BLS and more

What is BLS you may ask yourself? Basic Life Support. As in CPR and stuff. Last week, we had to go through our BLS training. And I have been saying all along that we should have been taught basic first aid and CPR. So when I heard we had to do this, I was quite excited about it...until I learned the truth.
Well, first of all, I pretty much already knew CPR and the Heimlich just from a CPR class I took before we moved to the Philippines. So, yes if you were choking and I just stood there, it's probably because I hate you....
CPR was day one, but after that, I thought we would learn other basic first aid...like putting on a bandaid if you get a minor cut, or using hydrogen peroxide...But nope, its not like that at all.
We were taught TRIAGE. And here, I thought they stopped teaching that to people in WWII. Well, I guess it's kinda nice to know that if my friend fractures a leg, I know how to tear up a shirt into a triangle, fold it into a bandage like strip, and bandage using the perfect square knot...all in less than a minute. It might not be the prettiest thing, but hopefully it would be effective. I would not really know because they demonstrated it to a class of 100 students in the middle of the room, with 30 different procedures, and not repeating one. Then they left us a alone to "practice" and basically teach ourselves.
I thought it might be cool to know these techniques, except now I don't remember any of them. Currently I am using the bandages (which we had to have made by a tailor within 24 hours) as my pot holder. Those pots are damn hot!
The other part of our training was EMERGENCY and RESCUE. I guess it sounds real cool, but when you think about it, it's quite ridiculous. They expect me, a person who can not even do an inch worth of a pull up, to run into a burning building, throw someone on my back and crawl out. Wouldn't I leave the fire stuff to...hmm I don't know...the firefighters?! If I saw a burning building, I would just stare at it, just wondering if everyone is ok. I might call the fire department, but there is no way in hell I am going to risk my own life inhaling a bunch of smoke, to "rescue" someone. Isn't it "women and children first"? Well Im a woman. I can help out with my pot holders...I mean bandages...if only I could remember which direction to fold the damn thing...


Oh well, I can just do CPR on the other guy.