Medical personnel are not everywhere; they might be none in your family. They are not always there when needed; maybe late at night, or when traveling and out of town. There could be an emergency. This is when some basic first aid skills might mean the difference between life and death, between recovery and relapse, and so on. It is important because these simple life-saving medical skills are needed immediately; you can thus apply them before going to see a doctor.
What do you do if a child is convulsing? Or if the body of the child is extremely hot? What do you do if a baby is having protracted vomiting, and continuously passing loose, watery, bloody stools?
How do you help someone with torrential bleeding from a wound? What about snake and spider bites, scorpion and bee stings, dog and cat bites? A toddler once brought a scorpion with her bare hands to the mother saying, “mummy, cockroach! Mummy!” What if she was stung?
What if a child accidentally drinks kerosene or “otapiapia”, or any poisonous substance? What are the first things you will do before rushing to the hospital? What if the child puts a foreign object in the ears or nose, or swallows it? Last week a little boy swallowed a nail!
Someone faints. Another falls. Fracture. Drowning. Burns. Severe asthmatic attack. Low blood sugar level in diabetics. Heart attack. Drug overdose. Stroke. Electric shock.
Bleeding pregnant woman. Car-accident. Bomb-blast. What do you do (while you are praying!)?
What if you know someone planning to commit suicide? What are you suppose to do and say to, at least, delay the act until you arrange for a meeting with a counselor or doctor or religious leader. You see, it is important you know these things.
Buy a first-aid box. Take online first-aid lessons. Ask questions. Learn and acquire these knowledge, skills and techniques; you never know when you might need them. If you are too busy to learn these things, marry a doctor, or date a nurse!
