Giving first aid in the first minutes following an incident may be crucial in saving a life, according to Paulette Fenech, the Director General of the Malta Red Cross.
After information tabled in Parliament showed a serious lack of first aiders in state schools, The Malta Independent sought the opinion of The Malta Red Cross on the matter.
Referring to the law, Ms Fenech told this newspaper that an employer should make sure that the access to first aiders is constant in a workplace, in case someone is injured or unwell. Therefore, Ms Fenech states that in a school, “ideally a good amount of people receive training so that if something life threatening happens, one does not waste precious minutes going around the school looking for the designated first aider. Giving first aid in the first minutes following an incident may be a crucial factor in saving a life. Knowing what to do in case of an emergency is not only very important because it can save a life but also because it prevents further harm being done until professional help arrives,” she said.
Last week, statistics presented by Education Minister Evarst Bartolo in Parliament showed that 18 state schools do not have any first aiders. In the remaining 91 state schools, the average number of first aiders varied between one and two. The same average was identified in the 48 church schools around Malta and Gozo, whilst independent schools listed much higher numbers of first aiders.
When asked about the lack of first aiders in some schools, the Minister said, “I am told that people do not become first aiders, not because they do not want to help others, but because apparently, if you are a first aider in Malta, legally you are not covered if something goes wrong.”
However, the reason as to why independent schools have many more first aiders than state schools is still not understood, especially since, as the Minister pointed out, a first aid course is organized for teachers by the Government yearly.
Out of the 18 state schools listed as not having First Aiders, eight are primary schools. Ms Fenech suggested that Paediatric First Aid should be taught to teachers in kindergartens, nurseries and primary schools.
“Schools have a duty of care towards their pupils. Teachers and the Senior Management Team are the loco parentis and ensuring a healthy, secure and safer environment is surely one of the functions and responsibilities of a parent/guardian,” said Ms Fenech.
As mentioned by Minister Bartolo, first aid courses are also being encouraged to students as well as teachers. Ms Fenech recalls how the ‘First Aid by Malta Red Cross’ app gave a ten year old enough information to manage to save his sister’s life when she experienced a choking incident. “With the Ministry for Education and Employment, Malta Red Cross has been certifying around 600 pupils in their last two years of the Secondary School, in First Aid,” she added.
She explained that having children trained in first aid will reap benefits such as ‘making the children more aware of consequences of certain actions such as carelessness or horseplay’, ‘remaining calmer if they get hurt as they will know what needs to be done’, and ‘becoming accustomed to being responsible for the welfare of their peers’.