Notes to broadcasters
Note: Complete information about making a solution of sugar, salt, and water (oral rehydration solution) to treat children with diarrhea is in DCFRN Package 19, Script 10Your child with diarrhea needs special care.
When someone close by has an accident, right away you want to do what you can to help. You give first aid to help the person recover and to prevent the injury from getting worse. In fact, when you give first aid, you might even save the life of the injured person.
Today we’re going to talk about a simple idea that makes giving first aid easier the next time somebody has an accident. Why not prepare a first aid kit to keep in your home?
A first aid kit can be a small box. Inside, put things you may need in an emergency. Keep the box in a special place in your home.
Here are some useful things to keep in the first aid kit:
- A piece of soap. Clean wounds right away with the soap and water.
- Clean cloths that can be used as bandages. You should also have some thinner strips of clean cloth for tying the bandages in place.
- A small container of sugar. Small amounts of sugar and salt dissolved in clean water can save the life of a child or baby who has diarrhea.
- A clean pair of scissors.
- Clean tweezers and a needle. These can be useful for removing thorns and wood slivers.
Even if you can’t get all of these things, put what you can get in the kit. Keep the first aid kit in a cool, dry, clean, place out of children’s reach but handy enough that you can get it in a hurry. Keep the kit closed or at least covered so dirt can’t get in. Whenever you use something from the first aid kit be sure to replace it as soon as you can so that everything you need next time will be in it.
Now let’s go over that list of things to include in the first aid kit:
- A piece of soap
- Some clean cloths for bandages and some thinner strips of cloth for tying bandages in place
- A pair of scissors
- Tweezers and a needle
And there you have a basic first aid kit.
Edith Radley of Toronto, Canada, who was a public health nurse in Angola and Zaire for 30 years, supplied the information for this script.
Where there is no doctor, by David Werner, 1989, 403 pages. The Hesperian Foundation, P.O. Box 1692, Palo Alto, California 94302, U.S.A.
“Pequeño manual de primeros auxilios para el campo” (A manual of first aid for the farmer) in La Era Agrícola, Septiembre 1989, No. 8, Separata No. 4. Fundación La Era Agrícola, Apartado Postal 456 Mérida, 5101A. Venezuela.