First aid should be compulsory, new report states

The new report published to mark World First Aid Day this weekend, (Saturday 12 September), highlights the crucial importance of First Aid knowledge in keeping people alive and as comfortable as possible until the emergency services can reach the scene of an accident. The report is published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and its specialist research centre – the European Reference Centre for First Aid Education.

Concern is expressed in the Report that despite the growing awareness of safety challenges facing Europeans, most Europeans do not know First Aid. Here in Ireland, the figure is more striking still, with just 5 per cent of Irish people estimated as having First Aid knowledge.

Commenting on the Report, Irish Red Cross Vice-Chairman, Tony Lawlor, said he shared the authors concerns.

"The Irish Red Cross has been expanding the availability of our First Aid training and our volunteers – but we are stretched and urgently need more people in the community who are prepared to learn First Aid so that they can help those closest to them.

"We have provided web access and a national lo-call number for information about our courses, and clearly there is a need for a national effort to expand the number of people trained in First Aid right across the country,” said Tony Lawlor. Information about First Aid courses is available on www.RedCrossTraining.ie and 1890 502 502.

"Our members are highly-regarded for their skill in saving lives, but their decision to learn First Aid was often as a result of finding themselves helpless at the scene of an accident – and statistics show that the vast majority of these take place at home,” added Tony Lawlor, highlighting a key piece of research in the Report which, taking the UK as an example, shows that nearly half of all accidents took place in the home (41.5%) - more than the total number of accidents that take place on the roads, at sports clubs and in school taken together.

Many Irish Red Cross members have dealt with difficult situations, their experience includes all kinds of challenges including incidents such as saving babies that were choking, attending injuries at many sporting events and resuscitating people whose hearts have stopped using basic life support and defibrillators.

The Irish Red Cross continues to upgrade its training level for all its members and has secured state recognition for many of its First Aid courses. This weekend, marking World First Aid Day, the first batch of Irish Red Cross trainees will begin a course that will bring them to the level of state accredited ambulance practitioners, to attain the Emergency Medical Technician qualification.

Note to Editors

Profiles of Irish Red Cross members in your area are available. These profiles contain accounts of their experiences together with their contact details for interview.

Key points from the Report: First Aid for a Safer Future: Focus on Europe is attached overleaf.

The full report is attached under embargo as a pdf..

For further information/or to set-up an interview with a national Irish Red Cross spokesperson please contact: Aoife MacEoin. 087 - 998 3788. National Communications Officer.

First Aid for a Safer Future: Focus on Europe

Driving Licence: The case for First Aid Training

56 per cent of European countries have decided to make first aid compulsory to get a driving licence which is encouraging but this is not enough and there is clearly need for legislation at the European level both on compulsory quality first aid training and on putting a time limit on first aid certificates.

Major differences within Europe

Little Jack Mackin may be too young to learn First Aid, but the new Red Cross report “First Aid for a Safer Future” urges governments to make First Aid training more widely available to children at school. Picture : Emma Jarvis. Press 22.

The report contains several key statistics: While 95 per cent of the population in Norway, as well as 80 per cent in Germany and Austria, are trained in first aid, in many other European countries only between 5 and 10 per cent of the population have the necessary skills to take immediate action and apply the appropriate techniques n case of accident.

In many countries in Europe, authorities rely too much on emergency services instead of on the lifesaving potential of individual first aiders. All citizens should be given an active role in disaster prevention and be taught basic first aid skills that can be applied in any kind of emergency, including everyday accidents.

Without first aid, help often arrives too late

The report demonstrates how immediate first aid can help reduce the severity of injuries and save lives: "A human heart ceases beating within four minutes after breathing stops.

Permanent brain damage can occur within four to six minutes after breathing stops”, the report points out, emphasizing that, unless someone trained in first aid has taken immediate action, even the most sophisticated emergency service will frequently arrive on the scene only to certify death.

It is crucial to make first aid available to all and not only to those who can afford it. In addition we have to integrate prevention messages in first aid courses so that communities are better prepared to react when necessary, no matter whether it is a road accident or a major earthquake. This is the cost-effective, integrated approach that we are currently promoting to build communities that are safer and more resilient.
Specific groups of people need specific first aid courses
The report provides several examples of European Red Cross Red Crescent first aid training programmes that have been adapted to the needs of vulnerable groups. Examples of such groups include disabled and elderly people, youth in urban areas and ethnic minorities. In the same way, the report advocates for very specific groups to be targeted for first aid, such as family members of people living with heart diseases or elderly people.

First aiders need legal protection

The report also advocates for more access to defibrillators in public places, calls for more realistic first aid trainings and is urging European legislators to ensure that first aid providers are not held responsible for possible poor outcomes in the challenging settings of an accident: In this regard, here in Ireland, the Irish Red Cross strongly welcomes the recent report of the Law Reform Commission entitled the "Civil Liability: Good Samaritans and Volunteers.” It also welcomes the recent introduction of a private members bill by Deputy Billy Timmins and Deputy Charles Flanagan entitled the "Civil Liability (Good Samaritans and Volunteers) Bill 2009”

This is essential to avoid people from turning away from accidents because they are afraid of possible legal actions, the report’s authors conclude.

According to a survey conducted in 2006, out of the 6.2 million people trained in first aid every year in Europe, 56 per cent (3.5 million) are trained by National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies.

The role of volunteer First Aiders in the community

Irish Red Cross volunteers often give two working days per week to their voluntary work in their communities. This is a significant contribution towards the estimated half a billion Euro value to the economy of work undertaken by all voluntary groups in Ireland, as noted by a report of the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community , Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. In respect of First Aid, the Irish Red Cross is the most widely-known provider of First Aid training in Ireland.

For further information and to arrange media interviews under embargo, please contact:

Aoife MacEoin. National Communications Officer. 087 – 998 3788

The Irish Red Cross is a member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which together with all of its Red Cross and/or Red Crescent Societies in 186 countries and the International Committee of the Red Cross constitute the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

For further information on First Aid training in Ireland log onto www.RedCrossTraining.ie or call 1890 502 502

For all other Red Cross and Red Crescent activities internationally, log onto www.ifrc.org and www.icrc.org