Patra's Other Place

I started out with Patra's Place, primarily dedicated to my linen collection and stitching projects. But I kept getting side-tracked, so I decided to create Patra's Other Place for anything not related to embroidery topics. So you now have a choice. If you are interested in me, read this. If you only want to see my linen and stitching, visit Patra's (original) Place! (Please note that by clicking on any of the photos, they will be enlarged to fill your computer screen.)

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Location: Melbourne, Vic., Australia

I was married to Ken for 43 years, but he died in October 2022. So I am now alone with two cats, eight hens, and a few finches and parrots in one aviary.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

A Weekend of learning.

I spent all day Saturday and Sunday with seven other people, being taught First Aid Level 2 at the training Headquarters of Ambulance Victoria. (This was actually a refresher course for me; I'd done it six years ago, but it is necessary to have more training a few years down the track, as you do forget after a while). That means, apart from the basic emergency life saving procedures, we now know how to identify and manage a number of life threatening situations. We can administer C.P.A., stop severe bleeding, apply splints and slings to broken bones, and we know what to do when somebody is having a stroke, heart attack, seizure, or is choking, or has been burnt, poisoned (many variations there) or has something embedded in their eye. We learnt what should be in a first aid kit - throw out the bandaids and antiseptics for a start!

There was an astonishing amount to take in, and the above was only a fraction of it, but our instructor was very patient, going over everything until he was sure we understood the procedures. Everyone had tales to tell about themselves and their families - all the events we have experienced where First Aid knowledge would have come in very handy. Here I am, carrying out CPA on one of the dummies which is provided for the purpose of practice. You can practise putting slings and splints on another person, but not CPA!



I came away with renewed respect for doctors, nurses and ambulance personnel, who all go through years of training and upgrades - not just one weekend! So while I realise my skills are very limited in comparison, at least I'll know what to do while waiting for an ambulance in the event of any of my clients being ill or falling, or if I'm first on the scene at a car accident, or (and may God forbid) I might be of help if we ever experience a terrorist attack here. Our group discussed briefly what might happen in that scenario, and we agreed that the more people who learn First Aid, the better it is for the community as a whole.
Here is our instructor handing out some bandages to some of the students (the others were elsewhere in the room when I took this).

2 Comments:

Blogger Scribe With Gold said...

Congrat's Gina. I used to be a volunteer instructor and have taught a number of first aid, CPR, HIV and 17 other courses. Your descriptions and pictures brought back a lot of memories of former classes. :)

I had to give it up after my car accident because of pain in my arm and neck. I'm an active instructor and believe on hands on and showing. Not just standing there and telling.
Again, congrat's on your skills. :)
Now back to catching up.
Have a great week.
HUGS,
-Patty

Monday, 10 September, 2007  
Blogger Val said...

I think this will be something you'll have to tell us more about on our picnic, Gina. And I am curious as to why you'd throw out bandaids and anticeptics...

Monday, 10 September, 2007  

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