What is basic first aid?
This is any type of aid you give to the person while you are on the scene, this could be anything from applying a band aid to using the DRSABCD method. It is also the first treatment that a person would receive. Doing first aid may mean that you, "may be able to keep a person breathing, reduce their pain or minimise the consequences of injury or sudden illness until an ambulance arrives. This could mean the difference between life and death for them". Why is this an important skill to have? St John's Ambulance did a test and found that nearly two-thirds (59%) of the responders wouldn’t feel confident trying to save a life, a quarter (24%) would do nothing and wait for an ambulance to arrive or hope that a passer-by knows first aid, around a third (39%) would try and do first aid even though they are not sure what to do, and finally; just over a quarter (28%) say they’d know what first aid to do; however many would do the wrong thing and may even make the situation worse. |
What are the lifesaving principles?
There are four major components to the water-safety education; knowledge, judgement, skill, and fitness. The lifesaving principles are to save lives, to prevent accidents, emergency care and rescue, and to develop practices in education to try and prevent any deaths in the water. These are the principles that can save lives and prevent accidents from happening in and out of the water. How can we these principles into practice? Surf Life saving Queensland have many courses to teach young and old people how to use these principles. It could be anything from learning tows and carries, to defence methods and releases in preparation for real life situations. Any of these skills can be the difference between life and death for a person which is why it is so important to learn about these principles and first aid skills. Last year alone, 827 people were rescued in New South Wales, first aid was applied to 7,241 people, and there were 3,083,818 people on their beaches of which 38 people drowned. |