The Singapore Civil Defence Force conducts a course on life-saving skills for City Harvest Church’s Security Ministry.
Contributed By Gideon Foo
What is the appropriate response when someone falls in a fit? How do you respond to a fire outbreak? Do you know how to perform CPR?
These basic essential life-saving skills were taught during the recent Community Emergency Preparedness Program, which members of the Security Ministry in CHC attended on Sunday, Nov. 14 at Singapore Expo Hall 8.
Conducted by trained professionals from the SCDF, the program aims to enhance the community’s emergency preparedness by providing essential knowledge of conventional and unconventional threats. It also imparts skills to deal with emergencies through both theoretical and practical training sessions. The CEPP program is conducted free of charge and participants will receive a certificate of attendance after completing the course.
That Sunday, the attendees included students and young adults in CHC’s Security Ministry. The first module was about basic first aid, covering appropriate treatment for bleeding, fractures, wounds, burns and fits. The lesson corrected many common misconceptions, such as applying toothpaste to scalds and placing things into the mouth of someone having fits—inaccurate measures which the public probably picked up from television shows. Following the trainers’ demonstration of dressing wounds on the head and arms, the participants paired up and practiced their newly acquired skills with one another.
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In Singapore, heart disease is the second most common cause of death. The participants were then taught how to give emergency aid to casualties of sudden cardiac arrest. Using a dummy, the SCDF trainer demonstrated how to carry out Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation, including chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitations. Two volunteers were then called to perform CPR on dummies under the guidance of the trainers. The instructors also introduced the Automated External Defibrillator and taught the group how to use it to deliver electric currents to victims of cardiac arrest.
Eric Handaya, 20, said that he found the session on CPR most useful, as it is the first step to saving lives and requires “precise skills.” He added, “The courses are not only useful at church but also helpful when our friends and family are in trouble.”
Fire safety was part of the course and helpful tips were given, like what to do if one’s clothes were to accidentally catch fire. Participants learned about the different classifications of fire and the types of fire extinguishers available, as well as how to extinguish smaller fires using a wet blanket.
Hong Yao Zhong, 24, commented, “I enjoyed the fire safety lesson most. I learned the basics of fire-fighting, what to do and what not to do when using an extinguisher.”
The course was both informative and insightful, and those who attended the course benefitted from the valuable knowledge they gained about emergency situations. For Wang Jun Xiang, 22, having confidence and knowing how to respond in an emergency was his greatest takeaway. Timothy Lim, 18, shared, “The course taught us about situations that might happen in our daily lives and how to react to danger. Now I feel more confident knowing that I am better prepared to handle such situations in future.”
