HEALTH EDUCATION II
First Aid
First aid is the immediate care given to a person who has been injured or suddenly taken ill.
- It includes self-help and home care if medical assistance is not available or is delayed.
- It also includes well-selected words of encouragement, evidence of willingness to help, and promotion of confidence by demonstration of competence.
First aider - the person who gives first aid.
- First aider’s knowledge and skill can mean the difference between life and death, between temporary and permanent disability, and between rapid recovery and long hospitalization.
FA’s should know the limits of their capabilities and must make every effort to avoid further injury to the victim.
Value of First Aid Training
• First aid training is of value in both preventing and treating sudden illness or accidental injury and in caring for large number of persons caught in a natural disaster.
1. Self-help – even if your own condition keeps you from caring for yourself, you can direct others in carrying out procedures to follow in your behalf.
2. Help for others – Having studied first aid, you are prepared to give others some instruction in first aid, to promote among them a reasonable safety attitude.
Urgent Care
In case of serious injury or sudden illness, and while help is being summoned, you must immediately do the following:
• Determine the best way of rescue(removal of the victim from water, fire, smoke, etc.)
• Ensure that the victim has an open airway and give mouth-to-mouth/mouth-nose artificial respiration when necessary.
• Control severe bleeding.
• Give first aid for poisoning or ingestion of harmful chemicals.
Wound
- A break in the continuity of a tissue of the body, either internal or external.
- Usually results from external physical forces.
- Motor vehicles accidents, falls, mishandling of sharp objects, tolls, machinery & weapons.
Types and Causes of Open Wounds
Examples: skinned knees, rope burns (which are actually abrasions, not burns) and shallow multiple scratches.
2. Incisions – Incised wounds or cuts are usually caused by knives, metal edges, broken glass, or other sharp objects.
3. Lacerations – are jagged, irregular breaks in the soft tissues. The destruction of tissue is greater in lacerations than in cuts.
4. Punctures – produced by bullets and pointed objects, such as pins, nails, and splinters.
5. Avulsions – involve the forcible separation or tearing of tissue from the victim’s body.
- Commonly caused by animal bites and accidents involving motor vehicles, heavy machinery, guns, and explosives.
1. Safety at Home and in the Community
Keeping safe at home during hot weather
Be prepared for hot weather
At home, you can keep cool and reduce the risk of heat exhaustion by:
· stocking up on supplies like medicines, food and non-alcoholic drinks, so you won’t have to go out in the heat
· Organizing your day to avoid being outside during the hottest time (11.00 am to 3.00 pm), if possible.
· Doing strenuous outdoor activities, like gardening during cooler parts of the day, like early morning.
· Wearing a hat and light, loose-fitting clothing, taking plenty of water with you and keeping to the shade, if you have to go out.
· Taking cold showers or baths and splashing yourself often with cold water.
· Drinking plenty of fluids, like juice or water – avoid coffee and alcohol.
Keep your house cool
Stay inside the coolest rooms in your house as much as possible. These are probably the rooms that get little sun during the day. To help keep all rooms in your house cool, you can:
· close pale-colored curtains – closing dark curtains and metal blinds can make rooms hotter
· keep windows closed when it’s hotter outside than inside, but open them if the room gets too hot
· Open windows at night when the air is cooler, but close ground floor windows when you leave the house or go to bed.
Take extra care with food in hot weather
When it’s hot, bacteria on food can multiply very quickly, which increases the risk of food poisoning. So, it’s important to make sure food is:
· Kept in cooler bags when taking it home from the supermarket or out for a picnic.
· put in the fridge as soon as you get home - the temperature of the fridge should be between 0 and 5 degrees Celsius.
· kept out of the sun
· out of the fridge for the shortest time possible – no more than a couple of hours
Asbestos removal
Many people have worries about asbestos, but undisturbed asbestos usually poses no problems. However, care should be taken to prevent the release of fibers as they can cause serious damage to your health.
What is asbestos?
Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that has been used in a range of building materials to make them more rigid and fire resistant. It has also been used in household products such as ironing boards and oven gloves.
Asbestos was used extensively as a building material in Great Britain from the 1950s through to the mid 1980s.
Some of areas in your home where you may find asbestos include:
· eaves gutters and rainwater fall pipes
· fire blankets
· garage and shed roofs
· linings for walls, ceilings and doors
· insulation panels in some storage heaters
· bath panels
· central heating flues
· floor tiles
Most people are exposed to low amounts of asbestos present in the atmosphere with no ill effects. Asbestos fibers and dust are potentially very dangerous if inhaled in higher concentrations over a period of time, when they can cause serious lung diseases including cancer. The symptoms of these diseases often do not appear for between 20 -30 years after exposure to asbestos.
What to do if you think you have asbestos in your home
It is very hard to identify asbestos, but if you suspect that you are living with asbestos:
· don't panic and leave asbestos alone, it's safe unless it's damaged or disturbed
· never sand, drill or saw asbestos materials
· always seek professional advice before thinking of removing asbestos materials
· Sometimes it will be necessary to take a sample, for example to identify the type of asbestos. Only employ a suitably trained person to sample or do a survey of the premises
Removing asbestos from your home
If you do choose to remove the non-licensable asbestos materials yourself, it will help if you take the following precautions:
· wear a dust mask approved for asbestos;
· wear a disposable overall
· keep other people away from the working area;
· wet the material well with water containing a little washing up liquid; check that there is no potential for contact with electricity first;
· always remove whole sheets or components; do not break them up
· place any loose or small items in strong plastic labeled bags and seal;
· clean up all dust with a damp cloth and then seal it in a plastic bag;
· Do not use a domestic vacuum cleaner as dust may pass through the filter.
If you have removed asbestos from your home yourself, it will need to be disposed of separately from your normal household waste. You may be able to arrange to have it collected or there may be special facilities in your area you can use to dispose of hazardous waste. Contact your local council for further details.
2. School Safety
What is 'school safety'?
School safety is a process of education being able to continue without disruption, without harm, without danger. It's basically the best way to get the most out of the learning process. It's actually the foundation for an effective learning environment.
Why is school safety important?
School safety is necessary for learning to occur. The best way to have an excellent school is to have a safe school because safety incidents distract from the learning process. Our schools have never been so challenged as they are today in our society. There has been a relatively new phenomenon like terrorism in schools over the last few decades. School safety is so that children can learn, parents do not worry about their children at school, and educators can apply their gift of helping our students.
What we see are sometimes gang situations, weapons, drugs, truancy, and bullying is a common issue of course, that all schools need to be concerned with, and natural disasters for the region. Like any other setting, schools can, on very rare occasions, be targeted or incidental targets for terrorist acts. Basically schools have to have an all-hazards approach to safety because there are a variety of things that can happen in any setting, a school included. Many of them involve behavioral issues between children, of course, because of the nature of a school.
A school crisis is any event out of the ordinary that negatively impacts a school. It can be a fire, it can be a fight of a large scale, for example, it could be a typhoon. Basically it's anything that interferes significantly with the process of learning and of course anything that endangers safety or the potential damage to property. We step back from it and look at situations that may not necessarily be dangerous but are disruptive.
A school safety plan is a four phase plan, because it has sections addressing four distinct concerns. One is prevention and mitigation, keeping things from happening and minimizing the negative impact of those that occur. Another is the preparedness plan, to make sure that we're ready for a crisis in advance. Your response plan allows us to implement the preparedness plan under extreme stress. Also, the recovery plan addresses mental health recovery and business continuity.
A hazard is anything that could cause death or serious injury, and emotional trauma to students and staff. It's anything that could cause harm to people. And that could come in the range of children not being supervised properly, heavy traffic at dismissal at the end of the day, a chemical plant not far from the school, natural disasters that are predominant in our area, fire hazard in a closet. It's anything that if left unchecked and not addressed properly, can cause death, injury or emotional distress to the staff, students and visitors.
3. Vehicle Safety
Car Crashes
Driving is probably the most dangerous thing most of us will ever do.
Although you do your best to drive responsibly and defensively, it's still smart to know what to do just in case you end up in a collision. Crashes can be very scary, but here are some tips if one happens to you:
Take some deep breaths to get calm. After a crash, a person may feel a wide range of emotions — shock, guilt, fear, nervousness, or anger — all of which are normal. But take a few deep breaths or count to 10 to calm down. The calmer you are, the better prepared you will be to handle the situation. This is the time to take stock of the accident and try to make a judgment about whether it was a serious one.
Keep yourself and others safe. If you can't get out of your car — or it's not safe to try — keep your seat belt fastened, turn on your hazard lights, then someone who may help you if possible and wait for them to arrive. If you can drive your car and are in an unsafe spot or are blocking traffic, find a safe and legal place to park your car (like the shoulder of a highway or a parking lot). In some states it's illegal to move your car from the scene of an accident, though.
If the collision seems to be minor, turn off your car and grab your emergency kit. If it's safe to get out and move around your car, set up orange cones, warning triangles, or emergency flares around the crash site.
Other Road Problems
Flat Tires
Getting a flat tire while you're driving can be harsh — literally. There are some things you can do to prevent this — make sure your tires aren't too old and check the tire pressure at the gas station at least once a month. Here are a few suggestions to get you through it unharmed:
· Safely bring your car out of traffic and stop. Once you realize you have tire trouble, firmly hold the steering wheel. Don't slam on the brakes — instead, gently take your foot off the gas pedal and let the car slow down. Steer your car toward the breakdown lane or exit (if you are on the highway) or a parking lot (if you are on a smaller road). It's important to get out of the way of traffic, even if you have to drive (very cautiously) on the flat tire to do it. When your car is in a safe place, brake gently until you come to a complete stop.
· Set up your breakdown site. Once safely off the road and out of the line of traffic, turn on your emergency flashers. Take out your warning signs (cones, triangles, or flares) and place them behind your car so that others realize that your car is disabled. If you know how to change your tire and can do it safely without getting too close to traffic, do it.
· Get help if you need it. Raise the hood of your car and hang a white T-shirt or rag out the window or off the radio antenna so that police officers and tow truck operators will know you need help. Don't try to flag down other vehicles. Use a cell phone, a highway emergency phone, or a pay phone to call for assistance. Only walk along a multi-lane highway if you can see a phone or someone who can help you nearby.
· Don't walk in or get near traffic.
· After it's done. Take your car to the shop so a mechanic can make sure there's no long-term damage to your car.
Breakdowns
If your car breaks down, safely bring the car to a stop and out of the line of traffic. Set up your breakdown site out of traffic. A major difference between flat tires and breakdowns is that it's less likely that you will be able to fix a car that has broken down. That's why it's wise to signal that you need help by properly displaying the white cloth and calling for roadside assistance or the police.
If you manage to get your car safely out of traffic, wait inside with the doors locked. If someone stops and offers to help you, just open the window slightly and say that you've already called for help.
ContinueThe term "joy ride" does not apply when it's pouring and the wind is gusting. The best strategy for driving in bad weather is to avoid it. But if going out is necessary or you get caught in bad conditions once you're already on the road, follow these safe driving tips:
· Make sure your headlights are on.
· Increase your following distance —
· Slow down. Braking takes longer on slippery roads — the slower you go, the easier it will be for you to stop.
· Make sure your car is prepared for the conditions (check your battery, windshield wiper fluid, windshield wipers, headlights, tires). Use caution near intersections. Never assume that because you have the green light or the right of way that the intersection will be clear — always scan ahead to spot potential hazards.
· Stay in one lane as much as possible — avoid unnecessary lane changes (don't go zipping in and out of traffic, passing people, etc.).
· Keep two hands on the wheel and two eyes on the road at all times.
· 4. Avoiding Violence
bars and clubs
Alcohol is known to mess with your judgement. In short, people are less likely to hold back when they've been boozing. This can mean trouble, whether you're the one gearing up for a fight or you're about to become a victim.
Cold fact: In the UK each year, 45% of violent crime is linked to drunkenness, rising to 58% where the attacks by people they don't know.
Hotspot: Closing time
Street safety
From Brooklyn to Basingstoke, the smart move is to stay aware of your surroundings and be ready to react should the worst happen. There's no need to be afraid, or feel paranoid. It's simply a case of remaining alert to your surroundings and the people in it. Whether you're crawling home from the pub after dark, or sauntering to the cafe for a Sunday breakfast, look up and around - not down at your feet.
Cold fact: A police initiative to reduce street crime has seen a 30% drop in robbery between 2001 and 2008.
Hotspot: Unlit streets. Stick to a route with streetlamps
Protect yourself
· Big up your body language: If you look like you're expecting a shakedown at any moment, you'll attract attention for all the wrong reasons. People who appear confident are less likely to invite a violent confrontation, basically because they look as if they can handle themselves. It's simply a question of walking tall, keeping your head up, and not flinching away when someone approaches to ask the time. Just be sure not to go too far, and swagger like you'll take on all contenders. It'll only end in (your) tears.
· Keep cool: Don't freak out if you find yourself in a dodgy confrontation, or enter into an argument at the bar if pressed about whether Britney could beat X-Tina in a mud wrestling contest. The aim is not to let the emotional temperature rise, because it'll also increase the risk of an escalation into violence.
· Avoid attention: So there you are, strutting down the street looking very bling indeed. You have the jewellery on show, your state of the art phone pressed to your ear, and a sign over your head that's visible to everyone but you. One that shouts; Rough me up, everything must go! Street muggings don't always involve violence, of course, but you're more likely to get hurt by someone who's after your money rather than directions to the local library. Ultimately, the less conspicuous your valuables, the more likely you'll be to get from A to B in one piece. If you must carry stuff like cash, phones and credit cards, don't make a big deal of it.
· Stick with your friends: Whether you're walking home late at night, or hanging out outside a club, security comes with numbers. Unless, of course, the group you're with are gunning for a fight.
· Avoid eye contact: If you've sensed someone scooping you out, don't rise to the occasion by staring back at them. Instead, keep your head up, because the body language of confidence speaks volumes.
· Steer round big groups: You don't want to cleave a path through a bunch of beer boys on the street, or force them to stop or step aside. You're not royalty, just an average Joe who wants to get on in life without blood being spilled. If possible, cross the road before they've even noticed you.
· Go with your instinct: If you don't feel comfortable, whatever the situation, take steps to protect yourself. Even if it means taking the long route home, at least you'll make it in one piece!
