How to provide first aid before ambulance arrival: training for paramedics in Chernivtsi

“Each of us may find ourselves in a situation where one of our relatives or just a person on the street needs help due to an emergency. It is on the correct algorithm of actions that a person will live,” noted Vasyl Kutsak, a volunteer of the mobile medical brigade of the Red Cross Society, during the training on providing first aid, which was held at the initiative of the representative office of the Unified Western Ukrainian Journalists’ Solidarity Center (JSC) in Chernivtsi and volunteers of the Chernivtsi Red Cross Society Nataliya Fedoriuk and Vasyl Kutsak. Representatives of local media and journalists who, fleeing the war, are now in Bukovyna, were trained.

The enemy is increasingly attacking Ukrainian cities and villages, purposefully destroying the local population and critical infrastructure. Drone and missile attacks are not spared in the western regions of Ukraine. The number of victims among the civilian population is growing. Therefore, today it is extremely important to have basic first aid skills that will help save someone’s life.

“You need to provide assistance after making sure that it is safe for the person providing it. The priority is your own safety,” emphasizes Nataliya Fedoriuk, a volunteer of the Red Cross mobile medical team.

You should always remember:

• first of all, inspect the place where the emergency occurred, make sure that your or the victim’s life is not in danger;
• help the victim free himself from factors that could injure him (separate the victim from conductive elements, carry or remove him from the gassed room, extinguish burning clothing, or help remove an object that could have pinched part of the victim’s body);
• determine the nature and severity of the injury;
• assess the victim’s condition and try to determine what kind of help is needed;
• call 103 and report the victim, describe his condition;

“In the future, your actions should be coordinated and correct: constantly monitor the victim’s general condition, monitor and support vital systems (breathing, blood circulation) until the arrival of a medical worker,” says Nataliya Fedoriuk.

If the victim is conscious:

• leave them in the previous position;
• find out the nature of the incident that occurred;
• call an ambulance;
• ensure supervision of the victim until the arrival of doctors.

If the victim does not respond:

• contact the people nearby for help;
• if the victim is lying on his stomach, try to turn them onto their back and restore airway patency. If the mechanism of injury was a fall from a height, then it is worth understanding whether the victim has a cervical spine injury;
• to restore breathing, use the “hear, see, feel” technique.

During the training, practical examples were also used to examine the algorithm of actions for providing first aid for wounds and bleeding, the main methods for stopping arterial bleeding, the rules for applying a pressure bandage, the procedure for first aid for fractures, and the sequence of actions in case of suspected spinal injury.

The network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centers is an initiative of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, implemented in collaboration with the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO, and with the support of the People of Japan. Our primary goal is to assist media professionals working in Ukraine during the war. The Centers are active in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk. The project is part of UNESCO’s broader efforts to support the Safety of Journalists and Freedom of Expression in Ukraine.

Contact the Unified Western Ukrainian JSC Lviv-Chernivtsi at 097 907 9702 (Nataliya Voitovych, the coordinator of the Lviv JSC, Volodymyr Bober, assistant). The Center’s address is 5 Solomiyi Krushelnytskoyi Street.

Chernivtsi-based office of the Unified Western Ukrainian JSC