For the longest time I attributed the passing of my Daddy to the negligence of doctors and the delay of ambulance service. And I wished I could have done more for him. I thought having all emergency number pasted on the fridge was enough. Or being home in case he needs me to send him to the hospital. But it wasn’t.

There were a lot of ‘If only’. If only I knew what to do when he had that fatal heart attack. If only I had joined St.John Ambulance like what he told me to instead of Girls Guide. If only I didn’t trust the doctor and get a second opinion. If only.

Doing CPR on a mannequin. As you can tell from my face, I took the course very seriously.

I can’t change the past, but I know that if it ever happen again to my love ones, I will be able to do something useful. So I finally I mustered enough courage to face my fear and took a first aid course over the weekend.

Now I am certified to give CPR, use the AED, and perform Heimlich Manoeuvre. It means that when someone stopped breathing, heart stop beating, and choked – I know what to do.

Here’s a one page note I made:

To-do

Monitor the health of my family and cook healthy food for them
Go to a refresher First Aid course every two years
Discuss with friends who are doctors/nurses about emergency health care
Invest in an A.E.D if someone in the family shows any sign of heart problems
Check the availability of A.E.D in hotels, malls, and other places I frequent
Put together a First Aid kit to place in the kitchen
Get direct number of ambulance services/fire fighter/police and paste it on the fridge (And understand that they may not be of much help)
Tell more people about the importance of First Aid

***

Do you know that if someone stops breathing, he only has 4 to 10 minutes before he becomes brain dead? Chances are that the ambulance will not arrive in time. It is VERY important that CPR is administered immediately.

I’ll put together a list of places you can learn First Aid in KL soon. Please wait!