Taking the First Steps: Emergency First Aid

A man is enjoying a beautiful April morning on the beach while reading the Sunday paper. His wife is enjoying this day too --- swimming, snorkeling and shouting at her husband every now and then. “Look, there's a cute starfish.” “Wow, it's really nice here.” “Hon, I think I'll go much farther.” Those shouts are the man's assurance that his wife is enjoying the water --- happy and safe. As he flips the last page of the journal, the man realizes that it's been a while since he heard his wife's holler. He immediately plunges into the water to search for his wife. He finds her unconscious. As he lays her body on the sand, he knows this is the day he'd regret refusing to sign up for Boy Scouts in grade school.

There are countless types of emergencies. It may be a bit difficult to learn how to perform all of them. However, it pays to know the basic procedures and approaches to the most common emergencies people encounter. Here are some of them and how to deal with such situations.

Drowning

1. Get him or her out of the water if there is a safe way to do so.

2. Monitor for pulse or breathing.

3. If there is no breathing and no pulse, do CPR (mouth-to-mouth rescue breathing with chest compressions). If the victim is breathing but no pulse, rescue breathing without chest compressions.

4. Take his or her cold, wet clothes off and cover him or her with warm clothes to prevent hypothermia.

Burn

1. Stop the source of burn. For example, out out flames or turn off electric current.

2. Monitor for pulse and breathing.

3. Take off his or her clothes if they don't stick to burned skin.

4. Elevate legs and arms above heart level.

5. Cool the affected skin with cool water unless on third degree burns. Don't use ice. Instead, use cold compresses.

6. Cover the burned area.

7. Don't give him or her anything to eat or drink.

Choking

Always remember that choking is indicated by hands clutching the throat. This is the universal distress signal for choking. Thus, it is relatively easy to know if someone is choking and needing help.

1. If the victim can breathe, cough or speak, do not interfere. Instead, go to the nearest hospital.

2. If the victim can't, reach around his or her waist and position one clenched fist between the rib cage and the navel. Grasp the clenched fist with the other hand and pull it sharply backward and upward under the ribs six to ten times quickly.

3. If the victim is obese or pregnant, stand behind him or her and place the thumb of the left fist against the middle of the breastbone. Grab the fist with the other hand and squeeze the victim's chest quickly for four times.

4. If the victim falls unconscious, call 911. While waiting for help, remove the foreign body by performing finger sweep. You should also perform rescue breathing.

Sometimes, we are caught in situations in which the lives of the people we love are in our hands. This is an extremely difficult situation because nothing can be more terrible than seeing someone suffer while you can't do anything. This is where emergency first aid comes in. First aid can be that thin red line that separates survival and extinction.