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 !
938 Live Interview with Abdul Rasheed Doad, Training Director of Singapore First Aid Training Centre. Listen to it now!
03/11/09 A matter of life and death
Every second counts in a medical emergency.
And basic knowledge in first aid, which includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR can help save precious lives.
However, the Singapore First Aid Training Centre says about 80 per cent of cardiac arrest victims who need CPR do not receive it.
As a result, the survival rate of sudden cardiac arrest victims here is less than three per cent.
This is very low – considering their survival rate is 15 times better in the United States.
So why aren’t many Singaporeans receiving first aid at times when they need it most?
Shaffiq Alkhatib finds out.
TITLE: 03/11 First Aid
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Fifty-eight year old wellness coach, Ash Phua had a near-death experience ten years ago.
The fitness buff had just completed an evening jog near his home.
“I was staying at Pasir Ris at that time, and just opposite my flat is Seashell Park and they’ve got a 400-metre track. And to go up to the track, you’ve got to climb 76 steps. I did my warm-up, I did my main exercise. I think that day, I did 12 rounds which is 4.8 kilometers. But while walking down the steps, I felt a chill all over. After going down a few more steps, I felt giddy. I sat down on the steps and held on to the railing.”
Mr Phua says, he picked himself up and tried to make his way home.
But he collapsed near a traffic light, a stone’s throw away from his flat.
“I lost total consciousness. The next moment, I head a lady screaming, ‘Oi! Fifteen minutes already. When is your ambulance coming? This guy is dying on me.’ All I could do was just listen to her. I could not react, I could not do anything.”
He only regained consciousness in hospital.
A doctor told him that he had suffered his first heart attack.
He wouldn’t be alive if not for one Alice Poon who called the ambulance and an unknown man who performed CPR on him before the ambulance arrived.
“She happened to be in a cab with her son. While the taxi was approaching the traffic light, she told the driver, ‘I think a man is lying down there.’ And the taxi driver stopped. And according to her, while she was with me, she called the ambulance and there was a guy, some passer-by who came and the man did CPR on me. But he did not wait for the ambulance to come. She did not know who he was but he did that and he left.”
Mr Phua says his brush with death increased his awareness on the importance of learning simple first aid skills and CPR.
He is now trained in them and encourages others to do likewise.
Abdul Rasheed Doad, is the founder of the Singapore First Aid Training Centre.
“Statistics show that about 30 thousand people are trained each year. But we have a hunch that there is a lot more than 30 thousand. Our centre alone trains close to ten thousand a year, and there are a couple other centres around Singapore. Most of people who sign up for first aid courses here, they are either sent by their companies, or they need to do it because of requirements in their industries. For example, you are a coach, you need to have a first aid certificate. Less than two percent come to us on their own accord just to learn first aid for their own benefit or for their family’s benefit. In other countries, they actually do first aid training right from a very young age. Sometimes, even the education system embraces first aid training.”
Mr Abdul Rasheed hopes that schools would in future make learning first aid skills mandatory.
“Number one on the list is definitely CPR. Especially with our ageing population, people are more prone to getting cardiac arrest. Doing the Heimlich manoeuvre – helping someone who’s choking, which is very simple but is life-saving. Stopping bleeding and simple things like treating burns or bruises. Where we come from, a lot of people think that they should put some toothpaste on a burn, or put some soya sauce even – whereas, you can just treat burns with water.”
Mr Abdul Rasheed also highlights another problem; people who’ve been trained but won’t step forward in an emergency.
“People fear two things. One is stepping forward and helping. And the other is, they feel they are not the right person to help. Probably, they will just wait for the doctor or paramedic to arrive and help. Definitely, every one should know a little bit about first aid – at least the basics. Most importantly is to help them address their fears, because even though you have the skills, you might just freeze up and not act because emergencies can be scary. That must be addressed on a large scale.”
This can be done via outreach initiatives such as forums and talks, says Mr Abdul Rasheed.
For example, his centre conducted a course called “My True Hero” earlier this year which focused on encouraging first aiders to come forward to help in an emergency.
Participants who’ve attended the course have given it the thumbs up.
One of them’s, Mr Cheng who works in the construction industry,
He says the course has boosted his confidence and now he truly believes that he can save lives.
Courage is important, but its NOT the only thing you need
to help you get thru an emergency situation.
Just imagine, you are ready to step forward and help, and
then all of sudden, just as you are about to do something,
your mind goes completely blank.
Or even worse, you don’t remember what to do first. You
start running around trying to do everything but getting
nothing done, because your mind and emotions are racing
like a triple loop roller coaster ride.
Have you ever suffered from a mental block when you sit
for an exam? Well, that’s exactly, what I mean. The only
difference is that in an exam, you can take 5 minutes to
reorganise yourself and your thoughts – in a real
emergency situation, you don’t.
You see, in the face of tension and stress when your
emotions are sky high, all of sudden, you just can’t seem
to “think” right. This is a normal and natural reaction -
but it doesn’t help when someone’s life in your hands.
Don’t think this will happen to you? Think again.
Ironically, even DOCTORS and PARAMEDICS who need to make
split second decisions every day face this. Especially
when the person they are about to help is someone near and
dear to them.
But here’s a secret. The best DOCTORS and PARAMEDICS have
a specific technique to deal with this overwhelming
emotions and make the right lifesaving decision in a
flash. And we’re going to share with you exactly how they
do it and more at My True Hero Seminar.
Now you can get 2 free tickets to the My True Hero Seminar
worth $1590. To find out how, call us at 62978123 or
email sfatc@firstaidtraining.com.sg.
We were recently interviewed by 93.8fm on the My True Hero Seminar and this interview was featured on air sometime in March this year. There is a growing interest of why only 1 out of 5 persons receives CPR in a cardiac arrest emergency. It is not because people don’t know how to do CPR, it’s because they just don’t dare to do it. Read the article below.
There are 2 aspects of first aid – technical and
psychological. Most first aid courses, probably even the
ones you attended, cover mainly the technical skills and
not much of the psychological aspect.
Why is the psychological of first aid important? Because
you can have all the know-how, but if your mind starts
running wild in an emergency or if you are just completely
frozen, you won’t be of much help.
It is no wonder that only 1 out 5 persons receives CPR when
it is needed.
Its not that people don’t want to help, its just that they
aren’t ready for what their mind does to them in a real
situation. And that’s what stops them from helping.
That is why its so important for you especially, to be at
My True Hero. During My True Hero, you will discover your
very own freeze factors and deal with them – there and
then.
You can also expect a variety of activities and processes
lined up back to back in 1 intensive day. Be prepared to
move around, work in groups, interact with others.
You will walk out of the room feeling more confident than
ever before.
Register for this course now at the official My True Hero
Seminar website www.thetruehero.com
In the third and final segment of his presentation, Mr Rasheed answers a few more questions on first aid and CPR, commonly asked by laypersons. There are also reviews by the audience as well as sharing of real first aid experiences by members of the audience – which further validates the need for everyone to know the basics of first aid. This part of the first aid presentation is approximately 5 minutes long and is a must watch to conclusion to this presentation.
Singapore First Aid Training Centre was invited to be part of the AED Launch Ceremony for Adventist Home for the Elders on the 14th of March 2009 @ Blk 195 Kim Keat Avenue #01-314 Singapore 310195.
The event will be conducted at 195 Kim Keat Avenue. The Guest of Honour for this event is Mrs Josephine Teo, Member of Parliament for Bishan Toa Payoh GRC. Because of our contribution in training the staff of the Adventist Home for the Elders, Singapore First Aid Training Centre will be handed a token of appreciation given out by Mrs Josephine Teo on this day.
The AED Launch is a benchmark for AED implementation history in Singapore. The Chairman of Adventist Home for the Elders, Mr Wan Kwoong Weng was the brilliant mind behind this project. Mr Wan felt that it just made sense to have a public access AED to not only cater to the Home, but also to the neighbourhood and its surrounding.
Placing the AED in a wall mounted cabinet in a public place would allow the AED to be fully utilised in that area. “It just takes one life saved to make it all worthwhile,” says Mr Wan.
Singapore First Aid Training Centre has also participated in this initiative by providing the certified CPR+AED training to 12 volunteers and staff of the home. Conducted over 4 hours, the CPR+AED course is a fully accredited by the National Resuscitation Council and provides laypersons with the essential knowledge of CPR and how to use the Automated External Defibrillator. All the participants put in their best and completed the course successfully!
Finally, the future of AED implementation for public access looks bright in Singapore.
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