First Aid

Definition: First Aid is the immediate care to a person who is sick or injured.

4 major causes of deaths: car accidents, AIDS, cancer and heart disease

Basic First Aid Directions:

  • Keep an injured person lying down
  • Never give liquids to an unconscious person
  • Restart breathing with artificial respiration
  • Control bleeding by pressing on the wound
  • Dilute swallowed poisons and immediately call poison control
  • Keep suspected broken bones from moving
  • Cover open burns with thick layers of clean cloth - run cool water over 1st and 2nd degree burns
  • Keep heart attack victims calm and call 911
  • Keep a faint person laying flat
  • Always call 911 if the illness or injury requires a doctor
  • Always have posted emergency telephone numbers
Severe Bleeding:
  • Apply direct pressure
  • Use a gauze or clean cloth to press on the wound
  • Continue to apply more gauze if the blood soaks through the material
  • Never remove any blood soaked bandages
  • If the limb is unbroken, raise it above the heart to slow the bleeding
Poisoning:
  • Dilute the poison with water
  • Call poison control
  • Have suspected poison container with you
  • Follow directions from poison control center
  • Never cause the person to vomit unless poison control tells you to.
Shock:
  • Keep the person lying down
  • Raise the feet and place a covering over and under the person to prevent loss of body heat
  • Call 911
Burns:
  • First Degree Burn - surface of the skin
  • Second Degree Burn - deeper layer of skin
  • Third Degree Burn - all layers of skin
Artificial Respiration:
  • Airway  - open airway (head tilt - chin left)
  • Breathe - open airway and pinch the nose and give 2 full breathes
  • Circulation - maintain open airway and find pulse on the side of the neck
  • Assessing a victim:  "Are you ok?" - Call 911 - Check vital signs
  • One breath every 5 seconds - recheck breathing and pulse every minute.
  • Repeat rescue breathing - stop only if the victim breathes on his own or another trained rescuer takes over, or you are too tired to continue
What To Do In An Emergency:
  • Stay Calm
  • Send someone to call 911
  • Never move a person if they are severely injured unless they are in danger
  • Give first aid until help arrives
  • Survey the "emergency situation":
    • Has the person stopped breathing?
    • Does the person have a heart beat?
    • Is the person bleeding badly?
    • Has the person been poisoned?
What To Know When Calling 911:
  • Where the emergency is taking place
  • Give the phone number you're calling from
  • What happened (car accident, heart attack - etc)
  • How many people are involved?
  • What is being done for the injured?
  • Never hang up until you are told to hang up by the 911 operator.

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