Special Edition: Emergency? Ask A Kid! First Aid/Injury Prevention Grades 4 - 8

• learn to identify an emergency situation and take action
• learn first aid procedures for specific situations
• practice procedures for reporting emergencies via telephone
• learn about the role of the American Red Cross in our nation's history, and its ongoing commitment to promoting health and safety in the United States as well as throughout the world community
• create an emergency escape route map for home and school.

	McRel Health Standard#5 Grades 3-5: Knows basic first aid procedures appropriate to common emergencies in homes, school and community (e.g., proper responses to breathing and choking problems, bleeding, shock, poisonings, minor burns; universal precautions to be taken when dealing with other people's blood).

McRel Health Standard #5 Grades 6-8: Knows injury prevention strategies for family health (e.g., having a personal and family emergency plan, including maintaining supplies in readiness for emergencies; identifying and removing safety hazards in the home). Knows strategies for managing a range of situations involving injury (e.g., first aid procedures, abdominal thrust maneuver, cardiopulmonary resuscitation).

	Videotape: Nick News Special Edition: Emergency? Ask A Kid!

	Paper for documenting American Red Cross timeline and to draw emergency escape route plan

	Tennis balls and plastic tube with top to demonstrate Heimlich Maneuver

Discuss the following with your class:

• What is an emergency?
• What constitutes an emergency?

Viewing Activities & Discussion Points

SEGEMENT 1:
1. Discuss what to do in an emergency situation. Some ideas for discussion are:

• Realize that there is an emergency and take action in the first few minutes
• Get professional help: call 911 or 0 (if there is no 911 service available)
• Stay calm

2. Discuss how a person should call 911 to report an emergency, and why it is important that the caller:

• stay calm
• state his name
• location
• briefly describe the problem, and
• LISTEN to follow the directions of the dispatcher.

4. Discuss the concept of CRANK CALLS, and why they can be dangerous. Some possible areas for discussion are that they tie up the phone lines and block out real emergencies, and why some see this as a joke.

Pose the question:

If you were the judge with the job of sentencing someone who has been proven guilty of making crank 911 calls, what would you decide? What is a fair punishment?

5. What is the American Red Cross? What important jobs do they perform in our nation and our world? Visit the American Red Cross website at www.redcross.org to find the answers.

6. Have students make a timeline of American Red

7. Cross history by visiting the virtual museum and listing contributions of the organization in these time period categories:

• pre 1900
• 1900-1919
• 1920-1939
• 1940-1959
• 1960-1979
• 1980-present

SEGMENT 2:

Now that we know what to do generally in an emergency, let's look at several real-life situations and find out how we can offer help.

Scenario # 1
View video segement where victim climbs a tree and falls; he has an apparent knee/leg injury.

Stop tape and have students brainstorm what they might do to help this victim. Once kids have given their ideas, resume viewing tape of Linda and the audience kids to see their solutions. Be sure to stress the following suggestions:

• don't move the person
• call for help, and
• stay calm

Scenario # 2
View the segement where a babysitter discovers a small child in her care has swallowed bleach.

Stop tape and have students brainstorm what they would do to help this victim. Once kids have given their ideas, continue viewing tape of Linda and the audience kids to see their solutions. Stress the following suggestions:

1. Don't give water to the person (you don't know the reaction it could cause!)

2. Call 911 or your local poison control center, know what the poison is, and if at all possible, have the container there for reference while phoning.

3. Remind students that payphone usage is generally free when 911 calls are made, and ALWAYS FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS OF THE POSION CONTROL CENTER!! Two good things to have at home are:

• Syrup of Ipecac: A syrup that, when taken, causes the person to vomit.
• Activated Charcoal: These tablets absorb poison before it goes through your body.

Scenario # 3

View videotape segment of where a person chokes on a piece of hard candy.

Stop tape and have students brainstorm what they might do to help this victim. Once kids have given their ideas, continue viewing tape of Linda and the audience kids to see their solutions. Stress the following suggestions:

• Check to see if the person is breathing
• Don't whack the person on the back
• Let the person try to dislodge the obstruction by coughing, if possible.
• If the person cannot breathe on his own, try the HEIMLICH MANEUVER.

1. Kids can do this!

2. Place the fist of one hand within the palm of the other hand,

3. Locate the victim's belly button of and put the fist above it, emphasize that FINDING THE PROPER PLACE IS IMPORTANT WHEN PERFORMING THE HEIMLICH MANEUVER!!

4. Push fist in and upward forcefully one time!

Try the following demonstration to prove the effectiveness of the Heimlich manuever:

1. Place two tennis balls in a plastic container with a plastic top

2. Squeeze the container (as demonstrated on the tape) to show how air pressure can force objects to move.

Scenario # 4

View video of two young girls who are trapped in a burning house.

Stop tape and have students brainstorm what they might do to help this victim. Once kids have given their ideas, continuing viewing tape of Linda and the audience kids to see their solutions. Stress the following suggestions:

• Feel the door before trying to open it
• If it is hot, do not open it
• Touch the door with the back of your hand not the palm, stay low and crawl out of the room
• Place a towel under the door if smoke is coming in
• Hang a sheet outside the window to signal that someone is inside, and
• Plan two escape routes to get out of the building.

Of particular importance in the emergency plan is the designation of the central meeting place. Have students create a diagram of their home, drawing in two escape routes as well as the family meeting place.

Activity

1. Log on to the American Red Cross website and locate your nearest chapter. Contact the chapter to have a representative visit your school or class to discuss emergency procedures. The American Red Cross will frequently sponsor an after school first aid class for parents or teachers.

2. Visit a local police department or a 911 emergency center.

3. Invite representatives from the your local fire or police department to visit the school or class to discuss emergency procedures with students.

4. Create posters with a specific emergency situation, and measures to offer first aid.

5. Linda Ellerbee says that, "The worst thing you can do in any emergency is nothing". Discuss this as a class, and discuss what first aid measures were used and/or could have been used to assist victims in the following disaster situations: (Some of these may require some research in the library!)

• A tornado devastates a rural community
• Hurricane Hugo wipes out areas of South Carolina
• Hurricane Andrew wipes out areas of southern Florida (1992)
• Titanic disaster
• Hindenberg disaster

Assessment

Points Outcome Measure