MY LIFE IN YOUR HANDS Can you honestly put a price on effective First Aid Skills? Whether you are a passerby, friend, family member or work colleague; it is devastating to see an incident and feel powerless to assist or indeed worse still; to render inappropriate assistance which can prove to be far worse that offering no assistance at all!! Did you know that when a person suffers a heart attack it is of utmost importance that they get to a hospital within 20 minutes to receive antithrombolitic drugs to ensure that they have the best possible chance of recovery. Any delay in action will cause their heart muscle to continue to die as each second passes by. Would you know the difference between cardiac pain, muscle pain or bad indigestion? Remember the Coronation Street episode where Gerry had severe cardiac pain i.e. a heart attack and they hauled him into the Rovers for a pint!! What if you find a person who has fallen? If they have sustained a head injury then inappropriately moving them or their neck can result in paralysis, so often the well meaning passerby can be Public Enemy Number 1.!!
Mark Cotgrave Director of Fire Safety Services (IOSH, NEBOSH, GIFE)
I completed 31 years service with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. My last role being…
