GRDM Disaster Management officials held their first First Aid Level 3 Training for the year

For immediate release
15 March 2022

The Garden Route District Municipality’s (GRDM’s) Disaster Management Centre, recently hosted its first First Aid Level 3 training session for the 2022 calendar year. The course was held from 21 to 25 February 2022 and involved 6 unemployed and 3 employed people from the George Local Municipal area.

The following topics were covered during the session:

• Basic principles of First Aid;
• Safety and lawful aspects;
• Patient assessment;
• Basic life support;
• Airway management;
• Treatment of shock;
• Dressing and bandages;
• Injury emergencies;
• Medical emergencies;
• Environmental emergencies; and
• Emergency childbirth.

After completing the theoretical and practical parts of the course, all participants were rated as competent after they completed their practical exams. GRDM Disaster Management volunteers formed part of this successful session and are now able to apply the principles covered in the session in their daily lives. One participant is employed at the South African Police Services (SAPS) and two (2) present horse-riding training in the Pacaltsdorp area. All topics covered will enable these participants to effectively apply the course material and practical demonstrations in their respective careers.

The training programme is part of Disaster Management’s annual awareness programme and is aimed at capacitating employed and unemployed Garden Routers to be able to save lives in any kind of emergency. The municipality has been providing First Aid Level 3 training since 2008 and to this point has trained more than 1700 community members. Each session takes place over a period of a week once per month and is facilitated by the GRDM Disaster Management officials at the municipality’s Head Office in George.

For more information regarding the programme, contact the GRDM Disaster Management official, Wouter Jacobs, at 044 803 1300.

First Aid Tips

• Never place any ointments on a superficial burn wound. It will create secondary complications. The best treatment is to rinse the wound with cold water or cover the wound with a Burnshield.

• An unconscious patient may never lay flat on his/her back. Always place the patient in the recovery position, in other words on his or her side, this position will protect the patient’s airway.

• The stinger of a bee should never be pulled out but rather scraped off with something with a sharp edge like a bank card, this will prevent the poison from being squeezed from the venom sack of the bee into the patient’s skin.

ENDS