aware of potential harm that may happen. So a first aid kit should contain plaster in different size, bandages, safety pins, scissor, disposable sterile gloves, cleansing wipes, thermometer, distilled water for cleaning wounds, tablets, oil or balm and protection creams.
So these are the quick methods to recover faster. Don’t be careless during these above mentioned situations. Follow those methods and keep you safe. Share your experiences and related solutions below here.
