At around 12:45 pm,

I was about to order lunch when I saw people running past the hawker centre…

I accosted one who answered, “…accident at the corner.”

I moved out fast, saw Fatin at a distance, approached her and asked her to bring an emergency kit at the corner of Neil road.

Rushing to the corner, I saw a middle-aged Indian man sitting up and a Chinese gentleman helping him, using an umbrella to shield him from the rain.

I immediately knelt on beside the man and asked him to stay put, identifying myself as from Singapore 1st Aid Training Centre.

The Chinese gentleman breathed a sigh of relief and informed me that he has called both the police and the ambulance.

The Indian gentleman refused to lie down and I noted blood ozzing from abrasions on his face and nose.

I noted his left radial pulse and felt his chest and back for any injuries. Both his heartbeat and pulse were strong at 110 beats per minute and there were no

other injuries except for the abrasions on his face and left knee.

I asked the gentleman if he has pain on his neck, back or chest and he answered in the negative.

I asked him to open and close both his hands and move his feet and he was able to do so.

Satisfied that the Indian gentleman was not in cardio-respiratory distress, I looked around and I saw concerned bystanders had condoned off the street and placed triangular stop signal signs aound us and directed traffic away from us.

Shidah arrived with the emergency kit and I applied clean bandages on his facial injuries with pressure to stop the oozing of blood.

The rain started to fall heavily and since the man has no neurologic deficit and no obvious spine injury I asked Fatin and the other bystanders to help him up.

The Indian gentleman, named Philip, managed to walk with little assistance and we made him sit in a chair at the hawker centre.

After taking off the dressing, the facial and nose abrasions have stopped bleeding. I used normal saline to clean his face of dirt and congealed blood.

After 15 minutes the SCDF ambulance arrived and endorsed the casualty to their care, saying, ” This middle-aged gentleman had a motorbike accident with a car at the corner of Neil Road, sustaining abrasions in his face and left knee. The bleeding has stopped and he is not in cardiorespiratory arrest. Heart and pulse rate are both strong at 110 beats per minute.”

Then Fatin, Shidah and I stepped back as the SCDF paramedics took over.

As he was being brought over to the ambulance, Mr. Philip glanced at me and murmured, ” Thank you…”

I smiled back and looked at both Shidah and Fatin who was carrying the emergency kit. They were both smiling, too.

The SCDF ambulance went off in the direction of SGH.

Shidah, Fatin and I then walked back to SFATC in the rain…

A True Hero episode well done indeed.

Carl
Medical Educator
BCLS & ACLS Instructor
www.firstaidtraining.com.sg
Tel: 62978123

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

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

Saufee
Training Manager
Singapore First Aid Training Centre

My first public call was right about 2 years later, when I was having coffee with a bunch of my friends at a coffee shop neaby home. It was during that time amid our chit chat that we heard a loud bang. I turned around to see what the commotion was, and in a split second, I ran towards where the loud bang occured. A motorcycle rider had just collided with a car.
It was a pretty sad story though (but he lived). He had just dropped off a friend about 30 metres from where the accident happened. Right after that, as he rode off, a black car made an illegal U-turn, cutting off the rider’s route, thus causing an accident which he was thrown off from his bike, about 5 metres away.
I reacted upon my paramedic training by the time I arrived, checking the ABCs, and he’s fine. But because this is a road traffic accident, by all means I can’t move him. All I could do was to ensure that he was fine and talking to me all these while.
It was during the process that I realized how people’s intentions to help could mean death to the rider. A couple of guys wanted to remove his helmet, which I told them not to. Being the only first aider on the scene, I told them that I was and they respected me for what I’m trained for and left me to aiding the rider, and helping me cordone off passing vehicles so as to not clog up the traffic on the road. 2 minutes later, an auntie even offered some water to the rider, but I told her not to, as doing so could cause him to choke.
When the ambulance arrived, I was relieved that proper help was finally at hand to assist and tend to the injured rider.
If I wasn’t there, the rider wouldn’t have received proper initial aid. And this could have been potentially fatal to him.

Raihan
Marketing Exec
Singapore First Aid Training Centre

Ola!

Shape Magazine is an active lifestyle magazine for women and they are due to feature an article on First Aid in their upcoming issue in March. With constant pursuing and follow ups, I managed to have a confirmation from their side to allow us to spread the knowledge of First Aid to their readers. As the tongue in cheek saying goes, “There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.” Now that would be my win for the first working week of 2010 !

Nesa
Program Executive
Singapore First Aid Training Centre

Question asked by participants: There was once i got myself a real deep cut on my face when I was very young. I remembered my mom using coffee powder and tobacco on my wound. Can we still use that method now?

Answer: There’s many traditional remedy used by our parents n grand parents generation that may not apply now. Athough it may not necessarily mean that its doesnt work, it may also may not be the most recommended method n may not be an approved techniques. And we may be held liable if such a technique is being used as it may cause complications.

Nafiz
Trainer
Singapore First Aid Training Centre

Hi, I’m Justin and I’m a trainer with the Singapore First Aid Training Centre.

I had a great chinese child care class last weekend. The vibe is high, class is responsive and received good energy from the crowd.

So a child care teacher asks me a very interesting question.
She says “In the old days, when a child is choking, her mom simply blows some breath onto the forehead of the choking child, and the choking symtoms just disappear. Is that true?” I told her that it is just a myth.

Blowing onto the forehead doesn’t help in relieving choking. Rather, a proper abdominal thrust or chest thrust is needed to be rendered to someone who is choking.

Dear Readers, we at Singapore First Aid Training Centre is proud to inform you that we are now a “Instructor Training Centre for CPR plus AED (NRC)”
Only a certain few first aid training centres can provide this special course. Now, you can learn to train just like us in using using an AED.
So.. do look out for this up and coming course at our centre in the near future.

Article written by Mr Mohamed Saufee, Lead Trainer of Singapore First Aid Training Centre on CPR for the Human Capital. Read it below: