Essential to know how to handle an emergency

What would you do if your child ever chokes on food? Or has a bad fall while playing? Or suddenly breaks into an asthmatic attack? Most would probably rush to the nearest doctor. Nothing wrong with that, except that it could sometimes prove critical if the child is not administered first aid in the meantime.Zaid Abu Bakr, a paramedic certified by the American Health & Safety Association, drew home the point at a workshop held at the private Synergy Integrated Medical Centre this week. The group of school teachers from the Homegrown Children's Eco Nursery were all ears. Their brief: to equip themselves to handle first aid emergencies once the school reopens. With many of them being mothers, the course was doubly useful. "My son once stuck a piece of apple up his nose," recalled Katherine Griffiths, who had to go to two hospitals to get the emergency addressed. "There was no one available to deal with the incident at the first hospital," she said, adding that she had to wait for an hour at the second hospital before her child, who couldn't breathe normally, was seen by a doctor.Dr Adham Alameddin, Medical Director of Synergy Integrated Medical Centre, said the importance of paediatric emergencies had prompted the centre to introduce paediatric first aid courses so that residents could effectively handle the situation while they waited for a doctor.School teachers and parents apart, many families send nannies and baby-sitters for classes as they leave their children with them for long hours while they go out to work, said Dr Alameddin. Injuries are the second biggest cause of deaths among children, said Abu Bakr. "The most common emergencies include choking, falls, asthma, fainting, burns, head injuries, fractures etc," he noted, taking his audience through these situations and how they could to be tackled.If, for instance, a child has an asthma attack, he said it is critical to call for an ambulance (999) and in the interim provide medication - a reliever and preventer. "Sit the child up and help him use the reliever and stay with him till the ambulance arrives," he said. In case of choking, they were taught how to dislodge an object through systematic steps involving back blows and thrusts.The paediatric first aid courses cost Dh250 per head. From / Gulf News