Dubai: At least one person in every family should be trained in first aid, because no-one can predict an emergency, an ambulance services manager told Gulf News.
"People die because nobody knows what to do for them. We never know when someone will collapse," said Terrence Bryan Allen, ambulance services manager and first-aid trainer for City Hospital and Welcare Hospital.
The trainer said something simple as knowing what to do when a person is lying unconscious on his back, will save a life. (You need to move that person on his side so that his airway is not blocked).
He advises that anyone suffering from a heart attack should not be put in a car and rushed to the hospital.
Studies by the American Heart Association show that 50 per cent of people brought to a hospital in a car, died.
Allen suggests that when faced with such situation, it is best to call 999 and an ambulance will be despatched within eight minutes if it is a life-threatening condition.
Dubai Ambulance has 56 stations across the emirate.
The reason why one should seek professional help is because in the first four hours of a heart attack, there are irregularities in the heart beat which if left untreated could be fatal, the manager said.
A basic four-hour course will teach an individual how to give CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation), how to call for an ambulance [giving information on the emergency clearly and details of your address as the street where you live], stop visible bleeding, put on a bandage properly and help someone who is choking.
Allen said research has proven that giving CPR to someone having a heart attack immediately, will save his life.
"We expect that when we are ill there will be someone there to help us. But how many of us take the time to be that person who will help in an emergency?" he said.
He said most of the time a traffic accident here becomes a spectator sport and people cause a lot of problems to someone delivering first aid.
The course also trains people how to manage crowds. (Never move an accident victim, unless trapped in a car or if he is in danger of being run over, because you will cause more harm to the trauma patient.)
Allen said the horror stories about people giving first aid being prosecuted are untrue.
He said during his three years here he has never seen even one such case.
Allen said though emergency services and the laws are still young in this part of the world, it was however, logical that you would not be prosecuted for helping someone. But he said it was difficult when there are female patients. "We are cautious and make sure the person's dignity is not offended."
He said First Aid courses will also teach you how to use an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) which analyses a victim's heart rhythm and delivers a shock. "You are usually 4 to 5 minutes away from such a machine [in Dubai]," he said. Every shopping mall, hotel and airport is supposed to have this machine.
If someone sitting next to you on the Metro suddenly had a heart attack, would you know what to do? What if a child started choking on a coin? Many people don't realise what an asset first aid can be —whether at home, at work, when travelling or out socialising. As Gulf News investigates, having basic first aid knowledge through training really can mean the difference between life and death.
