by Cecile Cinco
In the local news yesterday, two nurses were able to help with an accident victim. The people around wanted to bring the victim to the hospital right away but the nurses insisted to wait for the ambulance. They said that bringing the victim to the hospital will only make matters worse. They were insistent and authoritative against the crowd. In a little while the ambulance came and put a c-collar and very carefully lifted up the victim to the stretcher and to the ambulance. The nurses were right.
In America, one of my friends relate, it may be so that his intention was good to help but somebody prevented him to and said that if he did, the victim can sue him for making things worse…because that was what happened.
In Macau, my brother helped someone who fell off the motorcycle. She was and is ever grateful and is now a family friend to my brother and his family.
One day in Baguio City I almost fainted. Since I’ve had several fainting experiences prior, I knew I was going to faint and in the middle of my almost-collapse point, I was able to instruct my husband what to do. The people around me (more than 10 of them) knew not what to do and I even had to tell them not to stay around me. I needed air!
We all should know first aid. I don’t know all but as much as I can I try to learn. When I was yet a teenager, a surgeon in our church taught around 50 of us. Since then I make it a point to always learn whenever I have the opportunity. Theoretically I know CPR. Whether I will use it in the future or not is scary but that remains to be seen. Having asthma, I’ve had several near-death incidents but having learned to control my breathing made life easier to manage.
Whether you learn it from a friend who knows first aid, or from the internet, or in school as a nursing student, or a medical assistant training school, the point is, learn. You just might find yourself treating your own self.
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