Training the community in seizure first aid

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HealthWiki > Epilepsy and Seizures > Chapter 2: How to help a person having a seizure > Training the community in seizure first aid

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In this chapter:

 

In this chapter:

• Chapter 2: How to help a person having a seizure
• First aid for seizures
• Seizure emergencies
• After the seizure
• Other problems that can happen with seizures
• When to see a health worker
• Training the community in seizure first aid

If you learn seizure first aid skills and someone near you has a seizure, you will be able to help. Sharing these skills in community trainings ensures that if someone has a seizure anywhere in your community—at school, church, a park, a market, or on a bus—people will have the information they need to respond quickly and make injuries unlikely. This is especially important when medical centers are far away and emergency services like ambulances may not arrive quickly. In some places, advocacy groups train not only family members and neighbors, but also teachers, police officers, and community health workers.

Sharing information about epilepsy in a training also breaks the silence that surrounds epilepsy in many communities and helps fight stigma. Training prepares people to respond supportively instead of fearfully, and can help build empathy and respect throughout the community. When more people can recognize a seizure, offer help, and respond during an emergency, it creates a safer and more supportive environment for everyone in the community.

Purple Bench’s community-driven approach to seizure first aid training

A persistent lack of awareness about epilepsy in their community motivated a daughter-mother team in Uganda to transform their personal struggle into community action. After Nina Mago was diagnosed with epilepsy, she and her mother Anita started the Purple Bench Initiative to create a supportive community space where people with epilepsy can openly share their experiences and challenges without fear of judgment.

My daughter was having a hard time after her diagnosis If I was going to help her, I realized I would need support from others who understand epilepsy.

Nina and Anita chose the name Purple Bench because the color purple symbolizes epilepsy awareness, and a bench is a symbol for a place where people can pause, sit together, and discuss what is on their minds.

Purple Bench shares epilepsy facts through social media, creates support groups, and organizes seizure first aid trainings, especially in rural areas where there is little access to epilepsy information and care. They started by training 17 community members. Some they knew, others they had just met.

Anita transformed the information she had learned about seizure first aid into hands-on demonstrations, role-playing, and real-life situations.

This group became our community support team, spreading information, conducting more trainings, and reaching out to others in their communities.

To make the training more helpful to people in rural areas, Anita and Nina followed a simple truth: community members understand their own needs best. They trained local people to lead sessions in their own villages.

My goal was to move from a boring lecture-style training to a powerful, interactive training that builds real confidence and compassion about helping someone during a seizure.

Many times, when new programs are introduced in communities, participants receive gifts, free medicine, or financial assistance. Anita and Nina made it clear from the very start that they were a small group and the only things they had to share were friendship, information about epilepsy, and trainings.

While not everyone trained went on to lead additional sessions, many of them did! They started with small trainings in people’s homes, encouraging attendees to go out and share what they learned with others. In some villages, monthly trainings rotated among the homes of different hosts.

We keep supporting people who aren’t yet able to do their own trainings They remain our representatives and we help them face their hurdles None of this is easy!

To further mobilize support, the Purple Bench team tapped into existing community networks. They partnered with village leaders to provide seizure first aid information and epilepsy awareness messages at regular village meetings. This helped reach people who were already meeting together, and it also increased their credibility.

One dedicated youth coordinator worked with local youth to produce a skit presenting relatable characters and situations. The young actors brought the challenges of epilepsy to life through performance. Afterwards, the audience asked lots of questions, showing how drama can break barriers and start dialogue.

As more people share their experiences and learn about epilepsy through Purple Bench, there is greater acceptance and understanding in the community.

Because religion is often important in community life, Purple Bench also partners with spiritual leaders who can help counter common myths when they preach that “epilepsy is not contagious” and “epilepsy is not a punishment from God.”

What is the Purple Bench commitment? Make Masaka, Uganda, an epilepsy-smart district!

This page was updated:19 May 2026