The action Don’t be afraid to rescue !, which is to promote the need to provide first aid and overcome fear in this regard, started on Monday in the district of Krapkowicki in Opole. Representatives of the provincial authorities announce its extension to the entire region.
The action takes place at the initiative of the district office in Krapkowice, and it is joined by the District Sanitary and Epidemiological Station in Krapkowice and the local police headquarters. During routine activities, e.g. driver checks, police officers will hand out stickers with short instructions on how to give first aid.
Three types of stickers have been created – for basic first aid procedures; dealing with a choked child as well as an unconscious and breathless child. “So far, 5 of each of these leaflets have been printed, but we plan to reprint them,” announced Sabina Gorzkulla-Kotzot, the deputy starost of Krapkowice.
At the beginning of the action in the starosty of Krapkowice, training for sanitary and police employees on the principles of providing first aid was organized. A doctor from the anesthesiology and intensive care unit at the Provincial Hospital in Opole, Marcin Kubiak, explained how important it is to be able to provide first aid. He said that the research shows that every year in the USA and Europe it reaches 400. cardiac arrest. Only 10 percent. cases manage to save the lives of the victims. In 88 percent. cases of cardiac arrest occur at home.
“So everyone may be in a situation where it will be necessary to take life-saving measures” – he emphasized. “Meanwhile, 80 percent. respondents admitted that they would not be able to provide first aid, or they would be afraid to do it, ”said Kubiak.
He added that whether someone survives after cardiac arrest and in what state depends on the time in which the circulation is restored. If this can be done within one minute of being stopped, statistically eight out of 10 patients are rescued. If 6 minutes passes, the chances of being saved fall below 25%.
The doctor instructed that when starting to provide first aid it is necessary, inter alia, take care of your own safety; also check for signs of cardiac arrest; call for help and start compressing the heart, alternating 30 compressions in the center of the chest and two breaths. In the case of children, the entire process should be preceded by five puffs of breath.
Provincial consultant for anaesthesiology and intensive care in the province in Opole and the head of the anaesthesiology and intensive care ward at the Provincial Hospital in Opole, Dr. Józef Bojko admitted that his ward often receives people who have not received first aid quickly enough or have been done wrong. The result is that patients – despite their restored vital functions – have extensive brain damage.
At the end of Monday’s training, Dr. Boyko showed the participants a postcard, which his department received at the beginning of August from a man who had saved his life. “Thank you for giving me my life. It is thanks to you that I am now in Masuria, ”wrote the patient.
“There can be more such cases, if help comes quickly and each of us can provide it well,” said Boyko, arguing that first aid training should take place, for example, in schools, and public institutions should have defibrillators available.
Action “Don’t be afraid to save!” – Kazimierz Łukawiecki, MD, PhD, announced by the director of the Sanepid in Krapkowice – it will last until the end of the year. He reminded that it is worth learning first aid also because failure to do it or giving it wrong is punishable by a penalty.
Deputy Marshal Roman Kolek, who is responsible for health care in the region, emphasized in an interview with PAP that the Krapkowice campaign was worth disseminating. “Therefore, in the near future, I would like to meet the Opole police commander on this matter, to talk about its extension to the entire region,” he announced. (PAP)
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