First Aid Training is an essential skill and part of citizenship, forming one of the aims of the RAF Air Cadets. It's a skill we hope no one will ever need to use, but useful to have the skills tucked up your sleeve just in case you need to help others and potentially save someone's life.
On the 29th July, 17 year old Cadet Cpl Fraser-Cattanach raced to help a man that he found unconscious lying by a fence. Cpl F-C, who has taken the St John Ambulance Activity First Aid Course and proudly wears the silver first aid badge on his uniform brassard, immediately took action upon seeing the casualty. Cpl F-C completed the Primary and Secondary surveys, ensuring that the area was safe, checking the responsiveness of the casualty, and once establishing that the patient was unresponsive, checking him for injuries and placing him in the recovery position. After he had checked that the patients airways were open and clear in the recovery position, Cpl F-C shouted for help and rang an ambulance.
Once the ambulance was on the way, Cpl F-C organised the bystanders that had gathered, calming down a small crowd and getting two people to get a first aid kit and a blanket and pillow. Cpl F-C regularly checked the patients breathing, ensuring his air ways were clear. After using the first aid kit to attend to a head wound, Cpl F-C also ensured that the patient was kept as warm and comfortable as possible whilst laying out in the cold.
Cpl F-C stayed with the patient the entire time, tending to a wound, regularly checking his condition, doing as instructed by the Ambulance Service, and keeping control of the entire situation when faced with bystanders that didn’t know how to help.
Cpl F-C has shown his ability to deal with such a difficult situation in an incredibly mature manner, an extremely commendable achievement, that potentially saved a mans life and ensured that other members of the public were kept safe! A real life situation is very different to the simulations used when taking a first aid course and Cpl F-C was able to stay calm and collected, remember everything he was taught and act accordingly.
Written by Sgt Adamski, Sqn Media Team Lead