On February 13, Resident Directors, Assistants, and Residence Hall Executives attended a first aid training organized by the Residence Halls Council.
Chair of the Council, Mr. Justin Adda, said the event was organized so that new residence hall staff members will get familiar with the first aid administration process as they are usually the first point of call in emergency situations happening to students. He said the event is usually held every semester.
The Chief Administrator of AUN Health Center, Mr. Philip Eappen, facilitated the training of more than 50 participants.
During his presentation, Eappen explored various emergencies that can arise on campus in the residences, including cases of falling unconsciously, breathing difficulty, allergies, burns, bites and stings, and bleeding.
He said the first thing to check in an unconscious patient is whether he/she is breathing.
He stressed the need for such a first responder to always call for help since they would usually not know what is happening to such a patient. He said such a responder should stay with the patient until an emergency response arrives. He cautioned them not to try to give anything oral to such a patient.
“You can help them relax… it is not easy for a first aider to understand what exactly is happening to the patient.”
As for breathing difficulty, he said an aider should look out for abnormal breathing. “Breathing less than 12 times a minute is very slow, and more than 25 per minute is high. These are dangerous signs.”
In the case of burns, his advice is not to use ice as it can worsen the situation.
He also explained and demonstrated how to administer Cardiac Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). He stressed that this first aid is usually done if the heart and lungs are not working i.e. when a person is dead. He said that it is possible to resuscitate such persons who might have died due to collapse from shock or electrocution but not usually after seven minutes when the brain cells become dead.
Eappen stressed the need to always check for breathing and blood circulation. He gave two signs to determine blood pulse and breathing.
He said that pressing the chest beating vigorously up to 100 times could revive the cardiac function. “Push hard and fast. It is better to push hard than not enough.”
By Omorogbe Omorogiuwa