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First Aid Matters
Nov. 15th, 2024 11:48 pmFor the past fifteen years or so, I have been a designated (Physical) First Aid officer at multiple workplaces (VPAC, UniMelb) and in the past three years, because the world has become a little more attentive to such things, the Mental Health First Aid officer as well. In the past couple of weeks, both of these certifications required refreshing, and courtesy of the benevolence and tactical investment of my employer, I went through the requisite few days required for recertification, with both courses conducted by Real Response. I must say they do a pretty good job, providing theoretical grounding, practical discussion, immersive roleplay, and a fairly thorough exam, all whilst noting the limits of a first aid person compared to a health professional.
The Physical First Aid course covered basic emergency life support for various situations and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. One of the roleplays for that led to a bit of confusion, with an innocent bystander thinking we were performing something for Halloween. The Mental Health First Aid course covered depression and self-harming behaviour, anxiety and panic attacks, substance abuse and psychotic breakdowns. As an amusing aside, I was given the role of an office worker with contamination OCD in the immersive session, which I apparently did quite well; several people rather sincerely praised my presentation, with one person asking me later whether I had a side gig as an actor. Ha! Just decades of experience getting into character with table-top roleplaying games.
The inner sysadmin in me immediately suggests that prevention is better than managing a crisis or cure and that work and social environments ought to be designed to minimise the need of physical or mental first aid. But the need is still very real and still exists. As a result, I am a thorough believer that as many people as possible should acquire these skills. I also recognise that a particular sort of focus and level-headedness in crisis situations is also required. I can recall vividly the Dili riots of December 2002 centred around where I worked, the "Palásiu Governu". Despite the crisis all around, and eventually the appearance of dozens of heavily-armed UN peacekeepers, I found myself with a sense of calm and even provided a "live update" on Usenet as it was all happening. That experience is probably why I have continued with first aid training to this day.
The Physical First Aid course covered basic emergency life support for various situations and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. One of the roleplays for that led to a bit of confusion, with an innocent bystander thinking we were performing something for Halloween. The Mental Health First Aid course covered depression and self-harming behaviour, anxiety and panic attacks, substance abuse and psychotic breakdowns. As an amusing aside, I was given the role of an office worker with contamination OCD in the immersive session, which I apparently did quite well; several people rather sincerely praised my presentation, with one person asking me later whether I had a side gig as an actor. Ha! Just decades of experience getting into character with table-top roleplaying games.
The inner sysadmin in me immediately suggests that prevention is better than managing a crisis or cure and that work and social environments ought to be designed to minimise the need of physical or mental first aid. But the need is still very real and still exists. As a result, I am a thorough believer that as many people as possible should acquire these skills. I also recognise that a particular sort of focus and level-headedness in crisis situations is also required. I can recall vividly the Dili riots of December 2002 centred around where I worked, the "Palásiu Governu". Despite the crisis all around, and eventually the appearance of dozens of heavily-armed UN peacekeepers, I found myself with a sense of calm and even provided a "live update" on Usenet as it was all happening. That experience is probably why I have continued with first aid training to this day.
