The First Five Minutes: Reading about Giving First Aid

1Before you read

1. Have you ever helped someone who was hurt or ill? What did you do?
2. Which number would you call in Rwanda in an emergency?
3. Many families have home remedies for burns. Which ones have you heard of? Keep your list: the article will test it.

2Reading: The First Five Minutes

A feature article written by Ganzaa from current first aid guidance. It is for learning only and is not a substitute for a certified first aid course.

1 First aid is the help that anyone can give an ill or injured person before a health worker arrives. Its aims are simple to state: to preserve life, to relieve suffering, to stop the condition getting worse and to help recovery. Its methods are simple too. Most first aid needs no equipment at all, only a calm head, a clear voice and two hands.

2 The first step is always the same: make sure the scene is safe. A first aider who rushes into traffic, or touches a person who is still in contact with a live electric wire, may become a second casualty. Next, check whether the person responds: speak loudly and tap their shoulders. Then shout for help and call for it. In Rwanda, 112 is the number for all emergencies, and 912 is the free ambulance line, answered day and night. Put the phone on speaker, so that your hands are free, and say clearly where you are, what has happened and how many people are hurt. Do not end the call until the call-taker tells you to: they will guide you through what to do. If the person is unresponsive but breathing normally, and has not been hurt in a fall or a crash, turn them onto their side in the recovery position, so that their airway stays open, and keep checking their breathing.

3 Severe bleeding comes before almost everything else, because a person can lose a dangerous amount of blood in minutes. Press firmly and directly on the wound with a clean cloth or dressing, and keep pressing. If blood soaks through, do not lift the first pad to look: put another on top and press again. If you can, protect your own hands with gloves or a clean plastic bag.

4 Burns need water, not remedies. Move the person away from the heat, if it is safe to do so, and cool the burn under cool, running water for at least twenty minutes. Never use ice, which deepens the injury. Take off rings, watches and clothing near the burn, unless they are stuck to the skin. Do not put oil, paste, toothpaste or any cream on the burn; afterwards, cover it loosely with cling film or a clean cloth, and keep the rest of the person warm. Any large or serious burn, or any burn you are unsure about, needs a health worker.

5 Choking is frightening because it is silent: a person who cannot breathe often cannot speak. Ask, "Are you choking?" If they can cough, encourage them to keep coughing. If they cannot, lean them forward and give up to five sharp blows between the shoulder blades with the heel of your hand. If that does not work, give up to five abdominal thrusts: stand behind them, place a fist between the navel and the bottom of the ribs, hold it with your other hand and pull sharply inwards and upwards. Keep alternating five back blows and five thrusts, and call 112 or 912 if the object does not come out. Never put your fingers blindly into the person's mouth. If the person becomes unresponsive, call for help at once and follow the call-taker's instructions.

6 None of this can be learned from a page alone. First aid is a practical skill, and the best way to be ready is a certified course, where you practise on a training dummy and on each other until the steps become automatic. The goal is not to be a doctor. It is to be the person who knows what to do in the first five minutes.

3The first steps in one picture

Paragraph 2 gives a sequence that first aiders learn by heart. The flow chart shows it, and what to do at each decision.

4Comprehension

1. What are the four aims of first aid, according to paragraph 1?
2. Why must a first aider check that the scene is safe before helping?
3. Which number would you call for an ambulance in Rwanda, and why should you use the speakerphone?
4. What should you do if blood soaks through the first pad?
5. For how long should a burn be cooled, and with what?
6. Why does the writer say choking "is frightening because it is silent"?
7. Paragraph 4 begins "Burns need water, not remedies." What does the writer mean by "remedies", and why are they rejected?
8. Find two places where the article uses the word never. Why does a first aid text use such strong words?
9. Paragraph 6 says first aid "cannot be learned from a page alone". Do you agree? What could a school do about it?

Show answersHide answers

1. To preserve life, to relieve suffering, to stop the condition getting worse and to help recovery.
2. Because a first aider who is hurt (by traffic or electricity, for example) becomes a second casualty and cannot help.
3. 912, the free ambulance line (112 for all emergencies). The speakerphone keeps your hands free to help while the call-taker guides you.
4. Do not lift it; put another pad on top and press again.
5. At least twenty minutes, under cool, running water (never ice).
6. A person whose airway is blocked often cannot speak or call for help, so others may not notice.
7. Home treatments such as oil, paste or toothpaste. They do not cool the burn and can make it worse or infect it; only cool running water helps.
8. "Never use ice" (paragraph 4) and "Never put your fingers blindly into the person's mouth" (paragraph 5). Strong words make the most dangerous mistakes impossible to miss in an emergency.
9. Open answer, for example: practice builds the skill and the confidence; a school could invite trained first aiders to run a course and practise regularly.

5Vocabulary in context