"The Scene is Safe. There is one victim lying on the floor..."

"The scene is safe. There is one victim lying on the floor. I am Margaritajelly trained in First Aid. May I help?"


That is more or less the standard opening line I'll use in emergency cases from now on. Yep, I'm a trained First Aider. I took up First Aid and Basic Life Support and CPR in a training organized by our company.

Completing the training automatically makes me a First Aid volunteer should an emergency happen within the office. Based on the code of trained First Aiders, we should not refuse aid when necessary. I didn't think that it'll be mandatory but what the heck.

I enlisted for the training and even coerced my husband to sign up, too because we're parents now. A child is depending on us for his daily subsistence, growth and safety. Therefore, we should know first aid and basic life support. Simple. Hehehe. Unfortunate for my husband, his registration was declined but mine was accepted. It's better that one of us be trained than none at all, I guess.

After the 2-day session, I learned how to assist a victim in sitting up, standing up and walking. I know how to carry a victim or transfer him from one point to another by myself, with the help of another person or with the help of a group of people. I am equipped with a Red Cross Triangular Bandage and I know how to fold it and use to bandage wounds on the head, eye, hand, arm, foot and legs. I am now knowledgeable in CPG. I just hope that I won't panic (or go on weepy-weepy mode) when "duty" calls.

Talking about weepy-weepy... I cried during our CPG practical exams. In my head, I was thinking, "I've got to do this right because in real life scenarios, the victim's life survival (and life!) will depend on me." With that thought in mind, I checked if my hands and counting were correct and remembered that I was supposed to look at the face of the victim, which was a CPG half-body dummy at that time. Upon looking at the dummy's face, I imagined what it will be like in a real emergency situation. Then, it happened! Weepy-weepy mode came crawling in.

I felt sad that the victim (then dummy) was in a life-and-death situation. I felt desparation and frustration, thinking that the victim should have been revived by now (why will it have to take more than 5 cycles of 30 compressions and 2 mouth-to-mouth resuscitations-breaths?). Little by little, my emotions took the better of me. I had to stop in the middle of my practical exam, excuse myself and went to side to cry.

Nyak! Nyak! Nyak! Teary-eyed, red-nose and blushing, my mind brought me down memory lane. I remembered the grieving I experienced during my grandfather's death. I could taste the shock and helplessness I swallowed when I had a miscarriage. It all came back to me.

After 20-30mins, I was able to shrug it all off. Yeah, I literally had to shake away those tear-jerker fluffy stuff inside of me by jumping, moving around and shaking my arms and body. (What a weirdo, you might say? What can I do, I was borne into an emotionally sensitive family.) After 20-30mins, I was taking my practical exam again. This time around, I had enough strength to push back my tears and calm my nerves.

I guess, it's better to shed all my tears now during the exams than in real life. Hopefully, when the time comes, i'll be more emotionally stable.