On Monday, we were lucky enough to meet Jess, our Emergency Ready instructor from Hato Hone (St John’s Ambulance.) For the 45 minutes we were with her we learned so much about what to do in an emergency. An emergency can happen anywhere – at school, home or out in the community. We have to be READY and know what to do because a person’s life depends on our actions.
At the beginning we learned how to open someone’s phone and find ‘Emergency’ on it. This is important because we do not have our own phones but if an adult has one but isn’t able to use it at that time, we can access the emergency number of 111. When the operator answers they will ask “Police, Fire or Ambulance” and we need to say “Ambulance” and give a brief description of what the emergency is. We will then give them the address. They will say, “and ambulance is on its way.”
When there is an emergency, we always have to check that we are safe. Jess said if someone has fallen at the pedestrian crossing, we must check for traffic before crossing, because it’s no good if two people need help!!
We practised how to check that the person is responsive (their airways are open to allow them to continue breathing) by tilting their head back and going down next to their mouth to check that their chest is moving up and down. That is a good sign!
Then we learned how to put a person into the recovery position. You place their one arm (closest to you) under their head, like a pillow. Then you put their other arm across their body like a seat belt. Finally, you raise both their legs so they look like mountains and gently turn the person towards you, onto their side.
The last two activities we learned about were how to treat a nose bleed and a burn. For the nose bleed you must put your head down on your chest and squeeze your nose on the bony part for at least ten minutes. If you can get a cool flannel or something cold, that will be good. For a burn, Jess said you must hold it under cold running water for 20 minutes (not 10 or 15 but 20!!!) Then you wrap the burn in plastic glad Wrap.
We felt very confident at the end of our time with Jess, that we could help someone who is in need. Thank you Hato Hone and Jess.