First Aid (Page 10)

“I really, really wanted to say thank you. I don’t think I conveyed how grateful I was.” Maggie Ireland fought back tears as she thanked two Red Cross volunteers for their assistance after she and her niece, Jamie, were involved in a car accident in downtown Edmonton.

Not everyone experiences chest pain during a heart attack. In my First Aid and CPR training with the Red Cross, I’d learned that heart attack symptoms for women can be a lot different than for men. But it didn’t really sink in how difficult that might make it to recognize a problem, until this happened.

My family recently found ourselves on a Caribbean island where we were having a wonderful vacation. My husband and I have always loved the water and once upon a time were both lifeguards in Canada (let's just call us 'retired'). With two young children, we respect the ocean and are always looking for opportunities to talk over safety in the water, taking the opportunity in this case to explore ocean currents and what they mean when we're thinking about cooling off in the ocean.

The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.

A woman is found frozen in remote Squamish, British Columbia. The story of her rescue seems almost impossible, combining luck with a dedicated team’s refusal to give up. 

We took a moment to talk to some mental health advocates about the importance of integrating mental health into first aid. 

When we see someone experiencing a medical emergency we know first aid can be a life-saving measure, but what if we saw someone experiencing a mental health emergency such as depression or suicidal behaviour?

Spending time outside is a big part of many Canadians’ winters, but there is need for precautions to make sure everyone stays warm and avoids a cold-related emergency. What’s a cold-related emergency? When a person is exposed to cold temperatures it can cause their body temperature to decrease.