Canadian Red Cross aid worker Erwan Cheneval recently took on an important role in helping coordinate the flood response caused by Cyclone Chedza in Madagascar. As Operations Manager for the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), Erwan helped liaise between the Malagasy Red Cross and the IFRC to see the operation through its final two months of implementation.

Dash Bare Sagar arrived in a Dadaab refugee camp in 2011 following continued clashes in his home area of Jilib, Somalia, which left his uncle dead. He managed to escape with his mother, wife, as well as five children (two from his deceased uncle) and travelled to Kenya where he became a community leader in his camp and a Kenya Red Cross volunteer.

As a paramedic, I recently responded to a call in a local store for a female who may have been having a seizure. When I entered the store, staff greeted me at the door and guided me several aisles down to a female lying on her side on the floor. Store staff had already redirected customers away from the scene while another staff member was down by the injured woman’s side, keeping her calm.

What better way to celebrate World First Aid Day than with some fun tracks with a first aid twist? We’ve come up with our top 10 songs inspired by first aid. From rock to hip hop, artists have been singing about a surprising number of first aid scenarios, from bleeding to broken bones. Check out this eclectic playlist and some useful tips and the life saving actions to take when faced with common first aid emergencies. 

At any given time, skills learned through first aid training could help someone in need or even save a life! Take for example the recent news story of two Toronto men who spent their flight to Beijing keeping a man alive who was suffering from a cruising-height heart attack; or the story about an EMT volunteer who saved a newborn baby’s life, after being notified of the nearby emergency through his smartphone app.

The summer’s sun is what gets me through Canadian winters. When my friend decided to get married in Cuba in July, I embraced the imminent heat with a welcoming ‘bring it on’.  Most days I don’t use my little air conditioner, but when it broke recently and temperatures reached into the 30s, I had to get practical about keeping my cool.

The quick thinking and heroism Jared Nieboer displayed on a crisp Saturday morning in October was recently recognized by the Canadian Red Cross.  The Alberta man was presented with a Red Cross Rescuer Award last month for the actions he took to save a man from a car accident.

Whole Foods grocery stores are a great place to shop if you are focusing on your health. But a team of employees from the Mississauga location took “being healthy” to a whole new level when they saved the life of a co-worker last summer.