Fall/Winter 2003

Preparing For Tomorrow’s Emergency Today (And Why You Should)
By John Davenport

The quickest way to make a bad situation worse is to panic. In the case of an on-the-job medical emergency, if you can’t remain calm, you may just have to fake it.

That may sound flippant, but it actually can be an important part of rendering first aid.

In an emergency situation, the victim’s reaction to his or her condition, in large part, will mirror your reaction. If you can stay calm, or at least maintain the appearance of being calm, others around you will tend to control their reactions, too. More importantly, the victim will be easier to treat.

If you begin yelling or showing other signs of losing control, the victim may panic and resist your efforts to render aid. In some cases, the victim may suffer additional injuries while struggling against the first aid responder.

Medical professionals undergo extensive training to learn how to deal with emergency situations. The rest of us can only do the best we can do.

Stay (or act) calm
An actor trains for a role by rehearsing lines, practicing gestures and facial expressions, and so on. To some extent, you can use this technique to prepare how you react to an emergency. In fact, just thinking about the role you may find yourself in someday may make a big difference in how you respond to an emergency when the time comes.

Essentially, you can practice staying calm, or at least practice acting calm.

Try this exercise today, before you have to deal with a real emergency. Look around your job site, and ask yourself: What emergency situations are most likely to occur? What steps would you take if an emergency happened today? What, if any, situations have happened in the past? How did people react? What actions would they change, if they could?

Admit to yourself that you’re likely to be a little frightened. That’s natural. Next, imagine yourself pushing your fear aside by focusing on handling the situation to the best of your abilities.

Let this anonymous quotation guide your reactions: “Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the conquest of it.”

Get first aid training
Of course, the best way to prepare for a medical emergency is through first aid training. Rendering first aid to a seriously injured person may make the difference between a temporary disability and a permanent one, or even between life and death.

Fortunately, anyone can—and everyone should—learn basic first aid. Several organizations offer first aid training, including the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, and the YMCA. Your community may offer other classes, too.

The Texas Mutual_SM safety resource catalog also offers several training tapes and booklets on first aid.

Register today for a first aid training class near you, and encourage your co-workers to do the same. Make sure you and your co-workers know where the company first aid kit is located and how to use it.

Remember: First aid training won’t do you any good unless you get it before you need it.

Stop and think
Regardless of the situation, remember to stop and think before you react. As part of your mental rehearsal, practice asking yourself these three questions:

1. Is it safe? Don’t rush into the scene of an accident until you’ve determined it is safe. You can’t help anyone if you become injured or incapacitated, too. Work from the outside in. Look at the area first, the victim second, and the specific wounds or injuries third.
2. What does the victim need? Once you determine that you may safely enter the scene of the accident, talk to the victim. Ask, “Are you okay?” If the victim is conscious and able to respond, find out what happened and where the pain is. If the victim cannot respond, first make sure the victim is breathing, then check for bleeding. If you suspect a spine or neck injury, don’t move the victim except in cases where encroaching fire or some other imminent, life-threatening danger is present.
3. Who can help? In most workplace emergencies, more than one person is on the scene. Point to someone nearby, and tell him or her to call 9-1-1. Don’t say, “Call for help,” or the co-worker may simply call another co-worker, wasting precious time. If the co-worker has a cell phone or other phone on the scene, tell him or her to relay information between the dispatcher and you. If nobody else is around and you have a cell phone, make the call yourself.

Call 9-1-1
Just as you should stay calm for the victim’s sake, you must also stay calm when calling for help. Remember to give the 9-1-1 dispatcher your location (including the street address and nearby intersection, if possible), your name, the phone number you’re calling from, a description of what happened, a description of the victim’s condition, and any medical alert information on the victim. Stay on the line until the dispatcher tells you it’s okay to hang up, and follow the dispatcher’s directions.

Do your best
Medical assistance is usually just a phone call away. Even if you don’t have any formal first aid training, just knowing how to stay calm and get help can make a difference.

Sometimes, all it takes is one person who stays calm enough to call 9-1-1 and follow the dispatcher’s directions. Sometimes, just being able to fake staying calm long enough to get help might save a life.

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