swedeI personally think all people should take a CPR / first aid class, knowing what to do, and how to handle injured people in the event of an accident could literary mean the difference between life or death. However, taking one class isn’t enough, as one tend to forget and mix up with time, so taking a follow-up class every now and then is a good idea.
I had about three weeks of medical training and then drills every week for two years to keep the knowledge fresh. Most of that is forgotten now, only two years later.
To tell an encounter were I wish I would’ve had that knowledge, should I’ve arrived there first:
It was about five-six years ago. I got there just after the crash had taken place, a car and a motorbike with a married couple on it. They were both on their back’s, with the man calling out to his wife, and I remember the despair in his voice, and his desperate attempts to crawl using only his arms over to his wife who wasn’t moving or making any sound. It felt so surrealistic and unreal in some way.
There were already people in place to assist and since I really didn’t know what to do I asked if anyone had called the emergency service’s, someone said they’d made the call and rescue was on it’s way. I decided to stay and keep a lookout for the ambulance. Time seemed to run like glue, and eventually I decided to give a call myself to check why the ambulance didn’t show up, turns out they’d gotten the location wrong, but after another 10-15 minutes, both firetrucks, ambulances and police showed up. Can’t tell you how relieved I was, and how effective they were at their jobs, sealing of the road, routing traffic around, and lighting the whole scene up in less than a minute.
Turned out that the couple on the motorbike were parents to a friends classmate, and they got away with just broken bones and some bruising. Nevertheless it was one of the most horrifying scenes I’ve ever witnessed.
So drive safely and do what Kick tells you.
