QUALITIES OF A PERSON GIVING FIRST AID
1. One should be a good observer, able to note the cause and effects of the injury.
2. He should be able to act quickly.
3. He should not panic or get excited at a critical time.
4. One should be resourceful, able to use whatever things are available.
Continue reading First-Aid: What Should One Giving First-Aid Do?
1. Assessment of the situation : Observe what has happened quickly and calmly. Look for dangers to yourself and the victim. Never put yourself at risk.
What is a poison ?
Anything which when taken into the body affects if adversely. Poisons can be tables taken in excess (of which the commonest are painkillers, sleeping tablets and iron tablets); fruits and plants (e.g., mushrooms and berries); chemicals (e.g., weed killers, domestic cleaning fluids and turpentine substitute (turps); bites (such as those from a snake); gases (like coal gas or industrial gases that are absorbed through the lungs); and agricultural pesticides that are absorbed through the skin.
Continue reading First-Aid: What is Poison? What to Do When Someone Has Swallowed Poison?
The materials necessary for first aid are kept together in a first aid kit or some other suitable container. These kits should be kept in the work place, in home, sports and leisure facilities and vehicles.
Do not use a tourniquet to stop bleeding — the chances are you will do more harm than good by cutting off the blood supply for too long.
Continue reading First-Aid: Some Common Do Nots To Avoid Accidents
Although industrial gases and vapours of various kinds are encountered by those working with them, the gases most of us come across are domestic gas, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
Continue reading First-Aid: Poisoning By Gas Or Smoke (Fumes)
There are surprisingly large numbers of poisonous plants. The best rule is to each your children never to such or eat anything unless given to them by their parents or by other adults whom they know. Most of the poisonous plants listed below are unpleasant to eat and so are difficult to consume in large enough quantities to be harmful but even so — play safe with children.
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Breast abscess
Nearly ten per cent of breast feeding mothers suffer from a breast abscess in the weeks following childbirth. These abscesses are almost entirely preventable in the first place and arise only because the modem’ mothers feed their babies in such a strange way. Because they breast feed by the clock (if indeed they breast feed at all), the breasts become engorged (swollen) and the pressure within the breasts can block a milk duct. The blocked duct shows as a red, hot, tender lump in the breast and this often makes the woman feel shivery or ‘flu-like’.
Continue reading First-Aid: Self-Help for Treating Breast Abscess, Breast Lump and Bronchitis
Alcoholism
This is a complex disease that is almost impossible to treat at home. If a member of your family is an alcoholic you will need help in order to lead a normal family life. Because alcoholism is a ‘family disease’, it has insidious effects which can be damaging to any or all of the family.
Continue reading First-Aid: Self-Help for Treating Alcoholism, Angina, Arthritis and Blisters
This section is not meant to be a medical encyclopaedia, nor a way of making the reader into a professor of medicine overnight! The subjects covered are basically those which, whilst not life-threatening, can be distressing, painful or simply worrying until you can get medical help. If you suffer from longstanding arthritis or bad breath, the chances are that you will have to come to terms with it, find a satisfactory treatment or at least be prepared to seek non urgent’ medical advice.