First-Aid Class: You Need Take One

You Know You Should Take a First-Aid Class: Here’s Why and How

By Christina Elston

Think about what you would do in an emergency – if your child fell out of a tree and was unconscious, had trouble breathing after a bee stung her, or crashed her bike and had a serious gash in her leg. Would you call 9-1-1?

“That sounds easy, but I’ve had many parents describe that in an emergency they were so nervous they dialed 4-1-1 instead,” says Mary Taddie, a chapter director of health and safety at the American Red Cross. How do you get past the panic so that you can take life-saving action? First aid experts nationwide recommend getting some firsthand training in first-aid and CPR/rescue breathing.

Keeping Calm

The first five minutes are crucial in an emergency, explains Taddie, who works with the Red Cross of Massachusetts Bay. Even under the best conditions, emergency medical services could take as long as 10 minutes to reach you. With the right training, “you could really make a difference,” Taddie says. “It’ll make you act instead of running out the door.”
The operator you reach when you dial 9-1-1 will be able to talk you through some basic procedures, but you’ll feel better if you have your own information to rely on. “The more you know, the calmer you are,” says Joelle Mast, M.D., chief medical officer at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y. And that will help your child be calm. “Taking a couple of deep breaths and trying to assess the situation is always important,” Mast says.

Critical Basics

One essential thing for parents to learn is what medical professionals call “basic life support.”
“In a serious situation, the most important thing to look at is ABC,” Mast says. That means Airway, Breathing and Circulation, the first things you learn to check during CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) training. But where kids are concerned, experts say the “rescue breathing” portion of this training is the most important to master, since heart attacks are rare in children.