Eco Friendly House And Garden

Using the incorrect medical services could be draining valuable resources – so learn your medical ABC!

That's DR ABC to anyone who has taken and Emergency First Aid course in the past few years – and you should all consider such a course – whether you are required to at work or when volunteering – just having family and friends should be enough encouragement.

I mean, why do we take a first aid course to use at work – when your family are more important to you than an unknown work colleague or a customer in your shop who you have never seen before?  Surely learning the basics of first aid should be a priority for everyone.

But it isn't just Emergency First AId that is essential – being consious of the threat level for that person can also help you choose the best course of action that uses the least amount of unnecessary resources and wasted time without putting the casualties health at risk.

Emergency First Aid:

Obviously, I can't teach you the basics of Emergency First Aid in this article, but I can let you know that a person who you find collapsed needs you to act on them fast. 

This doesn't mean that they need you to go and get help quickly or call an ambulance asap – if means that they need you to clear their airway and check that they are breathing confortably within a few seconds of finding them.  Otherwise getting help or calling 999 will be a waste of time for 2 reasons:

1) if they aren't breathing and you leave them for as little as 5 minutes - it is unlikely that they will survive.

2) if they were breathing and had just fainted (or were just drunk) - you would have called an ambulance unnecessarily.

Yes, of course – if you are in doubt about a collapsed person and have checked their breathing – then call the emergency services and take their advice, but by calling an ambulance before assessing the full situation you could be taking the emergency services away from someone who really needs them.

There are only a certain amount of ambulances available in each area – so calling one out to a person who is just drunk could mean that a heart attack victim could have to wait too long for emergency treatment.

Other Medical Services:

We all know how long you have to wait up A&E to be seen – but we all still go there without a thought.  So by thinking ahead we could reduce waiting times by not getting in the way of more important procedures.

For example, you can self-treat many simple injuries like wood splinters, small clean cuts and sprains, but when would a nosebleed need to go to hospital?  Either call NHS Direct or visit them online to get advice before you head off anywhere.

And if you had a rash but felt well – you shouldn't go to your GP but your pharmacist.  Same goes for coughs, colds, advice on medications and known medical conditions as well as minor infections and minor pains.  Rather than take up your GP's time and services – you can just pop in to any pharmacy on the high street or local shops (many have consultation rooms too).

And what about that nasty infected cut, that small bump on the head on a minor burn?  Where would you go?  Hopefully not A&E – they will have more serious things to be getting on with and you could be sitting there for hours waiting until they have time to see something so non-life threatening.  So where would you go?

Well, the NHS have opened many smaller and more specific centres across the country to help deal with non-emergencies that people need to get checked by a professional without queueing in A&E or making a specific appointment with their Dr; they are Minor Injury or Illness units as well as Drop-In Clinics. 

These allow you to pop in during their extended opening times without an appointment and get seen to by a nurse or doctor as appropriate.

So basically – unless you have a life threatening condition (like you are having chest pains, losing a lot of blood, are unconsious or can't breath) then don't rush to your local emergency hospital – grab your First Aid book, go online or pick up the phone and find out more first.

It makes eco sense to plan ahead and assess your needs.

With the recent bad weather across most of the northern hemisphere – should we stay home?

I haven’t left my place apart from to go for a great walk through the woods and a walk to the local store – so what did you do – and could it have caused problems for others?

There is an argument for both sides really, but which is more eco friendly?

The Case For Staying Home:
For a start, you will be one less car on the road in the way of other important people or vehicles that need to use the roads.  Many people like doctors, vets, firemen, police, grit lorry drivers, petrol tankers, grocery vans and ambulances that need to use the roads all day and at any time. 

So what would you do if you had got stuck on ice on a slip road and were now holding up one or more of the above people?  Stopping valuable staff from doing their job when you were only off out to do a bit of shopping or to visit a friend?

You would also be one more person that local services would have to worry about.  For example on 1 road in the UK earlier this week, there was a reported 25 mile tailback in the snow.  All those people were stranded in the freezing cold and the emergency services, local hotels and recovery drivers were now having to work overtime and through the night to help them all – and I bet all 25 miles wasn’t filled with doctors and food supplies?

And talking of medical care – if you went out and injured yourself on ice or through a car accident – you are adding to the pressures that emergency services are already facing.  If you can’t get to town in the bad conditions – what makes you think that nurses can either?  So more injuries and less nurses is really only going to mean longer waits and over-worked staff. 

The same goes for any other business as well.  Just because you managed to get yourself to a store, it doesn’t mean they will be able to offer you their best service, as they may also be short-staffed or have deliveries that cannot make it to the store due to accidents etc.

The Case For Going Out:
If you are one of the services that keep everyone else going then yes, you should try to get to work.  Hopefully all the non-essential journeys have ceased and so the roads should be clearer and safer for people like yourself to get through.

Also, many small businesses couldn’t function without their staff, and so struggling in to work could be the only option for some people. 

Imagine if everyone stopped going to work on the same day – countries would come to a standstill as no energy would be available, no need food would arrive in stores - and if it did, there would be noone there to sell it.  No gas, no gritters, no ambulances……….

People need to go to work in these terrible conditions – but think about who you are before deciding, as it’s not about how important you think your journey is, it’s about how important you know your job is.

Many eco friendly people will live near to where they work anyway – so a walk to work in the cold is going to be a million times better than a drive anywhere – and less of a drain on society during these hard times!

The Answer:
Stretched resources or reduced services? Neither is better than the other if you have to get to work – but there is a clear winner if you are not needed anywhere.

People not working, on a day off or who can work from home are the ones that can make a real difference in this whole thing.  By limiting their impact on the outside world during this stressful and very cold time, they can make all the difference to those who don’t have a choice.

So wrap up warm and go visit your elderly neighbours today – or snuggle up in front of the TV and watch a good movie instead.