Nepal students have first aid lessons…and a little fun too

Red Crosser Diana Coulter is currently in Nepal, where she is sharing updates on how the Canadian Red Cross is providing aid after the recent earthquakes. Here are her previous updates on helping to save lives of mothers and babies in Nepal, providing a safe play space for children affected by the earthquakes, and a day in the Canadian Red Cross field hospital.
 

In a half-constructed classroom open to the sky, about 65 Nepalese students laugh, wave their arms and carefully mimic the gestures of a young woman in a Red Cross and Red Crescent vest.
 
“When do we wash our hands like this?” asks Amna Khan, a Pakistan Red Crescent Society delegate, as she scrubs her hands vigorously.
 
“When we wake up and before we sleep!” one student shouts.
 
“Yes! And before we eat, after the toilet, or play in the soil,” Khan adds. “This is very important so we don’t get sick.”
 
The students nod their heads solemnly, but are soon giggling again as Khan gives an hour-long demonstration on community health and first aid that is packed with practical advice and plenty of entertainment.
 
Working in partnership with the Canadian Red Cross at the field hospital in Dhunche, Khan is a medical doctor and public health specialist on Pakistan’s regional disaster response team deployed to Nepal after the earthquakes. The Canadian team at Dhunche also has two Philippine medical delegates and one Hong Kong Red Cross Society member.
 
The Canadian Red Cross has donated two first aid kits for Khan’s demonstration at District Resuwa Higher Secondary School, a government facility for some of Dhunche’s poorest children. Khan is visiting several area schools, with donated Canadian kits, giving public health and first aid presentations.
 
At District Resuwa school, the main building was badly damaged by the earthquakes, so about 450 children now have their classes in tents and incomplete buildings of corrugated steel, concrete and plastic sheets that flap in the wind. Holes in some walls and ceilings will soon make studies difficult during the monsoon.
 
But today, the children are learning how to cope with a range of public health and first aid issues. Taking items from the kit, Khan teaches the children such skills as putting a sling on an injured arm, applying a pressure bandage on a head wound, treating a burn, and identifying a snakebite.

She has them laughing at every stage, as she pulls reluctant children from the class to try each new technique on fellow students.
 
She also tells the children to avoid littering, public defecation, spitting and, after a rollicking hour, wraps up with a last warning about drinking water.
 
“The earthquakes broke many water and sewage lines, so much of the drinking water is dirty,” she says. “Please ask your parents to boil your water now.”
 
Khan says her work with Nepalese school children is important because they need to be prepared for every emergency.
 
“The first few minutes after many injuries can be really important,” adds Khan. “If people can use these first aid kits and some children remember these techniques, perhaps we can save some lives here.”
 
Gokarna Nepal, the school math teacher, says two children from the school were killed in their homes by the earthquakes. He is pleased to have the first aid kits and some training for students now.
 
“This will be very handy for me," says Nepal. "I will use this here at school and also in our community."
 
Fellow teacher Suzata Ghala agreed. “This program is very good for our students. They don’t know much first aid, so today they were feeling very happy.”
 
Canadians are encouraged to donate to the Nepal Region Earthquake Fund.