When Every Second Matter: The Power of Knowing What to During Emergency

Emergency emergency we can never see it coming through...

When we talk about emergencies in the world that we now live in today, it is something that we can never see the red light coming because it gives us no prior warnings. Everything is well okay in a second, and in the next second something that is unimaginably unbelievable can happen right beside where you are. I could remember a time like that in camp during my NYSC. I was in the Red Cross, and I and one of my camp friends were just moving around during all these platoon matching parades, and then a lady collapsed suddenly. A second ago she was active and marching well; the next thing, she was down.

I had to rush down to her, use my strength to carry her, not minding that she's a little big, and then take her to the ambulance, where we carried her to the camp clinic. That is how an emergency can be, and in that critical moment, a lot of people around her were confused about what to do, but the question now is, what would you do if an emergency happened right beside you?

And to be sincerely honest with that question I asked, a lot of people are going to tell you NO, because all they rely on is a nurse, doctor, ambulance, or for the person to be taken to a hospital, forgetting that cases of some emergencies need our hands first before all these professionals are involved. Just imagine I was not around that place to carry that lady. Who knows what could have happened in the next few seconds? Maybe a life could have been lost in the minutes it took for the capable medical personnel to arrive where she was, but God forbid, she survived. And this is one of the reasons why I will continue to say that it is important to have a basic understanding about first aid.

Come to think about it: if a person you love, your relatives, girlfriend, husband, coworker happens to fall while doing something and that person sustained an injury where blood is coming out heavily, would you just stand still like a statue or will you use your first aid skills to clean the wound and also apply pressure before the arrival of the capable hands? Or if someone collapses beside you, do you know how to check if the person is still breathing or to feel their pulse? These basic skills are not only medical personnel skills; they are something anyone can know.

As humans, we often believe that all these tragedies cannot happen to us and that they only happen to others, but we never can say who the next victim could be because those who are in it today were yesterday's survivors. This thing called an emergency can just happen to anyone in the kitchen, where we are working, in our study place, or while just doing a casual walk. Knowing the basics of first aid equips us for the unforeseen circumstances and boosts our confidence in a way that it takes away unnecessary panic during crises and helps us to act fast instead of fearing what to do.

With my little exposure, I have even heard that some groups of people do not take any action during emergencies because they believe that it is fate and no action should be taken, believing that it is divine will. For instance, many Africans believe that what they need to do during an emergency is to pray and keep the faith without any action to save the life, forgetting that faith prayers without any action are nothing. Yes, faith and doing first aid can work together, because trying to save a person's life shows that you love the person.

The truth here is that a lot of people usually think that knowing all these CPR techniques, putting a person who faints on his side, helping someone in shock, choking, cleaning a wound, and covering it are all complicated things. Well, these things just need a basic understanding and simple procedures for knowing the difference between death and life. Come to think of it, you saw your neighbor pass by, and you were like, Oh yes, I saved Tunji's life when he fainted the other day, thank God for my first aid skill. How priceless would that memory and feeling be?

To be honest, that girl I rushed to carry that day, I can't even remember her face, but as I was writing this post, I felt that priceless moment that my reflex was able to respond while others were just confused and looking at her.

So to all my readers and those who might be thinking of writing on this prompt, do you know first aid? If your answer is no, how long are you going to wait until tragedy happens and you are left confused on what to do, or will you find a time soon to know it? It's just simple and easy. Because within those milliseconds of emergency, our knowledge is what is required to save the person. God forbid tragedy and emergency for you and me.

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Thank you for reading.

_{Images are mine}