FACT SHEET
Caring For Kids — Learn St John First Aid
Fact: All children suffer injuries and become ill.
Fact: Knowing first aid helps treat minor injuries and illness
and provides skills to sustain a life in an emergency.
Parents of any age or era are confronted with the knowledge that as part of nature, the growing process involves children suffering from injuries or illness in their younger years.
From bee stings to cuts and abrasions, from fever to choking, parents or carers are the first line of assistance to a child.
Knowing first aid makes an enormous difference to a parent or carers ability to deal with minor day to day injuries to knowing what to do in an emergency.
On another level, a knowledge or first aid raises a person's awareness of safety. "Preventive first aid", is viewed as being as important as "first aid" by first aid specialists, St John Ambulance.
When dealing with children, you can't wrap them in cotton wool, but you can identify areas of risk and create a safe space for children to live and play in.
What to do in an Emergency
In any emergency, particularly one involving children, it is important to keep calm and act logically. There are four basic steps.
1. Assess the situation.
What happened? How did it happen? Is there more than one injured child? Is there any continuing danger? Is there anyone who can help? Do I need to call an ambulance?
2. Think of danger.
Do not risk injuring yourself — you cannot help if you become a casualty. Remove any source of danger from your child. Move your child only if you must and do so very carefully.
3. Treat serious injuries first.
In children, there are two conditions that immediately threatened life: (1) Inability to breathe and (2) serious bleeding (A St John course will teach you how to manage these situations).
4. Get help.
Shout for help early — ask others to: make the areas safe, call a doctor or an ambulance, help with first aid, move a child to safety if necessary.
Telephoning for help
When you call the emergency number 000 ask for the ambulance service and give them the following information: the exact location of the accident, the number of casualties, details of the type and nature if injuries, any other emergency services required, your telephone number.
Learn First Aid
These tips are in no way a substitute for a first aid course that provides practical skills and knowledge. St John recommends parents and carers to enrol in a first aid course.
(First aid tips in this article were extracted from "First Aid For Children Fast".)
For More Information:
Call Customer Service on 1300 360 455
