Emergency preparedness for festive season

POLOKWANE –  A bee will not wait for you to be close to a doctor before it stings you or your three-year-old won’t wait for the ambulance before she accidentally cuts her hand open with a knife. For that reason, it is important to have basic first aid equipment at home, know an emergency number and know what to do in an emergency situation.

Review spoke to Gerhard Jacobs from ER24 about first aid at home.

In you first aid kit:

• Bandages.
• Plasters.
• Gauze .
• Something for allergies, for example when a bee stings you.

“Do not give pain pills to a guest if you are not sure what they are allergic to,” he advised.

Choking:

“If there are an open wound with bleeding, put gauze on and apply pressure; if it keeps on bleeding, do it again. Put some bandages on and elevate the body part,” he advised.

“If someone falls and break their leg, do not move them. Put a splint on the broken leg as they are lying and call the ambulance. If a child falls a distance like from a tree and hurt their pelvis, back or neck, do not move them at all. Call the ambulance immediately.”

How to apply a splint:

• Put a splint plank on one side of the leg or between the two legs.
• Wrap it with bandages.
• Call the ambulance.

Burns:

“If you burn, do not put anything on the wound. Flush it with cold water for 10 to 15 minutes to let it cool down. There are burn shields available which can be used to treat a burn. The treatment for all burns, include sunburn, gas burn, steam burn and chemical burn, are the same.”

If you get chemicals in your eye, rinse your eye from the inside of the eye to the outside out with water.

Snakebite:

“Put a bandage on the limb that was bitten, starting at the bite and moving upwards. Try to identify the snake without getting bitten as well. Phone the ambulance and reassure the patient so they do not stress. The same goes for scorpion stings and spider bites.”

In the case of a cardiovascular arrest or a stroke, turn the patient on their side (lateral) and call an ambulance. Make sure they have a pulse and are breathing.

“If someone is having an epileptic fit, do not put anything in their mouth. Just turn them on their side.  If a person faints, do not throw water on them, turn them on their side and call an ambulance. If someone drank something they were not supposed to drink, like cleaning products, keep them calm and call an ambulance. Turn them on their side. ”

Drowing:

Apply CPR and call the ambulance. “One person should apply CPR, by giving 200 compressions, and then checking the airway. No mouth to mouth. Do not stop until a medic or doctor arrives on the scene. If you start with CPR, you cannot stop except if the doctor or medic tells you to stop.”

When to call an ambulance:

• If it you obtain an electrical burn.
• If a family member bumps their head and they cannot remember anything, keep them still.
• If someone has purple/red around their eyes, keep their head very still.
• In the case of a heart attack or stroke.
• When someone faints.
• Drinking of toxic substances.
• Drowning.

ER24 emergency number: 084 460 7025/26.

maretha@nmgroup.co.za