Question: Is every “breathless case” due to asthma? ( a layman’w thought’s)
Answer: Not every breathless situation should be treat as asthma because as there are various situation can cause a person to become breathless eg. allergy or heart attack.

Vic
Trainer
Singapore First Aid Training Centre
www.firstaidtraining.com.sg
Tel: 62978123 Fax: 62978133

Do you have a difficulty facing large crowds?

Did you know that this is one of the BIGGEST obstacle people face when they encounter an emergency situation?

Think about it: You see a road traffic accident, cars stopped by the side, people standing around… yet how many of them are actually helping? Many people hesitate to be the first to step forward in such a situation because stepping in front of a crowd makes one extremely vulnerable. Especially in a life and death situation, no one wants to be the centre of attention!

Unfortunately, this causes delay in helping the casualty and many times lives are lost because people hesitate to help.

The question is, do YOU encounter this as well? If yes, this is what you can do:

EMERGENCY TIP:

1. Take a DEEP BREATHE and assure yourself that you can do this.
2. Immediately, STEP FORWARD and at the same time call for help – “Someone please assist me!”. When someone comes to you, get him or her to call the ambulance.
3. Quickly ACCESS what needs to be done at once first.
4. Stay with the casualty until the AMBULANCE arrives.

If you would like to address your personal difficulty of facing crowds, I recommend that you attend the My True Hero program. During the program, we cover activities that involve facing crowds and stepping forward to help despite large crowds. Check out what participants are saying about the program here <<.

I hope this tip is useful for you. Do keep those questions coming in.

Thank you and have a great day!

Your Friend,
Rasheed

Training Director
Singapore First Aid Training Centre
Tel: 62978123 Fax: 62978133
Web: www.firstaidtraining.com.sg

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The first PUBLIC ACCESS DEFIBRILLATOR in Singapore’s HDB Estate was launched on the 17th January 2010 at Toa Payoh Lorong 7 Block 20. The very first publicily available AED was mounted in a white wall cabinet outside Blk 20′s lift lobby to allow members of the public to be able to access to the AED.

Security will not be an issue as several measures has been taken. For instance, the wall cabinet can only be opened by breaking a small glass to gain access to the key, which then can open the cabinet. There is also a loud alarm which will sound when the cabinet is opened, alerting the public that the AED has been accessed to.

This is a true milestone in Singapore and in the history of Public Access AED. Singapore First Aid Training Centre is also involved in this project – by training volunteers and staff to be fully equipped with the skills of performing CPR and using the AED.

This picture gallery includes an introduction by the Chairman of the AHE, Mr Wan as well as a short presentation by VIP for this event was MP Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC Mdm Josephine Teo during this inaugural launch of the public access defibrillator AED in HDB estate.

From the desk of Rasheed:

Do you have a first aid question? I will answer it for you on the Junior n U “Ask the Expert” page!

Last week, Junior n U called me and invited me to be part of the panel of experts for the category of first aid. Check it out here:

http://www.juniornu.com/community/ask-the-experts

The panel of experts include prominent names such as

• Thenmoliee Joe (Kid’s behaviour, IQ, kids with special needs),
• Claudel Kuek (Owner of PowerMoves Pilates Studio)
• and Wong Li-Lin (yes, the actress from 90′s local drama “999″)

This is a great opportunity for parents and caregivers to post their questions and clear their doubts on first aid. In fact, I’ve already posted up a few common “myth busters” to begin with. You can read them here >>

http://www.juniornu.com/first-aid-by-abdul-rasheed-doad

Remember to send in your questions to editorial@juniornu.com.

p.s. Also check out my book “My True Hero: Real First Aid for the Real World” >> www.mytrueherobook.com

Article taken from Today Newspaper, Wed 17 March 2010

If you didn’t manage to catch us live on 938 Live, we have the recording here! Our Training Director, Mr Rasheed, speaks.

FOR ENQUIRIES PLEASE CALL 62978123.

Hi,

The information that I am going to share with you may save your life and the lives of the people you love.

If you don’t think the swine flu situation is a big deal, think again.

Having been a paramedic for over 6 years and being exposed to SARS in 2002 – 2003 has made me see first hand how people die and lives and businesses are affected overnight. And the reason why so many people died in SARS is simply because those people did not prepare for it even when it was evidently deadly.

When there is a pandemic, just imagine

• your staff has fever and comes to office – and you don’t know about it
• a visitor sneezes or coughs out
• your visitors and staff bring in the killer virus on them and enters the office

1. Get personal protective equipment especially a face mask, like the N95 mask.
2. Check the temperature of everyone who enters the office.
3. Make sure everyone sanitizes their hands before coming into the office
4. Check your visitors when they come into your premises.

• N95 MASK which will help minimise and filter particulates and organisms that are transmitted by air and saliva.
• Surgical Mask which will also help minimise and filter particulates and organisms that are transmitted by air and saliva to a lesser extent – more for when working within an office environment without outside contact.
• Gloves during contact or screening of a visitor
• Gown if someone have to do contact screening, let that person have a full long sleeve disposable gown donned.

• Digital thermometer for personal monitoring of temperature – those with fever should not come to work!
• Forehead or ear scan thermometer for screening at the door of the office or premises – those with fever should not be allowed in the premises

• To be used before entering office, before eating, before touching your face
• You can also consider getting a waterless personal hand sanitiser to bring along with you everywhere you go

• A screening form to ensure that they haven’t been to high infected areas
• Temperature screening
• Give your visitors face mask when they enter your office

• How do your staff react in a pandemic
• What they should know
• What they should do
• How to disinfect and clean
• How to handle visitors
• Procedures on screening
• How to identify high risk or infected persons
• What to do with these people
• When to contact MOH

p.s. By the way, if you need the pricing of the items I mentioned let me know. We are still able to provide them at the regular market price, but pricing is going up as the demand is growing and stock is depleting so quickly.

p.s.s. Today we just got potential orders for a few hundreds face mask and its only 12pm. Stock is quickly running out worldwide. So the quicker you order the better.

I refer to the article “Her quick actions save child from choking to death” published on the 3rd of April 2009 in the New Paper.

I would like to commend Madam Ng for her quick thinking and prompt action which had saved Robyjnn from being a victim of choking.

Things like these happen when they are least expected and if you just stall for a minute trying to figure out what to, it could potentially cause someone their life. What’s worse is that when it happens to someone near and dear, it could be even harder to react rationally. Yet, many of us take this for granted.

We are so caught up in our busy lives and what’s going on in the world that we rarely stop to think, what if someone at home swallows on a sweet or a piece of meat and chokes? Do I know what to do?

The real question is do we really want to wait till it happens to find out.

Nobody wants to stand around watching your loved one die before your eyes. That is why it is imperative that everyone should develop first aid skills. At least for the sake of the people you love.

For the benefit of ST readers, we have created a simple instructional video on How To Help A Choking Child. It can be viewed on our blog at www.firstaidtraining.com.sg/choking

What Madam Ng did was one of the methods using back blows. The video that we created shows the recommended method by the National Resuscitation Council and the American Heart Association, which is by performing abdominal thrusts with a clenched fist just above the navel.

Although both methods will help, some reports favour the abdominal thrust method because it is found to produce a greater pressure than back blows and tend to be more effective in dislodging the foreign body. Many of our participants have shared with us how they managed to help someone who was choking using the abdominal thrust method.

We urge everyone to learn at least the basic skills of first aid and CPR. You never know when you need to use them, or who will need them. And when that time comes and passes, can you live knowing whether you did or did not help?

Share your real first aid story and make a difference.

Have you ever had a real first aid encounter?

You may have a real life first aid experience. Sharing your experience with others can help them understand what it would really be like to be in a first aid situation.

And its even better when you’ll be rewarded for your story!

We’re looking for the BEST first aid / CPR / emergency experience! Send your real life story to us today and stand a chance to win fantastic prizes and enter our super main draw.

Go to http://www.firstaidtraining.com.sg/story now to submit REAL FIRST AID STORY now.

Or send us your story via email to sfatc@firstaidtraining.com.sg.

Thank you and we’re looking forward to reading your story!

Closing date : 12th May 2009