ACCIDENT CASES

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 182, 29 April 1933, Page 12

ACCIDENT CASES

Warning to Public to Use Care in Handling Victims DANGER IN UNSKILLED AID Dominion Special Service. Auckland, April 28. The danger arising from motives of kindness which frequently prompt unskilled persons to move the victims of accidents was referred to by Mr. S. E. Langstone, manager of the Auckland division of the St. John Ambulance Association. A natural inclination, he said, was for witnesses of an accident to place the victim in a motor-ear and rush off with all speed to the hospital. Although such humane motives were commendable, they could be fraught with grave danger. On no account, said Mr. Langstoue, should an accident victim be moved until a doctor had arrived to supervise the operation or until, skilled attention. such as provided by the St. John Ambulance service, was available. A United States authority estimated tiiat 80 per cent, of tiie accident cases in that country were aggravated by unskilled handling. In Australia the public was not permitted to move an injured person until skilled aid had arrived. It was a simple process to cause grave injury where none had existed before. A broken rib, for instance, might be made to pierce a lung through unskilled handling. A simple fracture might be made into a compound or. complicated fracture, while a broken collarbone might be made to cut an artery. A dislocated joint, such as was frequently encountered on a football field, could result in a permanently stiff limb through being carelessly handled. People who had suffered concussion, a frequent football injury, should not be sent home unattended, as loss of memory or other complications might intervene. “It is a very simple matter to ring for an ambulance.” said Mr. Langstone. “One cannot take enough care with injured persons, and members of the association are trained in this work. The importance attached to this aspect is reflected in their training. They are taught always to treat their case in anticipation of the worst. It is obviously far better to handle a man as though he Lad a broken back, even when it proves later that his back is not broken, than to handle him with rough kindness, as an unskilled person is apt to do, only to find that an injured back has been aggravated in the process. The importance of the matter would be better realised if more people took advantage of tiie training which the association offers tiie public.”