NGO sensitises 30 on first responder scheme to reduce deaths from accidents
The Health Emergency Initiative says it has trained no fewer than 30 people in the last one month on first responder scheme to reduce deaths from accidents on the highways.
Its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Paschal Achunine, made this known at the weekend shortly after the initiative’s charity health walk in Lagos.
Achunine said that the walk with the theme: “Walk for life 2.0” is to create awareness and bring to the consciousness of Nigerians to be responsive to accident victims.
According to him, an average Nigerian man, instead of rescuing accident victims, will rather video the scene and share it on social media.
This he said has led to many avoidable deaths on the highways.
He said that the body is working in partnership with the security and health officials to ensure that many road crashes victims were saved.
Achunine said that aim of the scheme is for the trained participants to be able to attend to emergencies in the first critical minutes before the arrival of emergency agencies.
He listed its benefits to include crowd control skills, how to administer first aid and how to use an automated external defibrillator.
Achunine said that organization usually stands in the gap for accident victims before their family members arrive, adding that the initiative would make the initial deposit of N20, 000 in less than 24 hours to commence treatment.
Also, Mrs. Omoshalewa Balogun, a nurse with Lagos state Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), said that organization has been assisting indigent victims of road traffic crashes.
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Balogun said that the main focus of HEI is that no one should die and that it works in collaboration with LASAMBUS and more than 50 people have been saved since 2017.
In her remarks, Mrs. Kehinde Aikomo, the assistant director, Social Works at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos, said that the first responder scheme is an eye opener and has opened her eyes to know what to do when a crash occurs.
