Simple Advice For Burn Victims Goes a Long Way

I saw a young woman here today, carrying a child whose arm was wrapped in a plastic bag. The woman told me her baby had been caught by red hot sparks in last night’s terrible fire but was now doing OK. Thinking quickly and with her little bit of first aid training in mind, the young mother had been able to save her baby from being scarred by dousing the burn with water and wrapping it in plastic. It makes me appreciate what we take for granted on the NHS back home.

Still, even in the UK, how many of us would know what to do to treat burns on the spot? Perhaps we are too keen to automatically pick up the mobile and call an ambulance or run into A and E, whereas a little basic first aid training could be useful for all of us. Like Joseph and millions of his compatriots have discovered you can never be too prepared for the unthinkable happening, when everything you have come to rely on is taken away.