Real First Aid for the Real World
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!
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.
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!!
I am sure you have heard about our up and coming My True Hero Book to be released middle of this month. I am not sure if you are aware of this, but When you get the My True Hero book (it just costs $25 by the way), you will also receive 2 tickets to the My True Hero Seminar. This is not a first aid course. In fact, it is much more important that a first aid course.
Most people think that taking a first aid course is sufficient to turn you into a quick thinking, fast reacting first aider. The fact is this, first aid courses only teaches you what to do – it doesn’t teach you what to expect in a real life emergency. You can have all the skills in the world, but the nature of a real life emergency – the stress, anxiety, mind struggle, fears… these will take you out instantly. It doesn’t matter who the person who needs help is, where it occurs or how it occurs. The fact is how you are not able to deal with these factors in a real life emergency, you will get confused, freeze and panic – but do nothing productive.
For years, this has been a well-recognised problem. Yet until now, there is no course in the world that teaches you how to do this. That is why we developed the My True Hero Seminar.
Do catch my very own DIY introduction of the My True Hero Seminar which I recorded earlier this year below. If you want to know more about the seminar or just feel like having a good laugh seeing me on video, just follow the link to catch the video.
Thanks once again. If My True Hero Book and Seminar makes sense to you, do help me spread the word to your family, friends and associates. We’re looking at empowering the lives of 1000 people this November! So help us achieve this objective and let them be empowered to save the lives of others and their loved ones.
Thank you friends!
p.s. Remember, the book will include 2 free tickets to the seminar. The next one will be conducted at Singapore Expo this Nov!
p.s.s. The My True Hero Seminar is not a preview or sales pitch. It is a real, life changing program designed to turn ordinary people into extraordinary lifesavers.
Article written by Mr Mohamed Saufee, Lead Trainer of Singapore First Aid Training Centre on CPR for the Human Capital. Read it below:
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?
Extracted from the NewPaper >>
SHE was not allowed to eat in class so three-year-old Robyjnn Lui swallowed the sweet.
But it got stuck in the girl’s throat, causing her to choke.
By the time her Mandarin teacher realised what was happening, Robyjnn’s lips and face had turned blue.
She tried to get Robyjnn to vomit into a waste basket while patting her back, but to no avail.
With five other children in the class to handle, the teacher called out to the branch manager, Madam Ng Siew Yann, who was in a storeroom 3m away.
The quick-thinking Madam Ng grabbed Robyjnn and lifted her with the girl’s stomach over her left forearm, and patted her several times.
When it did not work, Madam Ng, 33, said she gave a couple of hard thumps on her back until she managed to clear the blockage.
Madam Ng said: ‘It was frightening to see her face blue, and that her eyes had turned red and wet. I could also hear she had difficulty breathing.
‘Luckily, she pointed to her throat to indicate that something was stuck inside. My focus was just to get her to throw up.’
The incident happened at about 4pm two weeks ago at the Thomson branch of Berries World of Learning School where Robyjnn attends a weekly Mandarin enrichment class.
After clearing Robyjnn’s airway, Madam Ng said she hugged the student and told her everything was fine.
‘I asked her if she was okay. She smiled at me and nodded her head,’ said Madam Ng.
Just then, the girl threw up on her and vomited two more times. By then, several teachers were on hand to help.
They cleaned up the girl and changed her clothes.
The incident didn’t appear to affect Robyjnn.
‘She looked fine after that. She was even jumping about like nothing had happened,’ Madam Ng added.
She called Robyjnn’s mother immediately after the incident to inform her.
And as it turns out, her mother, Madam Chan Yee Yin, 39, had given her a sweet to pacify her before class as she was grouchy.
Grateful parents
She and her husband were so grateful that they went to the school later that day with chocolates and biscuits to thank Madam Ng.
They also wrote a commendation letter to Madam Ng’s employer, and alerted The New Paper to her good deed.
Clearly unaffected by the incident and unfazed by the attention, Robyjnn said: ‘I was trying to swallow the sweet but it got stuck.’
Said Madam Chan, a corporate communications director: ‘In this day and age, there are still good people out there who take so much pride in their work and expect nothing in return.’
Madam Wynne Li, the founder and managing director of the school, said she appreciated the commendation from Robyjnn’s parents, and that Madam Ng’s actions have earned her bonus points as part of her appraisal.
Madam Li said: ‘It’s all about crisis management, and she did it well. She was cool headed enough to deal with the situation. It’s all because of her love for the children and for her job.’
As part of their training, new employees are put through a five-day course, where they are also taught how to administer first-aid, and how to deal with emergencies such as cuts, bleeding, choking and asthma attacks.
Madam Ng, a mother of three young children, played down her actions.
She said: ‘It’s part of our job. Anyone faced with the same situation would have done the same.’
This is the second part of the presentation which is conducted at BNI Renaissance on the 11th March 2009. During this segment, Mr Rasheed talks about what first aid really does and why it is so important, from the viewpoint of paramedics and doctors. Mr Rasheed also answers a few common questions about first aid and CPR. This segment is approximately 10 minutes long and is the second part of this first aid presentation.
