Did you know that first aid is the provision of initial care for an injured person until proper medical attention is received? So you don’t actually need to be a professional to assist someone who has been injured and that means that the survival chances are much higher when applied in seconds at the moment of the accident.
I had always thought that knowing basic emergency assistance would be always useful and a few years ago I did a course at the Red Cross’ headquarters in Barcelona. We were taught how to properly apply bandaging for injured limbs, correct cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), what steps to follow in an emergency, psychological support for a victim, etc. It was a quite complete and a very hands-on course.
Yesterday, when I was on my way home, I found myself in a situation that required first aid until proper medical attention could be applied. For some reason a woman had collapsed in the middle of Oxford St. and a bunch of girls were trying to stand her up.
I stood there watching the scene; I knew that what they were doing was utterly wrong, but nonetheless I remained passive until I saw a young man who swiftly removed these girls and took over the situation. He left the woman on the floor, put his bag under her head and accommodated her using the recovery position.

Then, this guy, asked if everyone could step back so as for her to have some space and air and also if anyone had called an ambulance already.
Everything had been masterfully executed. Basically the steps that have to be followed in a situation like this are:
- Protect everyone in the scene including yourself from further danger.
- Call up for help. Ambulance and so on.
- Help the victims, putting in practice first aid, in order to keep them alive until proper medical assistance arrives.
They weren’t in a life threatening situation but after witnessed everything that had happened I could only be upset with myself. I thought about it for a while and I came at the conclusion that I indeed had the knowledge that could have allowed me to help that woman, as I could identify the good practice the guy had followed. But instead was the way I reacted in front of an emergency situation that wasn’t correct.
You can be taught how to rationally act in a given scenario, what’s best to do and what’s not. But when it comes down to act in an emergency, if there has not been previous exposures where you have been able to rationalize what happened, things are very different.
Have you ever wondered what would you do in an extreme situation? Maybe your instinct tells you to run away as fast as possible, living your kids behind. You don’t mean that, in fact you would protect them with your live, but you are already miles away and safe.
So, if you ever happen to take one of this courses don’t just learn the basics, push yourself psychologically by imagining a real situation and train your body to be under this kind of stress.
Miquel Education