The first thing you should know about me is, I am not a First Aid expert nor am I a virologist, paramedic or medical researcher and everything I say can be taken with a pitch of penicillin.
We have to be honest with people about what we know and what we don't know. We first learnt about Coronavirus on the 31st of December which means that this Millenium bug arrived precisely 20 years later than was originally expected and I believe if we treat this threat as if it was the Millenium Bug, we will be fine and if we don't millions could possibly die.
People took precautions for Y2K and I think we need to do the same with Covid-19 which will buy time to create vaccines and make all necessary changes to survive this. We don't need to panic about the pandemic, we need to prepare, practice and learn about the spread of infectious diseases.
Water Safety Ireland has just updated its guidelines about teaching CPR as a result of Covid-19 and I am happy to see commonsense policies being introduced.
Water Safety Ireland has advised that people don't breathe into manikins at this stage and that people with flu-like symptoms should distance themselves from practicing CPR.
I think it defeats the purpose of having manikins that you can practice breathing on but let's focus on hands-only CPR for now and remember that the average dummy like you and me can help someone, no matter what happens, by simply getting help. Actor Vinnie Jones demonstrates how easy it is here.
Pick up the phone, call 112 or 999 and get help for the person who needs it. Get the attention of strangers if you need to and remember that First Aid is just the first step but it is an important step.
Learn First Aid and CPR if at all possible and remember that lifesaving skills are skills for life.
Despite the difficulties and uncertainty of Coronavirus right now, Water Safety Ireland runs lifesaving courses through-out the year with courses for children normally organised during the Easter Holidays and the Summer months.
FACE IT
Let's face it, no matter what happens with this pandemic, we should learn from it and we can learn from every tragic death.
An unknown woman drowned in the River Seine in 1880 and a death mask was made of the poor girl to try and identify her. She was immortalised a century later as the face of lifesaving education everywhere when her death mask was re-created as the iconic ResusciAnne CPR manikin.
Let's wipe down surfaces with disinfectant, that could spread germs, let's take a hands-on approach to lifesaving like Water Safety Ireland have and let's spread the message mouth-to-mouth and say,
You're alright, you're going to be fine.
I might not be an expert but I'll listen to those who know what they are talking about but I would question why America has put their Vice President in charge of combatting Coronavirus.
Pence has a bad track record when it comes to stopping the spread of infections and while it might not be fair of me to say this, but that guy looks like a real dummy to me.
As we say in Ireland, "Aithníonn ciaróg ciaróg eile." Don't be a dummy, don't be careless, wash your hands and cover your cough and stay away from others when you are feeling sick.
Stay up to date and don't listen to an idiot like me, here is a factsheet from the CDC to help. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/2019-ncov-factsheet.pdf
Even if no one wants to give her the Kiss of Life at the moment, the young girl who died in Paris has kept her Mona Lisa smile and should remind us that we can learn from this tragedy and help others.
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