This doesn't replace a course. A five-hour Red Cross course teaches this on a manikin, and that's what you remember. The dispatcher on 194 or 112 will talk you through it on the phone.
Calling an ambulance
Call 194 (emergency medical service) or 112 and say:
- what happened and whether there's still danger,
- where you are,
- how many are hurt, who they are and how they are.
Don't hang up until the person you're talking to tells you to.
Unconscious person
- Check it's safe for you, for them and for people around.
- Gently shake their shoulders and call to them loudly.
- If they don't respond, shout for help.
- Open the airway: tilt the head back and lift the chin.
- For up to 10 seconds, check whether they're breathing: listen, look, feel.
- If they're breathing, turn them into the recovery position and watch them until help arrives.
- If they're not breathing, call 194 or 112 and start CPR.
CPR
- Lay the person on their back on a flat, firm surface.
- Put your hands on the middle of the breastbone, fingers interlocked, arms straight.
- 30 compressions on the middle of the chest.
- Tilt the head back, pinch the nose and give 2 breaths into the mouth.
- Keep going 30:2 until they start breathing or help arrives.
Severe bleeding
- Use protective gloves whenever you can.
- Lay the injured person down, calm them, uncover the wound.
- Stop the bleeding with direct pressure on the wound through sterile gauze or clean cloth, then apply a pressure bandage.
- Once it stops, keep them lying with their legs raised above heart level.
- Wrap a severed body part in sterile material, seal it in a bag, put that in a second bag with cold water and ice, and hand it to the ambulance crew.
Fractures
- Calm the injured person and don't move them unless you must. The injured part must stay still.
- Immobilise the broken bone and the joints next to it, e.g. with a triangular bandage.
Motorcycle helmet
Take it off only if the person is unconscious and you can't open the airway with it on, if they're vomiting, if they're not breathing, or if they have serious head injuries. Two people take it off.