How To Save A Life

Today, my sister and I began the process of booking ourselves in for a first aid course with St John's Ambulance. I already have basic first aid knowledge but wanted to refuel it in order to assist those that may need it. As is common with many human desires to pursue something, a certain event quelled my desire to be trained properly in first aid.

One snowy Manchester day I happened to be in the car with my dad, who was driving down a main road and we saw a commotion of people to my right, on the other side of the road to which we were travelling on. I could just about see a woman lying still on the floor, with four or five people surrounding her. My dad did a U-turn at the traffic lights and turned back. We were told that the elderly woman was walking the short five minute walk from the supermarket to her home when she collapsed as a result of the cold. We saw the woman become conscious as we approached her but it was clear that the people that had gathered were unaware of first aid treatment. She was not in the recovery position while she was unconscious, nor was she covered with extra layers to shield her from the cold. My father, being the only person there with a car, offered to drop the woman and her shopping back to her home where her husband gratefully received her.

This story just goes to show that an accident can occur in any situation, be it in a shop, a park, on the road, at school, at work, on holiday or in any number of other places. If the woman had been unconscious and not breathing, would the people have known what to do? If an accident were to occur in our sight, would we know how to respond to it adequately? If someone was having a heart attack, would we be able to think quickly enough to remember that a 300mg aspirin tablet should be given immediately if appropriate?

As pharmacy students, we are trained in first aid as part of our pre-registration training. Why so late, though? I strongly believe that every student training to be a healthcare professional should have first aid training as part of their degree, pharmacy students included. As many of us work in community pharmacies, we are in a prime position to help those in need. People would surely go towards the pharmacy for help if it was in sight, as it's easily accessible and pharmacists are trusted professionals. In addition, in some places responsible non-student adults may be less common, for example in a nightclub where someone can collapse from overheating. As St John's Ambulance say, one more person with first aid training could be ‘the difference between a life saved and a life lost'.