A United Kingdom-based Nigerian charity organisation, NaijAid, in collaboration with Health Aid Charity, held a two-day seminar on basic lifesaving techniques and CPR for youths across the country.
The seminar, which was held in Lagos on Wednesday, had in attendance healthcare professionals and volunteers from the UK and Nigeria, medical students, and secondary school pupils from various states in the country.
Chairman of the organisation, Dr Kayode Babalola, said the seminar is aimed at empowering the youths as well as addressing the skillsets that are lacking in them.
He called on the government to propagate the idea of basic life support, not only to save lives but also to equip the youths with basic first aid skills.
He said, “Generally, as a charity, we thought it’s important we empower our youths. It is said to grow the youth, grow the nation. We felt that there was a skillset that was lacking in the youths that required us to address, and part of that was the issue of basic life support and first aid CPR.
“In reality, we are targeting as many youths as we can get. We brought them from all over the country down to Lagos to equip them with lifesaving techniques.
“Many of the participants are laymen. We are conscious of this fact. So it’s about first aid and being able to know how to apply first aid in an emergency situation to reduce the likelihood of that person going to the hospital or dying.
“We will want the government to help us expand this vision. We are not particularly looking for funding from the government. We have been self-funded for over 10 years, but we will be happy to work with the government to propagate this idea of basic life support and CPR. We are looking forward to partnering with the government and bringing our skills to the populace.”
CEO/founding trustee Naijaid, Mrs. Lanre Nehan-Babalola, takes participants at the event through basic lifesaving techniques and the importance of first aid in an emergency situation.
Babalola, a UK-certified fitness, health, and wellbeing coach, distinguished between primary and secondary surveys.
She said, “Culturally, we are not a society that understands the importance of first aid because we are used to going to the hospital when it comes to healthcare delivery.
“We don’t have the culture of looking after ourselves. In the days of old, most illnesses are treated at home, and that is first aid. If a child has a fever, what would mothers do? They would wash them to make sure that the temperature was low. They might not know the scientific reason for doing that, but they would cook some herbs.
“And those herbs, if scientifically looked into, would contain ingredients that would help reduce inflammation in the body. They might not know the reason why they do that, but they do anyway and don’t go to the hospital.
“So I would say first aid has been the tradition, but when we become a bit modernised, we think everyone should go to the hospital to get some treatment, and that changes the ways we look at treating ourselves.
“On first aid care, for instance, when somebody slumps and urgently needs help, the first thing to check is if it is critical. With this, you are checking whether he might die if you don’t do something fast. This is called a primary survey, which entails doing an observation.
“The acronym for that is DRABC. The D stands for Danger. Is the casualty in danger, or are you also in danger? The R for response—can they respond? Can they speak or talk? If they can talk, then it’s not critical. Then A, which stands for Airways. The airways mean air and oxygen are still able to get into the system. If they are not able to oxygenate, the brain dies, and that could be critical. The next one is breathing. Are they still breathing? If they are breathing, it means it’s not critical, and C stands for circulation. Is there circulation, or are they bleeding? If they are bleeding, you’ll want to stop the bleeding. If they are not responsive or not breathing, then it means they might die. This is when you start the CPR.
“CPR is somebody physically pumping blood through the heart. Somebody would come in to do the work of the blood on the chest, giving what we call compression to allow oxygen to circulate to keep them alive.
“There is also the AMPLE. This is applicable when the person is alive. Why do we need AMPLE? This will enable us to give vital information to the medical practitioners when they arrive. This is a secondary survey. The A is for allergies. Are they allergic to something? M stands for other medications that have been given to the casualty and P for previous medical history, while L and E stand for when last the casualty ate and the event that caused their injury or illness.”
The Lagos State Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mobolaji Ogunlende, who was a guest at the event, commended the organisers of the seminar for the lifesaving intervention.
He said, “I have to commend the efforts of the NaijAid-UK team for this lifesaving intervention. It is interactive and educative, and every single young person who participates will leave the programme without being the same. I am here to show my support and to reemphasise the ethos of our administration under the leadership of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, where we have vowed never to leave anyone behind.
“For those that are aware of our THEMES Plus agenda, the plus is social inclusion, gender equality, and the youth, which is what we have seen played out at the event. Health is wealth and it is everything. It is what the NaijAid team is teaching our youths—basic first aid and the need to survive.
“We know how hard the country is. We hear stories of people dropping on the road and people looking at them not knowing what to do. What we are trying to do here is to change the narrative and take participants through basic needs essentially to save lives. If we are able to save lives, then we can continue to thrive as a community, state, and nation. That is simply what is being done today.
“I want to urge the participants to make proper use of this all-important knowledge. They have been given the basic knowledge required to save lives. They need to ensure that they use it and speak about it. The whole idea is to keep our youth engaged.”
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