I was once walking back to my brother’s flat in Clifton, Bristol when we noticed a girl perched in a very precarious position above a long pavement staircase. We decided to check to see if she was alright. She fell to the floor and entered a seizure. A minute later she was back with us, apologising for her condition before falling asleep and then entering a further 40 second seizure. This repeated a couple of times while we phoned for an ambulance. When the paramedics arrived, the previously-embarrassed female turned and hurled abuse at us, encouraging us to move along.
Now, initially I was mildly amused at how little gratitude can non-deliberately be offered in return for sitting and helping someone for 25 minutes. But then, I suddenly realised just how little I really know about First Aid and how to offer it.
So, I found myself after work one day, walking in awe of how gorgeous an area Angel is. I’d love to live round here, dare say it’s not cheap mind…
Anyways, I was here for a British Red Cross first aid course. It was supposed to be at London Bridge which would have been ideal for breaking up the swift commute home. Alas, a 4.17pm phone call told me about a last minute location change due to health and safety concerns regarding the originally arranged premises. I would have thought this could have proffered good first aid practice but hey…
So, on arrival I was told to head to the 1st floor which I did. Bit confused as to why it was so deserted but I sat there nonetheless. Eventually I was joined by another and this chap had the tenacity to go up another flight of stairs, to what you would think would be the 2nd floor, and discover Jonas and 6 others waiting for us. Oops.
So, 2 hours of learning, volunteering to be unconscious and blowing air into rubber dummies later, I feel a lot more enlightened on how to react to an emergency situation. Breathing, CPR, choking, asthma, burns, bleeding, diabetes were all covered as well as my original situation of epilepsy.
I thought it was terrific. Jonas was real engaging and used his own background of being a bouncer to give us various scenarios that have occurred in his time of being a first aider.
To tip it off we got a little work book to certificate our new knowledge.
So, if you ever come across a drunk girl suffering a seizure, let me know… or you could try, 999 first.
