The value of Learning First Aid
In this age of congestion and pollution, road accidents are common in India. Every hour, 17 people die due to road accidents. This alarming trend emphasises the need to learn First Aid to save lives. We live in a country where pizza reaches faster than an ambulance. In metro cities, it takes an average of 15 minutes at the least for an ambulance to arrive.
Rather than being helpless bystanders and taking photos, we need to directly help the victims. Within that time since anything can happen, each second is precious. More than 75% of the incidents can be resolved with proper First Aid.
While an accident is one kind of emergency, another kind is a medical emergency. Anyone around you may suddenly faint or get a heart attack. Here you may be of help to even known people as well. Every minute, 17 people lose their lives due to various emergencies.
There is a need to know the correct procedure and act fast without panicking. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a common procedure that can be life-saving in case of any emergency. It basically revives the heart.
In order to support the cause of proper First Response, ALERT, an NGO that is driven by volunteers conduct First Aid Workshop every Sunday. They also have a programme named VoICE — Volunteer In Case of Emergency. It is a first of its kind project in India that bridges the gap between medical emergency and arrival of professional help with voluntary First Response. It is a certification jointly issued by ALERT and Apollo Hospitals.
They also provide a training programme named PEER — Personal Empowerment in Emergency Response. They have a Simulation Lab where the actual emergency is simulated to give hands-on & experiential learning and generate skilled first responders. They also help schools with training. They provide Alert Being Awards to motivate the people who create social impact and change lives. The motto of the Awards is “Honouring Humanity, Awarding Good Samaritans”.
Shakthi, the founder of Makers Tribe, is himself an ALERT volunteer. Read the story of how he served as an example to many other people.
Makers Tribe in association with ALERT is conducting a free First Aid Workshop on August 11, Sunday from 10 AM to 12 PM. This is a valuable opportunity to learn life-saving skills. You can register here — https://alert.ngo/alertsundays. Let’s be Alert, Aware & Awake!
By conducting events like this, we at Makers Tribe promote community development. We also help in giving back to society. We are open to conducting events which make constructive use of time in collaboration with other organisations. You can get in touch with us through Messenger on our Facebook page.
ALERT is based at Chennai. They can be reached on Medium and also https://alert.ngo/
“One in every family to be trained” — this is the goal set for ALERT by
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
