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Who to help first?
Ask students to imagine that they are first on the scene of a road traffic collision.
In one of the cars, one passenger is quiet. Another is screaming in pain and shouting for help.
Which one do students think is in most urgent need of help? Which one would a trained first aider or medical first responder go to first?
Discuss.
The answer is that a first aider is trained to help the quiet one first. Why? Because someone screaming tells you something. It shows that they are conscious, their breathing is not restricted, and their heart and pulse are functioning.
The same may not be true of quiet casualties. So they are the ones that need checking first.
Talk to students about how this might operate in practice. Would they find it easy not to attend immediately to someone apparently in pain. What might they do or say to reassure the conscious sufferer, while checking on those who might be unconscious?
Talk about the priority. Do students agree that saving a life is a more urgent task than reducing pain and suffering?
Who deserves help?
Imagine that a road traffic collision involved two cars.
In one, an executive BMW 5 series estate, was a woman with her two young children.
In the other, a VW Golf with empty beer cans on the dashboard and speed garage booming out of the powerful sound system, were two young men wearing baseball caps.
Ask students if they think the occupants of one car deserve help more than the other. Explore the assumptions and stereotypes.
At some point, explain that a basic principle of first aid and health treatment – and in fact any humanitarian intervention – is that it is provided on the basis of need. People do not deserve more help because they are richer, better behaved or somehow nicer than others.
Are students convinced? Talk about why people can be judgmental, even about things they know very little about – such as who was to blame for a collision.
Teach first aid to your students using our Life. Live it. first aid education kit.
Credits
This resource was written by PJ White and produced in May 2008.
This resource and other free educational materials are available at www.redcross.org.uk/education