On Tuesday 30 October at 9:00 am we did First Aid. The first thing that we learnt about in First Aid was DRSABCD. DRSABCD stands for: D is for Danger, then R is for Response, and S is for Send for help, then A is for Airway, then the letter B stands for Bleeding I think, and I forgot the rest but I kept listening. Danger means: To ensure the area is safe around you and the person who is unconscious. Then Response means: To check for a response, to do this you need to tap on their collar bone softly at first, then tap it harder if you don't get a response, but you have to make sure they feel comfortable. Send for Help means: Call triple one (111), you can contact that exact number or if you don't have a phone with you, then you can ask someone nearby to make the call for you. When you call 111 you have to make sure to tell them your right address and what city you live in, eg: I live in Stoke,Nelson. Then Airway means: You have two options, one of your options are to clear their Airway but to make it safer your second option is to put them into a safety position. The woman from St. John taught us how to do the safety position by taking a volunteer. She chose a student and made her lie down to perform the safety position. First she took her arm closest to her and extended it to the top, then she took her other arm then she placed it delicately on top of her stomach. She then took the student's left leg which was farthest from her and extended it upwards to make an upside down V shape. Then she pushed her leg forwards to make her lie down sideways, then she took her left arm and placed it below her head. She then took her left arm and extended it away from her stomach to make the arm feel relaxed. We have to do the Safety/Recovery position because sometimes the unconscious person might vomit upwards and the vomit shoots back into their mouths and might choke them or possibly kill them, but in a safety position they can vomit sideways which is much safer than vomiting upwards. We had to go with buddies to perform the safety position ourselves so that we could actually learn to do that to a real unconscious person. Another meaning of Airway is to check that someone is still breathing. To do this you need to put your one hand (any hand) on their stomach or their chest, then you put your head above the patient's head from a distance and you should feel air coming from their airway but if not, then you're in big trouble! Another fun thing we did for First Aid that I enjoyed was how to stop something from bleeding. The letter B in Drsabcd was actually Bleeding. To stop someone from bleeding you need: A small piece of cloth, and a gauze bandage. We also had to perform this with the same buddies from the safety position. First we needed to put the small piece of cloth carefully on top of the part that's bleeding (No one was actually bleeding). Our second step was to tie the gauze bandage around the small piece of cloth that's covering the wound. To secure the gauze bandage around the patient's arm You need to tuck the remaining gauze bandage in itself. The lady from St.John also taught us how to make a sling out of our sweaters. The last fun thing we did was our "Teamwork Game". Our teamwork game was based on using teamwork and cooperation to answer questions that the lady from St.John asked us. She told us to list down things we would need if we did camping together. My team listed down many things. She said that we went camping together and we had to hike 5 hours to get to our cabin. She then said that we reached the Riverside Track, and when we did, one of us fell down in the water. She said that the person's name was Joe and that Joe was cold and soaking wet. She then asked what we would give Joe to calm him down. She asked each team what they would give Joe (There were four teams). We said that we would give him some spare clothes and some warm food. Our team gained three points. The next thing that happened was that Joe was complaining about the weather, so she asked what we could give him to calm him down again. My team said that we could give him a coat to wear because it was cold. The lady from St.John made one of us pick something in her backpack that would help us to save Joe or we could use it for our own uses Jack, our team member, picked out a foil emergency blanket. Then what happened next was that Joe started to have hypothermia. I started to wonder why he would have hypothermia... maybe he fell off the Titanic or something. He has hypothermia now because of the weather. The lady asked us, what could we give Joe to stop his hypothermia? Obviously we weren't thinking too much outside of the box, we were just using the things that we've listed on paper. Keanu, one of our team members, suggested that we call for help. Then Jack suggested that we also use the foil emergency blanket. I said to them to feed him some warm food. The other groups thought out of the box, while some of them didn't. Our team didn't really win but it was a fun game. So the lady from St. John suggested that we would give him a blanket, then some food. Then two of us could call for help and while two of us do call for help, we could build a fire for Joe to keep warm. The game would be really easy if we just thought outside of the box. That is the end of our First Aid lesson.
