Letter from the editor: Need to learn first aid skills

This almost passed me by but Tuesday this week was classed as Restart a Heart Day.

Yes, I know that we seem to have ‘days’ for everything but many of them have an important message to get across.

This one is all about, well what it really says on the tin – teaching people how to restart a heart.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I don’t know about you, but my first-aid skills are limited. I’m sure being a regular watcher of Casualty I’ve picked up a few tips in my time but none that I would be confident on using on a real person ... even one in dire need of assistance.

Although there have been huge improvements in first-aid training in recent years, there are still so many of us out there with very limited knowledge.

My ‘skills’ if you can use the term, are limited to watching someone closely if they have had a head knock and not let them slip into an unconscious state or sticking their head between their knees if they feel faint – but I’m sure the experts will tell me that even some of these are no longer the correct procedure.

However, I appreciate that having life-saving skills such as being able to carry out cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) are a definite plus.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

This year the charities involved in Restart a Heart Day were hoping to give 200,000 people the training which could prove so vital in a life-or-death 
situation.

While my excuse is I would leave it up to the experts, is it not important that more people become experts?

Related topics: