FIRST AID SAVES LIVES

Based on Turkish Statistical Institute’s data, 7 thousand 530 people have lost their lives and 304 thousand 421 people got injured in traffic accidents in 2015. Among the people killed in the accidents occurred in the road network of Turkey during year 2015, 40.7% of them were drivers, 35.3% were passengers and 24% were pedestrians. And among the people, who got injured in traffic accidents, 46.5% of them were drivers, 42.1% were passengers and 11.4% were pedestrians. The experts point that majority of the deaths and injuries would have been prevented given that people at an accident site received first aid training beforehand.

Melahat Kızıl, Lecturer at IUE Vocational School of Health Services, reminded that performing first aid increased the chance of survival of the injured people, and she said, “According to World Health Organization’s data, survival probability of a fatal person taken to the hospital within 5 minutes is 70%. This goes down to 50% within 25 minutes, and reaches almost zero within an hour. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to perform first aid at once and call the emergency aid teams. On the other hand, inappropriate first aid results in death or injury.” 

Kızıl stated that in many of the accidents, due to causes such as road faults, driver faults (lack of sleep, alcohol consumption, not wearing a helmet, speeding), pedestrian faults, people have lost their lives within the first 5 minutes because they did not receive proper medical care and first aid. 

‘Help yourself first’

When involved in a traffic accident, the person needs to check and make sure they are okay to help others, said Kızıl and made the following recommendations:

“Check yourself for possible injuries or bleeding. Move your arms and legs if you can. If you experience any dizziness or headache, you may not be able to help others. Try to understand how many people are injured and what kind of injuries they suffer from. Check if they are breathing or bleeding. Ask if they are okay. If they are able to answer, their breathing problem would not be such a concern. If they are conscious, they might be scared and cry out for help. Make sure to calm them down. Ask their name. If they cannot answer, they might be suffering a head trauma. Check if they are breathing and call the emergency services immediately (112).”