Would you know how to face an emergency?

Only this week, the EdCivEmerg team found out an interesting video  where we can see how very young Northern Ireland children have being trained to acquire Basic Life Support techniques, in order to know what to do in case of an emergency at home, in a shop or in the street. It has been estimated that if Basic Life Support had been given to these victims, 1800 lives could had been saved. 

Here in Spain, we also have some programmes, but we don’t have this content at school. This means that Basic Life Support is unknown by most citizens. I have a 14 year old son who, now and then, when it is too hot or the place is too crowdy, he faints. Till now, either his father or me have been around to help him. But from now on, since he is starting going out by himself, with some friends of his age, who will help him if the situation worsen? What if no one does something as simple as taking him out into the shade, put his head down and his legs up? What if no one alerts the emergency services, in case it is needed?

Basic Life Support

As you may know, up to 75 % of citizens suffer cardiac arrests at home, 3 out of 4. 25.000 people every year here in Spain.  Up to a thirty per cent of the population seems to know how to make a cardiopulmonary resucitation.  In other words, only 3 out 10 people can apply mouth to mouth resuscitation and cardiac massage. Just a few citizens are capable of applying Basic Life Support. It is been estimated that every minute a person who suffers a cardiac arrest and they are not treated their posibilities of survival decreases to a 10 %. After 8 to 10 minutes, they will not be able to survive. 

Probabilities of survival a cardiac arrest, in terms of time
consumed until resucitation maneuvers start.

Parliamentary bill

I wish we could avoid it. But wishes go nowhere. That’s why a group of professionals have joined our efforts in www.EdCiv.Emerg to ask our authorities to include Civil Protection and Emergencies content at school. Our aim is simple. We want so save lives: my son, your son, your neighbour, any human being around you who may need your help. To this aim, our local Government will present a parliamentary initiative next week to include these contents in a new subject at school. We are talking about very basic principles that can be applied by any one in case of an emergency. Starting from the very beginning.: Protect (yourself and the victim) Alert (the emergency services by calling 112 in Europe- 911 in the USA) and Save. 

In the USA a proposal to require hands-on CPR practice in high school resuscitation programs has passed the Senate. 

I hope Spanish proposal goes on the same way.

How a social media campaign can help save lives

As many of you may already know, a group of emergency services professionals have started a campaign to include civil protection education in schools here in Spain, with the ultimate goal of saving lives. The opportunity arose when our new Education Minister José Ignacio Wert , @Jiwert, announced that it was his intention to introduce some changes in a school subject called Civil Education. To this end, we have created the hastag #EdCivEmerg, where you can follow all the information related to this topic. 

It all started last week when Luis Serrano @LuisSerranoR posted a tweet  to the Education Minister asking him whether he would consider adding civil protection and first aid contents to this subject. The Minister replied that he liked the idea.  Following this, the idea was endorsed by Government Adviser, Cristina Cifuentes (@ccifuentes), the Presidency Adviser Regina Plañol (@reginaplanol), as well as some NGOs, such as the Spanish Red Cross, (@CruzRojaEsp), the Spanish Association Against Fire (ASELF), (@ASELFcomunica), the  Spanish Society of Cardiology @secardiologia, and many other organizations and citizens connected to Civil Protection.

PSAPs support

Last Tuesday, 7th February, the campaign received a great boost when all the directors of Civil Protection, and the Director of PSAP, decided to publicly endorse our proposal. I’d like to give my special thanks to @javierromaguera,  Director of 112 service in the Spanish city of Ceuta (situated in North Africa), who has backed  this initiative from the very beginning, and has introduced it to their fellow colleagues.

Social Media Back-up

As you can see, following the hastag #EdCivEmerg, hundreds of citizens are signing up to the manifesto, named ‘Civic Education and Emergencies’.

We could not have been able to obtain support from such a great number of people without the social media, including traditional media through their twitter accounts. 

European 112 day

February 11 is European 112 day. A great chance to spread the word. Help us reach  Emergency Services, once and for all, through a single phone number,  and help us save lives by training children on First Aid and Civil Defense at school.

All the members of #EdCivEmerg team , @Alfredo_112,  @pelluzo,  @CarlosMatabuena, . @danielortiz1984,  @fernanlopezmesa, . @FonsecaFj, . @igonzalezh,  @tango_alfa2, @jvarela, @Jorgeizdo, 

@ChemaCepeda,  @jldecastellvi, . @LuisSerranoR,  @marcoseguillor, @jesterhanny,  @PaolaGonzalezH,  @mrsrosaperez and myself @marialuisamoreo, an many more,  are doing our best to have our children prepared in the case of an emergency, as they are in the U.S.A, Japan, or Northern Europe, to quote a few examples. Our goal is to save lives, and that, in our opinion, should be taught at school, on a regular basis, so that citizens are able to cope in an emergency situation. 

Don’t you agree?

If you would like to sign up to our campaign, you can do so on our website www.edciviemerg.com. Here you can also read the many interviews we carried since last week.