For a while now, I have thought about first aid
And how important it is
For every one of us to know.
Photo credit: Verywell Family
But I had never known how to write about it…
So, I looked around my social media and
I was able to get in touch with someone I follow there, Dr. Innocent Acan!
Who better to ask than an actual medical doctor, right?
Dr. Acan happens to be a writer, just like me
And I approached her in that same capacity
So, a few days ago, I ask her for help on this
And she was so helpful with her knowledge and time
And here is what she had to say.
I’ll be directly quoting her from here on out…
- “With first aid, the most important thing is to call for help first. This means calling one or two other people to come and help as soon as you’ve noticed a person needs help.
During this process, you should also contact whatever transportation to a medical center is available, preferably an ambulance
After that, we follow the ABCDEs of first aid.
- Is the person’s airway clear? Is there something choking them and keeping them from breathing? Is their tongue blocking their airway? At this point, you remove whatever is blocking the person’s airway. To prevent the tongue from falling back and blocking the airway, we usually place patients on their backs on a flat surface, and we tilt their head back.
Photo credit: Basic Airway – Practice Paramedicine
B- Breathing. Is the person breathing? You can check this by placing a mirror under their nose to check for condensation on the mirror, or by looking at their chest to see if it’s moving. If it’s not, you need to start mouth to mouth. You want to give a breath every 5 to 6 seconds. The most important thing with an unconscious person is making sure their brain continues to receive oxygen.
C- Circulation. Is the person bleeding anywhere? Try and stop the bleeding by applying pressure over the wound or applying a tourniquet
This is also the stage at which you check for a pulse, which you can check on the inner wrist, or at the point where the curve of the jaw meets the neck. You can also try listening for the heartbeat with your ear to their chest. If there is no pulse, you have to start CPR. This involves giving 30 chest compressions, followed by 2 rescue breaths, in a continuous cycle until the patient gets medical attention or until you get a good pulse.
D – Disability. Here, you want to properly check the person’s consciousness level. Can they respond if you try to call them? Are they having convulsions?
If the patient is convulsing, the best position to put them in is the recovery position, to keep them from choking on their own saliva or vomit. Don’t try to put something like a spoon in their mouth to keep them from biting their tongue – it may cause worse injury to them. We would rather treat a bitten tongue than a broken tooth.
Photo credit: First Aid For Free
E – Expose. If the person is wearing any too tight clothing, take it off or loosen it.
Who needs first aid? Anyone who has sustained any form of serious injury, tbh. These same tenets of first aid can be applied to anyone from accident victims, to heart attack victims, to asthma patients
For head injury patients, one of the foremost things you want to do is get them on their back and stabilize their neck by holding on to their head and keeping it from moving. We worry a lot about spinal injury in such patients, and any movements can worsen things and cause death.
The rest of the first aid remains the same in a head injury patient.
Photo credit: YouTube
~ If you can, get to learn how first aid is actually administered. You never know when it will come in handy!!! ~
wow so informative article for everyone. So important to learn basic first aid steps. Thanks for sharing with us.
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The importance of knowing first aid cannot be overstated. I’m so glad you shared this. I think everyone should know how to administer CPR and minor first aid if they need to.
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These are all pertinent first aid tips. Especially ensuring that you call for help first. Another life-saving first aid tip with CPR is to do the compressions to the beat of the song, Staying Alive. It’s saved many lives.
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Such helpful tips! I will be bookmarking for future use. When in crisis, it’s hard to remember that we should ask for help because that is when it matters the most.
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First Aid knowledge is invaluable for both you as the individual and for your community. It enables you to assist persons who become injured in the event of an accident or emergency situation until help arrives. These are such helpful tips.!
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This is mighty important information! We never know when we will come face to face with an emergency so it pays to know.
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First aid should be compulsory in schools. A very helpful article and a great starting point for anyone wanting to know more about first aid.
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It is an important article. I remember how scared I was when my baby choked on bread. We never know when somebody will need our help.
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This is so helpful! I’m certified in first aid and CPR, so I learned a lot of these things in that class, but I love that you typed in out in an easy to understand way!
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Learning first-aid is everybdy’s priority. We cannot deny the fact that there are life saved from vehicular accidents due to first aid.
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Knowing first aid is so important. You never know when you’re going to need it, and you could save someone’s life.
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This is very essential information for everyone to know. It is best that we keep these first aid steps in mind. Thanks for writing about it and raising awareness.
👏🏿👏🏿 you’re welcome.
It’s important to be as informed as one possibly can be. Especially with somrthing like first aid.
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It’s nice to know first aid. Just in case of emergency, you know what to do.
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Very informative. I once saw someone at a restaurant doing the Heinlich manoeuvre when someone was choking at the table. I was really impressed by how calm and patient he was under such stress. These are techniques we should all learn.
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