Read true stories of people who used first aid to help in an emergency, or even to save a life. They will help you learn what to do in a crisis and build your own first aid skills.
Whether you’re training for a marathon, a 10k or just enjoy the odd jog, as a regular runner you’re in a unique position to help others. But you might not be aware of it.
Being out and about early in the morning or in remote areas means you could be the first person to bump into someone in a first aid crisis. Would you be able to help?
Every year thousands of children with burns have to go to hospital. It’s an incredibly common injury – especially for under-fives. That’s why all parents and carers need to know how to help a a baby or child who a has a burn.
If you’ve ever spilt a hot drink over yourself, you’ll know it can make you jump or yelp. Chances are a small spill won’t leave you badly hurt.
But babies and children have much more sensitive skin than you or I. So if they tip a hot drink over, it can be much more serious. That’s why it’s important to know how to treat a burn or scald. More
Stefan Rousseau/PA
After Jacqui Putnam was caught up in the London Bombings, we helped her deal with the harrowing experience. She became a first aid volunteer with us and has saved many lives. This is her story.
I was in the front carriage on the Edgware Road train when the explosion happened. The bomb was in the next carriage along.
A lot of things happened in a split second. There was a loud bang – a high-pitched crack – and a flash of light, which illuminated hundreds of tiny shards of glass in the air.
The force of the blast travelled forward along the train. I felt immense pressure on my left shoulder which pushed me violently forward in my seat. More
Here are a few tips for staying (literally) cool-headed during the heatwave – and why you shouldn’t believe some of those hoary old myths.
Yes, really! Heat escapes through the skin, so the larger the area being cooled down, the better.
So forget that old myth about rubbing ice cubes on the wrists to cool the whole body. In baking hot weather, wearing a wet t-shirt – and keeping it wet – can be really effective. More
During the First World War, the British Red Cross got lots of help from an unlikely quarter. As Armistice Day approaches, we sniff around for the full story.
At first, it sounds like a particularly far-fetched episode of Lassie.
A dog, you say, carrying first aid supplies through the whizzing bombs and flying bullets of no man’s land? And all to reach and save wounded soldiers? It sounds preposterous. But it’s true – every word of it. More
This post was updated in April 2018.
Anyone who’s been stabbed needs immediate help. Their life could be at risk.
Helping someone who’s been stabbed is actually pretty straightforward. Just follow these steps and you could save someone’s life.
1. During the Second World War, as well as sending food parcels, we sent artificial limbs to wing commander Douglas Bader in a parcel while he was a prisoner of war. We also sent more than 14,000 musical instruments to POWs, resulting in orchestras at 100 camps. Books were also provided for recreational and study purposes.
2. Our Pakistan Floods Appeal reached 2.5 million people on Twitter.
3. We have one web-footed volunteer – a dog called Loki. The Newfoundland is a member of the water rescue team in Northern Scotland and prized for his life-saving prowess in water, in case of floods.
4. Agatha Christie was a voluntary aid detachment for the Red Cross during the First World War and Second World War.
5. As well as donations to our emergency appeals, we receive some more unusual things in the post from the public, such as a prosthetic leg… and tea bags.
6. Our fourth most profitable charity shop – taking nearly £100,000 profit already this year – is situated in a sunken car park, off the beaten track, in Banchory, Scotland.
7. Percy Lane Oliver, a British Red Cross volunteer, set up the UK’s first blood collection service in 1921. The Red Cross supported the NHS with blood transfusion until 1987.
8. Rudyard Kipling helped with our war library, which supplied free books and magazines to sick and wounded soldiers and sailors in the UK and abroad during the First World War.
9. The Red Cross worked with the Department of health to produce dressings made of moss throughout the Second World War. There was substantial demand from hospitals which led to a huge saving in the use of cotton wool. The dressings were made by Red Cross work parties throughout Scotland. By June 1945, there were sufficient stocks. During the war 83,616 dressings were dispatched from Ayrshire, 35,475 from the Glasgow regional centre, and 35 sacks and 2037 dressings from Lanarkshire.
10. It may only be October, but our Christmas cards are already available online.
Image: Stuart Dowell/Flickr
Last Wednesday I was teaching on one of our first aid courses. The topic of the day? Extremes of temperature.
We looked at a range of conditions, from heatstroke to hypothermia.
On looking at the signs and symptoms of heatstroke, one of my students said she had experienced shivering when she had heatstroke while camping.
“That’s not what it says in the book!” I said.
“Well, I was definitely shivering!” she replied.
We do hear some weird, non-textbook symptoms when we’re treating casualties. This was certainly one of them. More
Page 6 of 7