First Aid

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HealthWiki > New Where There Is No Doctor > First Aid

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In this chapter:

 

In this chapter:

Establish Calm and Take Action

When an emergency happens, having a step-by-step approach can help you think clearly and care for the most important problems first.

1. Take a deep breath. Emergencies can be scary. But the calmer you are, the more helpful you can be. Being calm will also comfort and help the injured person or people around you.

2. Ask yourself: is this place safe? Move the person and yourself away from fires, busy streets, or other dangers. (If a person might have a neck or back injury, move them carefully so you do not move their neck.)

3. Try to be as gentle and comforting as you can, and explain what you're doing as you do it. If an injured person is awake and aware, ask their permission to touch them before you start to help. Injured people are often scared and in pain. When a person calms down, this helps to slow their fast heart beat and fast breathing.

4. No matter what caused someone's injury, check their breathing immediately. It is the most important function needed for life. If the person is not breathing, check if their airway is blocked and if they need rescue breathing.

5. After breathing, check for bleeding. Heavy bleeding can kill.

6. When the person is breathing and bleeding is controlled, check their whole body for other injuries and broken bones. Start at their head and check every part of the body, front and back, down to the toes. Gently ask questions, look the person over, and carefully touch their body to see if there are injuries you do not see at first. In an emergency, it is common for people to have more than one injury.

Check the person's breathing often and make sure their bleeding is under control. Also check their blood pressure if you can. Regularly recheck these signs and keep talking to the person. This will help you notice if they become confused, or if their condition gets worse.

Please keep the people back. I'll try to help him.

If people gather nearby, encourage them to help. Giving out tasks will keep people calm and help you support the injured person. Ask loud, assertive people to clear a space around you and the injured person. Have someone go for medical help and someone else get supplies like cloth (for bandages) or blankets.

The injured person can also help themself by putting pressure on their own wounds to stop bleeding. This can focus the person and allows you to check for other injuries or to care for other injured people.

When someone needs help:
?	Ask if the person has pain, numbness, or difficulty moving.		These are signs of sprains, broken ribs or broken bones. If there is numbness or difficulty moving the lower body or the whole body, there may be a spinal cord .
	Ask or notice if they are having trouble breathing.		Stabbing pain when breathing may be a broken rib.
			A person who cannot talk or cough may be choking.
			Shortness of breath and wheezing can be signs of asthma. Trouble breathing can also be caused by chemical poisoning or drug overdose.
	Notice if they seem confused or have trouble speaking clearly. This can help you to assess how badly injured they are. See what to do if the person is unconscious		Many people become confused after an accident. But unclear speech, losing consciousness, and lasting confusion can be signs of head injury or intoxication from drug or alcohol use.
			Slurred speech can be a sign of stroke. Check if one side of their face or body is drooping or weak. If they have these signs, get them to a hospital as soon as possible.
			Confusion or changes in consciousness can also be a sign of a diabetic emergency.
?	Look carefully for bleeding, swelling, bruises, redness, or disfigured body parts. Compare one side of the body to the other. For example, if one leg looks shorter, it may be broken.		See what to do for bleeding.
			Bruises, swelling, and disfigured body parts can be signs of broken bones.
			Bruising, swelling, and redness can also be signs of bleeding inside the body. Watch for shock.
?	Feel gently along the head, face, neck, back, front, arms, and legs. Does the person have pain or numbness? Do you feel any bones out of place?		Confusion, loss of consciousness, memory loss, nausea and vomiting, and blurred vision are signs of head injury.
			Pain in the neck or back, weakness or loss of movement in the arms or legs, and numbness in the arms or legs are signs of a spinal cord injury. Do not move the person.

This page was updated:03 Feb 2026