First aid day report

Crash time. A greasy split second of uncertainty as the bike goes away from you, followed by thumps, blossoming warmth and confusion, as fate kicks over your internal cameraman. Is your bike broken? Are you broken? Can’t move your arm properly, feel a bit groggy? Disaster! But no. What’s this? A fellow cyclist is walking towards you. ‘Hello, can you hear me? My name’s Dan/Mark/Bren/Matt/Adrian, I’m a first aider. How are you feeling?’

If you’re unconscious, we will keep you breathing. If you’re not breathing, we’ll do CPR. If you’re in shock, we’ll get you back to normal. If you’re bleeding, we’ll bandage you. If you’ve bust your collarbone, we’ll put your arm in a sling. If you’ve swallowed something and you’re choking, we’ll do the Heimlich Manoeuvre. We even know a bandage to use if you’ve impaled your leg (I’m not sure how) with a pen. We’re not paramedics, obviously, but all five of us (plus a few from the athletic club who also attended) now know what to do until the experts arrive.

It was an interesting day at Wold Newton Village Hall. Dave the instructor was an affable bloke who taught us how to deal with various casualty scenarios, showed us some grim photos of injuries, and drilled us again and again in the various checks to do to keep the casualty alive and comfortable. Mark - who organised the day - laid on a nice spread of food for us, and we all had good appetites even though lunch was right after the illustrated bit of the course named ‘Bleeding’.

We also learned that runners don’t seem to get hurt very much, compared to us cyclists. They’d been stung by wasps more often than we had, but for broken collarbones and busted shoulders, we had them beat. Dave the instructor told us that another common injury for cyclists was landing on an upturned handlebar - which can rupture the spleen. (We don’t have a bandage for that, but we have been show how to recognise abdominal injuries.)

I think we all got a lot out of the day, and I’d definitely recommend a first aid course to anyone. You never know when you’re going to need it, but you will do at some point and it could make all the difference. Thanks are due to Dave the instructor and to Mark for organising it. Top tip I’d take away: Always carry a mobile phone and dial 112 not 999 (ask one of us - we’ll explain) if there’s an emergency out in the hills.

There are some photos of the day over in the gallery under ‘Events’.

3 Responses to “First aid day report”

1. Dan Joyce says:

   October 24, 2009 at 8:40 pm

   Oh, and before I forget, make sure you ask Adrian about ‘choking on a pea…nut’!
2. Mark G says:

   October 25, 2009 at 8:07 am

   Thanks for the write up Dan. It was a good day and a laugh….Adrian had the most amenable casualty…??!!! Oh and apparently Adrian diagnosed that I had a slippy forehead and it could not be bandaged!

   Thanks for Scarborough Athletic Club coming along it was good to meet Tom, Chris and Sharon.
3. fsm says:

   October 26, 2009 at 7:48 pm

   Another tip that’s worth passing on is to make an entry in your phone under ICE.

   In Case of Emergency.

   It’s a growing habit that people are following. You can put your emergency contact phone number, address etc in there.
   In many phones you can record extra notes too, such as allergies, or perhaps your seating preference (Window or Aisle) in the air-ambulance.