First Aid
I'm just curious, is there anyone out there other than me who can't figure out why they don't teach basic first aid in school? I mean, why would we not try and teach every kid possible the basics and continue the training ALL thru school. I saw a fella go into seizures the other day and 10 people were standing around and not one person knew what to do. I ran over to help and just as I got there another guy grabbed him so he could not bang his head and made sure he did not swallow his tongue while he told another guy to call 911. I'm sure all of those people would have let that guy die had that other guy showed up(not counting myself) not that they were bad people, just all of them were dumbfounded.
I've been thru first aid since I was out of highschool every job I've had demanded it but why aren't we trained as a society from grade 1 all the way up, imagine how many people would be saved because the people around them are able to spot heart attacks, know heatstroke, understand burns or how to stop bleeding or all the other small things you learn in basic first aid.
I've been thru first aid since I was out of highschool every job I've had demanded it but why aren't we trained as a society from grade 1 all the way up, imagine how many people would be saved because the people around them are able to spot heart attacks, know heatstroke, understand burns or how to stop bleeding or all the other small things you learn in basic first aid.
posted by Dave at 7:02 PM
15 Comments:
Back in the Cold War when I was in school, we had first aid as part of a emergency preparedness course. We also learned some winter survival tips in that class.
My son had some pretty good first-aid training in Boy Scouts taught by a doctor for a merit badge, also CPR training and the Heinlich Maneuver (sp?), but I don't think either of my kids had any first-aid or emergency training at school.
Lol! I wonder what kind of emergency training you have had :D "Duck and cover" ? Lol
You know. They advised us when chernobile happened to wash your food because of the redioactive cloud that came this way. It was all just a load of bullshit also. You couldn't was it off anyway.
Back on topic. Here in the netherlands we get none of that stuff either. We don't even practice our escape routes in case of a fire.
This last I mentioned might be something that is part of the American culture. Fear! Just confront the nation time and time again with what could go wrong and they'll think anything will go wrong if possible. They'll accept budget spendings as long as "Public safety" is in the reason for spending the money.
Back on medical stuff, which I don't see as fear related. I don't know why it is not tought. Perhaps becaus it'll cost a lot of money? And that guy survived didn't he? Or at least he got help. Meaning there are suffcient people who know these things.
This is the way any government thinks. If an x number of people die because there was noone around who could help em right away that is acceptable. Furthermore those people around who couldn't help might feel guilty and do the first aid training (at their cost, not the governmets costs). And I think in general they are correct. You can make sure everyone can survive a hurricane by building a kind of bomb shelter for all people everywhere. This however is unaffordable. They have to say: "This we spend money on and this we don't." If you don't spend money on things people will suffer or die, that is true. But unless the public opinion changes and people realise there needs to be more (in this case) training of first aid no more money will be spent on training and money will even be reduced. Then when people aren't happy because for example first aid is a hot issue politicians will make promised about their approach to that matter in their campain. Just to get more and more people liking their ideas.
This is how politics works.
According to genevieve (which is btw a really nice name) there was training. Now that the cold war was over there wasn't an immediate threath and people were not that concerned anomore and politics were allowed to take money away from first aid training (probably a republican thing, those republicans suck hard!) and the American people allowed it.
On the other hand you have to figure out at what age first aid training can help. You can tell people something on an early age on how to act when something happens, but I'll never see a 4-year old do the heimlich maneuver to a 40-year old man. However it could help if one of their friends (same age) would be in trouble of breating.
One last point. Mouth to mouth. I am sorry but what I know (or at least I think I do) of the American society is that there are people who are so in need of a shot trough the head... Ehm I mean a dose of "shut-the-fuck-up". Who? Well I mean people who will say that a teacher asked a minor to perform "sexual acts" (i.e. mouth-to-mouth) on another minor.
Ever tought of that?
For 1, I don't believe it has anything to do with money...first aid is cheap and easy to teach you could do a 10 minute course a day and it could be taught right out of a text book with no real training, it has to be liability that keeps it out of the schools, as for kids doing mouth to mouth, you learn that part on dolls... but that's the last thing you'd teach, and for the Heimlich being used by a kid on an adult is the least of my worries, I'm talking about how to spot the symptoms of shock, heatstroke and/or heart attacks and help with a person who's had a nasty fall, animal bites, frost bite, broken bones I mean there's a million things you could teach and teach them often enough where it would just be instinct to act when it happened.
2, I don't think it's a political thinning of the herd, there are a lot of ways to let folks die.
3, there are a ton of people in this world who need a shot in the head and not all of them reside in the states, believe it or not we're not all loud mouthed arrogant uneducated jackasses, just like England isn't full of pompass stuck up dick's and the people Australia aren't a bunch of thieves ;)
Oh, this post is more interesting just because of the comments. ;-)
I agree it wouldn't hurt to teach First Aid in the schools. I think a lot more kids used to be involved in stuff like scouts and guides where you had to learn First Aid to progress through the ranks. I don't think as many kids get involved in those organizations nowadays though.
You've got me thinking now: it's not just first aid that is not taught. A lot of life skills could be taught in schools. They teach the "mechanics" of sex, but not about healthy relationships. They teach how to calculate compound interest, but not how to budget your money. They should teach stuff like that that everyone would benefit from, no matter what their background.
Exactly Karen, a "Life Skills" class is needed more than home ec. or even advanced calculus. I've thought aboutt hat as well.
3, there are a ton of people in this world who need a shot in the head and not all of them reside in the states, believe it or not we're not all loud mouthed arrogant uneducated jackasses, just like England isn't full of pompass stuck up dick's and the people Australia aren't a bunch of thieves ;) ...........
thank you sir for these points....
back to your original post... interesting reading..and a personal experience also (friend was an epileptic, so I, among 15 at least, knew what to do when a stranger collapsed in our midst).
but consider, reflect (something your photos oft draw me to do... reflect, taking a moment of nothing but the picture, its moment, mood and celebratory invitation) that some humans are destined to be bystanders. Do not confuse these with observers, passengers or 'the audience', but truly those who are bystanders, the 'extras'.... and accept.. you are a do-er, one who acts and there you have it.. thats your role and mine.
meanwhile, your pictures captivate me in such a way, that I long for where you are, even though i love most where i am.
god bless
tellurianna
Also, for the record, that sallowing the tongue bit is a myth. While it is true that the tongue can block the airway, or that excess saliva or other fluids can be swallowed or inhaled, this is best prevented by rolling the person onto one side with the head and mouth angled toward the ground.
More info:
http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/answerplace/Medical/firstaid/
http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/firstaid_tonicclonic.html
Yes sir, I know, and by swallowing the tongue I did mean keeping it from blocking his air passage, I have a brother with diabetes who has seizures as a result. Very good stuff tho, thanks a ton.
I totally agree, Dave. I remember being taught once, in primary school, how to resuscitate people but I can't remember most of it now. When I think how much time you spend at school wishing you were doing stuff that actually seemed like it would be useful for the real world, you'd think schools would be jumping at the chance of educating kids in these matters. I've never done any first aid courses and it kinda worries me that I would have no idea what to do in a crisis.
Allie
Kia Ora (hello) from that krazy blogger down under in New Zealand. You have hit the nail on the head Dave !!! They should be teaching kids not only first aid, but all the other basic things they will need to get through life, like cooking for one. The list goes on....
First of all I didn't mean to offend a whole lot of people and if my posting seemed I generalised a whole nation I must say that was not my intent. I know there are a lot of great people in the US and everywhere else. Dutch people don't walk on wooden shoes. Ok, some of us do, of which half are old-fashioned farmers and the rest tries to stand out in a croud.
I do love america for certain things in your society, but there are other parts that result in a woman sueing the manufacturer of a microwave oven because it fried her dog when she put it in. It's things like this that get in the news which I must say tend to form a distorted image of the US.
Back to the first aid. This is indeed something that should be tought in schools. However you say things like cooking and some other life skills are missing from the general education. I don't think they are missing. Some things should be tought by schools, but not all things. Parents should still learn their kids stuff. Kids of whom both parents work (because society demands it to get by) and don't get enough attention are raised not in the ways people from earlier generations are raised. They were tought life stuff at home. As for cooking. That has gone down the drain because of the easyness of microwave ovens. And in fact. You don't need to know how to cook or even own pots or pans to get food every day. The fact that this food is generally not as good for the body as self-made food leads to other problems.
Face it. The world is doomed! ;) :D
The school district's probably don't want to be liable if they teach a kid how to do it, the kid uses it, and something goes wrong....otherwise, don't know.
We did have survival skills training when I was in the 5th grade. We had a weeklong outdoor camp and I'm sure it contained some basic lifesaving skills training.
Also, we had swimming lessons and they might have went over some water safety stuff..
Maybe they rely on the Boy/Girl Scouts for this....dunno.
You're the man, NM.
I know this is a little late, but I was taught CPR and basic First aide training all the way through till I graduated high school(2005). Also, for every job that I have taken I have been required to know CPR and First aide.
I don't know as much first aid as I would like to.
Off the top of my head though I have had at least one situation where I had to call 911....and everyone else just sat there & stared...I was disgusted & hoped that I never got hurt there.
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