Paramedics and Emergency Medical Response

Education and Safety for the Youth of Today


Education plays a big part in a human’s existence and we all need to be educated on different aspects of life. Every small thing from being potty trained to the safe way of moving a vehicle from one lane to the other was taught to us by a mentor, teacher, parent or book. Fact is we very rarely hinge on our animal instincts to get us through the day in this modern day and age. It is with this that we acknowledge our educators and most modern format of education by having an entire week dedicated to schools awareness.

The latest statistics indicate that on average 14 167 086 pupils head to no less than 35 231 educational institutions to receive their daily dose of lectures from no less than 452 971 teachers and lecturers. That being said the system itself is huge and requires a massive support structure to function on a daily basis. Lift clubs, leave by the minute deadlines and endless arguing as to what the morning soundtrack should be could make for a stressful commute.

Before you reach the age of 18, commuting to school either means a tiresome walk, cycle, carpooling or shot-gunning it with your parents while sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. Do we ever take the time to think about the inherent dangers of our children’s commute to and from their educational institution and have you as a parent taken the time to educate your child at home of these dangers? Once confronted with a medical emergency will your child know what to do in your absence? These are the kind of questions we as parents need to ask ourselves.

Schools and teachers do their best to be up to date with first aid, but children are children and teenagers are a different ball game all together. I remember vividly being in a few situations where I was confronted with an emergencies being unable to recall even my dads phone number, not because I didn’t know it, I bet I can still send him a please call me from a 3310 blind folded, but confronted with a not so normal situation I hit a blank.

We educate our children to not run with scissors, but what happens when someone else was running with the scissors and your child happened to be the unfortunate victim or witness. Could they react in the appropriate manner and take the necessary action to resolve the matter? At school there’s a subject for this called Life Orientation.

Some private schools offer first aid courses to learners who want to be educated in this subject. This would work in a perfect world, but today’s generation-Y is the generation of Facebook, Twitter &Playstation. Will your child volunteer to attend a first aid course? ER24 offers a wide range of first aid courses nationwide and include:First Aid Level 1, 2 and 3, Sports First Aid, a Basic CPR Course and Family and Friends CPR. All training initiatives considered and still your rebellious teenager refuses to let go of his Beats earphones to acknowledge your advice and existence. What can you do?

Certain steps can be taken to assist your child in an emergency even if he or she is unprepared for the situation. By saving the ER24 emergency number, 084 124, under phonebook entries such as Emergency and Ambulance your child my react instinctively when confronted with an emergency by reaching for his or her cell phone. By instructing your child to activate speed dial 1 to reach an ambulance can save their life. By saving your own phone number under the abbreviation ICE, In-CASE-of-Emergency, paramedics can dial your number to acquire vital information necessary to treat your child.

ER24 commends all the teachers, lecturers, janitors, office personal and after school aunties around our great nation for the tireless and sometimes unrewarding work they do in educating our youth and leaders of tomorrow. As parents we still need to take responsibility and make time to inform and educate our children of the dangers of being human in today’s modern age. Accidents happen and you and your child need to know what to do should such a situation present itself. Remember to call 084 124 for Real Help Real Fast.

Andre Visser, ER24

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