Do you have a first aid kit in the home—and would you know what to do in case you or someone you loved had an injury that required immediate treatment? If you’re like most people, you may not be as prepared as you’d like to be. The New Year is a great time to take stock of that—and make sure that if the worst happens, you’re ready. Here are a few things you can resolve to do in the New Year.
Take a CPR course
If you keep just one of your first aid-related resolutions in the coming year, we hope it’s this one. Everyone can learn to perform CPR, and training is fast and simple—all you need is a quick video lesson on hands-only CPR, which is easy to perform and remember. If you ever have cause to use your CPR skills, chances are high it will be to save someone you love.
And effective bystander CPR does save lives. It can take emergency services precious minutes to arrive on the scene of a cardiac arrest, and the brain begins to die immediately when it is starved of oxygen. Only about 8% of people who fall victim to cardiac arrest outside of a hospital recover, but when victims get CPR immediately from a bystander, their chance of survival doubles or even triples. However, only about 32% of cardiac victims receives CPR from a bystander.
It only takes minutes to watch a video offering training on hands-only CPR, which has been proven just as effective in saving cardiac arrest victims as traditional CPR. This is an easy resolution to keep, and it might just help you save a life.
Learn first aid
It’s also a great idea to learn the basics of first aid—especially if you have children, but even if you don’t. Heat stroke, deep cuts, hypothermia, broken bones, and any number of other injuries and ailments can happen quickly and unexpectedly—and if you are ever in the vicinity when something happens, you’ll be glad you learned first aid. For a start, it’s a great idea to learn how to respond to the following:
- Cuts and lacerations
- Broken bones, sprains, and strains
- Shock
- Bites and bee stings
- Heat stroke and hypothermia (depending on the climate where you live)
- Frostbite (depending on the weather)
- Choking
- Head injuries
- Burns
Book a course with us today! Call 07550 099426 or email firstaidathand@aol.com.
North Devon First Aid training 