2023 Author: Anita Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-22 03:30
Each year, more than 70,000 Quebecers take the Red Cross first aid course to manage emergencies and prevent injuries. How about learning too?
Are you looking for an original and precious gift for future or new parents? You will do a good job by offering a Red Cross first aid course! Thus, you give them the means to save lives, including perhaps that of baby!
The classic scenario: while he is eating his breakfast sitting in his high chair, the child chokes on a piece of food… his face turns purple and his lips turn blue. As you desperately try to unfasten his seat belt, you think fast. Would you know what to do?
Sylvie Santerre, who has been teaching at the Red Cross for 20 years, found herself in a situation where her knowledge was very useful. “I had over 15 years of experience when I had my children and yet, when one of mine choked, I had to sit on my hands, otherwise I would have had the reflex of any mother and I would have taken her in my arms. When you have to say to yourself: he's okay, he's coughing, he's going to unclog himself. But she iswhere the line between: he's really suffocated and I have to do something, and: don't panic and don't panic the child either because it can be even worse? »
The Red Cross offers first aid courses geared specifically to babies and children, which is reassuring when you don't know all the dangers that await them. “To be able to have confidence and be able to intervene if something happens, because when we introduce food to the child, he will choke by pure reflex!, explains Sylvie Santerre. So to know when I'm supposed to panic or on the contrary not to intervene, these courses are important. »
The course allows you to learn specific techniques, of course, but also to be aware of the environment to better prevent injuries. Also, don't forget all the other people who are taking care of the child! The babysitter, the grandparents, the oldest members of the family benefit from taking this course since you will not always be there to intervene. “First aid requires composure, logic and common sense! concludes Ms. Santerre.
In most cities across Canada, the average response time for ambulance service is more than eight minutes, while a person can suffer permanent brain damage four to six minutes after the emergency. respiratory arrest. Knowing what to do in those crucial minutes can save a life. Performing DVR or CPR techniques on an injured person triples their chances ofsurvival.
Course
There are actually two options: a concentrated eight-hour course and a more elaborate sixteen-hour course that covers first aid. You learn first aid and CPR techniques. The course, which is aimed at people who take care of babies or children at home, provides the skills necessary to recognize and prevent cardiovascular emergencies in adults, children and babies, and to intervene in such situations. It also teaches DVR techniques and covers topics such as choking, respiratory emergencies and preventing disease transmission.
- How to intervene in an emergency
- The Emergency Medical Services System
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The Three Key Principles of First Aid: Check, Call, Rescue
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How to respond to:
o respiratory emergencies;o respiratory and circulatory emergencies.
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First aid for:
o respiratory and cardiac arrest;
o head and spine injuries;o bone injuries, muscles and joints.
- Wound Care
- What to do in case of a sudden medical or environmental emergency
- First aid for poisoning
- Keeping children safe
Duration of 8 hours: cost around $50 to $75; Duration of 16 to 20 hours: cost around $100. A book, Guide to First Aid and CPR-Carefor children, will be given to you during lessons. To register for a course in your area, people can contact the Red Cross at 1 877 356-3226.
Thanks to Sylvie Santerre, senior coordinator and to the Red Cross for their collaboration.
