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

Hello first aid friends! Sorry for the lapse in the blog posts. It has been awhile I must admit! Nevertheless we have something new up our sleeves and for this September the 11th, we are proud to announce our One Heart Mass CPR Event 2010. Registration is free for everyone! Visit www.masscpr.org for more information! See you there!

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

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If you didn’t manage to catch our training director, Mr Abdul Rasheed Doad on Channel News Asia on Monday 12th April, 8.50am, we have the video recording of his 8 mins on national television.

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.

938 Live Interview with Abdul Rasheed Doad, Training Director of Singapore First Aid Training Centre. Listen to it now!

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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.

I’m Shaffiq Alkhatib for 938 LIVE. Read the rest of this entry

Watch the official My True Hero Seminar video with clippings and testimonials from our inaugural launch in March 2009. Get ready for the next one in Nov 2009 this year!!

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

Do you have any questions regarding the latest CPR+AED guidelines?
Are there any CPR or AED related issues that you need to address?
Is there more information or clarification you need?

This is where you can post your questions and where we will post our responses to you related to the recent CPR+AED guidelines for layperson rescuers. You can also post training questions here.

Thank you!

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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.