Being prepared during an emergency means that you are equipped to prevent the occurrence of an emergency, respond to emergencies, and even help recover after the emergency has happened.
Schools or universities must always have an emergency preparedness plan in place and an emergency response team to ensure the safety of its students and staff when an emergency occurs.
An effective planning must include the equipment and tools that students and staff need before, during and after an emergency.
The most common emergency and first aid equipment you probably have in your school is a first aid kit, an emergency route map, emergency signages, fire extinguisher and hose, and fire alarms.
However, the level of safety and protection can always be enhanced with a wise selection of tools and equipment. Here is the list of items you can add to your emergency planning:
Movement and transport
Prioritizing disabled or injured individuals is a must as these people needs assistance to get to the point of safety. Items such as the transfer sling can be used for adults and children to safely and comfortably lift an individual and be transferred to an armchair, bed, or wheelchair. A transfer sling like the ProMove sling is not just important for maneuverability for daily activities but most importantly, saving time without compromising safety during emergency transportation.
Another amazing device to transfer an injures or frail student or school staff to the point of safety as well as across the stairs is an evacuation mat. An evacuation mat can come folded or rolled. It is designed so the school emergency responders can bring it anywhere the patient is – even in small and tight spaces. Responders can just activate the mat quickly after reaching the patient and drag the person to the nearest safety point.
Personal safety kits
When we say emergency, it does not totally mean something serious or major, it could be as simple as bleeding or other minor injuries where a first aid kit is required. For students, it is recommended that they have a mini first aid kit with standard contents that could fit their bags so they can treat a simple wound and help treat themselves and others when needed. personal first aid kits that are best for students are, kids patch up, playground, and sports. View our mini first aid kits for adults and kids!
Classroom first aid kits
Either inside the class or in the gym, students and staff must have access to a well equipped first aid kit. A first aid kit could come in a hard case which is normally wall mountable or a bag for an easy to carry kit depending on the scenario (e.g. field trip or outdoor activities).
Life Saving Device
One of the most common cause of death globally is sudden cardiac arrest. This happens to all ages regardless of health status. Students should not only know how to do CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) but also to use the automated external defibrillator (AED) which can dramatically increase the survival rate of an SCA victim.
An AED is sed to restart the heart of an individual when it has undergone an electric malfunction. SCA kills its victim in only few minutes hence, only 10% of people survives in an out of hospital cardiac arrest. This iw why the AED, especially the Philips FRx, is designed so even untrained individual can use it and act immediately to save a life. The Philips FRx has voice prompts guiding the user step-by-step as well as how to do CPR. The Philips FRx basically guides the user until the paramedics or professional help arrive. Furthermore, the Philips FRx and OnSite AEDs has a smart solution that enables it to be monitored 24/7 so the school management is always updated whenever there are fixes or parts replacement needed for the AED. Also, one of the many features of the Philips AED’s monitoring solution, Smartlink, is that it helps the AED to improve emergency response since it alerts the school management or user when the AED has been moved or in short, when an emergency happens.
Source:
https://www.sca-aware.org/sca-news/latest-aha-statistics-on-cardiac-arrest-survival-reveal-little-progress
https://www.heart.org/-/media/files/about-us/policy-research/fact-sheets/out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrest.pdf?la=en