How to learn the lessons that could make everyone a lifesaver

When he collapsed on a city street, the first aid training of a nearby stranger made the difference between life and death for Keith Lawrenz. Someone rushed into a nearby building looking for a first-aider and Peter Merchant dashed from his desk to see how he could help. Keith was lying on the ground unconscious, all colour drained from his face.

"Keith wasn't breathing, which meant his heart probably wasn't

beating," says Peter. "I started doing CPR – doing chest compressions and rescue breaths – until the ambulance arrived." When paramedics got there, they gave Keith an electric shock and drugs to restart his heart, and Peter carried on. "It felt like ages, but finally the rhythm returned to Keith's heart. He was alive again. I can't put into words how relieved I was."

In all, Keith's heart had stopped for 24 minutes, and if Peter hadn't known the simple steps to take, Keith would not have survived.

"Everyone keeps telling me it was a miracle – but Peter made that happen. I collapsed on my own on the street, and it's only because someone nearby knew what to do that I'm here today," says Keith.

Jacqueline Flanighan was recovering from a foot operation and sleeping downstairs when she got up and went to the kitchen early one morning. She had a fall, banged her head, and was found on the floor unconscious and bleeding from a head wound by her 12-year-old son Brandon. Luckily, Brandon had done a first aid course at school.

"I put a tea towel on mum's head to compress the wound and helped her to the sofa," he says. "Then I laid her down and raised her legs in case she went into shock. My sister called an ambulance and rang dad at work while I stayed with mum, asking her questions to keep her awake until help arrived."

Jacqueline says: "My head was bleeding profusely and I was drifting in and out of consciousness. There was so much blood, yet my son transformed into this calm young man talking to me and acting as if he were a trained doctor. Without Brandon who knows if I would even be here. What if I had been at home on my own? Imagine how powerless Brandon would have felt if he had not known exactly what to do."

The first aid charity St John Ambulance says that up to 150,000 people a year may be dying unnecessarily because too few people in the UK have knowledge of first aid. Almost 900 people choke to death in situations

where swift action from a first aider could have saved them. A further 2,500 die due to a blocked airway, and 29,000 die from heart attacks that timely first aid might have prevented.

Enough of us have watched Casualty or other medical dramas to have some inkling of common first aid techniques. But such second-hand experience won't usually make us feel qualified to wade in and have a go when

faced with a real-life situation. In a survey of more than 2,000

people, 59 per cent they would not feel confident to try to save a life; 24 per cent said they would do nothing if they saw someone struggling, and would either wait for an ambulance or hope that a passer-by knew first aid.

That's why St John Ambulance has just launched a new campaign to equip the public with basic information that could mean we are able to make the difference between losing a life and saving a life – in those crucial moment between an incident and the arrival of professional help.

SJA gave 800,000 people in the UK training in first aid last year. We might not all have the time to do even one of the charity's half-day courses in basic Emergency Life Support (47) of Basic First Aid, but carrying the SJA new pocket guide on what to do in five common life-threatening situations is an important step in the right direction. The guide covers choking, heart attack, severe bleeding, dealing with an unconscious person, and dealing with someone who isn't breathing.

"I think people feel they can't get involved when they see someone injured or ill because they don't have the skills to help," says

Rayne Sutcliffe of St John Ambulance in Yorkshire.

"They may also worry about our increasingly 'blame' culture and that they might be sued, but our campaign is about showing that an individual can make a huge difference, and basic information about what to do in these common situations should give you the confidence to help.

"We assume that everything needs a doctor or nurse, but sometimes basic first aid is better, yet people feel shaky about whether, for instance, they start with two breaths then 30 chest compressions or the other way around. If you have the right information then you could save someone – and you can do no harm."

n To get the free first aid guide, go to www.sja.org.uk or text 'LIFE' to 85010.