“The power of empowering”: First Aid Trainers and Volunteers from the Pakistan Red Crescent Society
For more than 150 years and all around the world, providing first aid to injured people has been one of the principal mission of Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies. Each year, National Societies train more than 23 million people in first aid with the goal of ensuring at least one person trained in every household.
First aid trainings are at the center of the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) strategy. According to the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Pakistan is among the most disaster-prone countries in South Asia. Recurrent disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, heatwaves or cyclones are making the population of the country very vulnerable.
Because of this particular context, as well as an increase in the number of road traffic accidents and a high rate of domestic accidents, the PRCS decided to take up the aim of training one “First Aider in Every Home” and expanded the outreach of its first aid program.
The importance of teaching first aid to community members
The PRCS First Aid Programs’ main target audience is schools, colleges and universities. Adnan Ahmed Khan, who is a District First Aider, explains that he discovered the PRCS at school and that it inspired him to get involved in this organization. He now teaches first aid to students. “Surveys shows that we can reduce the number of deaths if given rightly and timely first aid to the injured. If we teach first aid to students, they will be able to manage a casualty before the arrival of a doctor” he says. “Our project is to have a first aider in every home, and that is what motivates me to teach first aid.”
Dr Syed Muhammad Khan explains that it is sometimes difficult to motivate students to join the trainings. “Many people don’t know about first aid, and say that they don’t have time to learn it.” Adnan agrees: “Some students say their mathematics class is more important and they don’t want to miss it. But when students who were given the trainings come back to me and share their success stories, when they say they gave first aid in their home or at school, it makes me very happy.”
First aid trainers play a major role in building up the resilience of a community. They know how precious first aid knowledge is: the more people are trained, the safer a community becomes.
“It is a power to be able to empower others”
Dr Rizwana Wasif is a Provincial Program Coordinator for First Aid & Pre Hospital Emergency Care. She has been working for the Pakistan Red Crescent for almost twenty years, as well as for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“What I love most about my job is being able to help others, either by providing first, or by disseminating the knowledge. It is a power to be able to empower others. It is great when you know that you have given the knowledge to somebody and this person saved a life. You feel that you may have a little credit in saving that person’s life. That is my passion.”
Working in teams with people from different backgrounds is also a real motivation. Farzana, who started as a volunteer for the PRCS and became a first aid trainer in 2017, shares that she feels very comfortable working in the PRCS: “I never think that there is something I cannot do. And I always get support from my colleagues and all of our team”. Anita Shaheen, a first aid trainer as well, believes that more woman should join the PCRS: “Everyone is equal, women have the potential do to do the same as men“.
Overcoming cultural differences
Female first aid responders play a vital role in Pakistan, because in some communities, women are not enclined to accepted health support from a male first aid responder. Dr Syed Muhammad Khan is often confronted with this situation. “One day, during a flood, a pregnant lady came for first aid. She had many problems and was about to deliver but there was no female doctor. I told her I had a lot of knowledge, that I could do a normal delivery, and that she should allow me to help her, but she said it was not possible. It is a cultural challenge in Pakistan”.
Dr Syed Muhammad Khan respected the woman’s decision: he stayed in the room but stood behind a sheet so he could not see her giving birth. During the entire delivery, he gave the instructions to women who had little knowledge on how to manage this type of situation, without seeing what they were doing. “They were touching the lady, they were working and I was telling them what to do”.
Another difficulty is to change people’s beliefs when it comes to first aid practices. Anita Shaheen explains that every culture has their own way of managing injuries and sometimes people are used to treating them in a wrong way. “It is difficult for me to change the mind-set of people, they have their own practices. It takes time”. She gives the example of burns: many people do not know how to treat them, or do not do it correctly and make it even worse. “I like the Guidelines of the Global First Aid Reference Centre because it is evidence-based. For example, they say to use water for burns and they explain the science behind it. It is very helpful”.
Caring for others during Covid-19
Despite the challenges that first aid trainers and volunteers from the PRCS have to face, they remain motivated and dedicated to the cause. Even the current Covid-19 pandemic did not affect their willingness to continue to serve their community.
Dr Rizwana Wasif explains that both first aid response and first aid trainings were adapted so they could be conducted in the safest way possible. “Everyone is very careful and following the recommendations of the International Guidelines.”
