NYAA Entry - Adventurous Journey - Preliminary Training - Entry 2 - Life-saving

Focus for Adventurous Journey - Preliminary Training entry 2

• Safety Requirements (safety in the form of the DOs and DONTs in bad weather and not to play in river without proper shoe wear)
• First Aid & Emergency Procedures (EAR, CPR, shallow water rescue, which can be used durin trekkin over rivers)
• When writing this entry please take note of the above two focus and refer back to them at the right time.

Overview (for day 2)

• EAR
• Learnt Sculling
• Contact and Non-Contact towing(Do not emphasize too much on this)
• Defensive and Release technique(Do not emphasize too much on this)
• CPR

LIFE-SAVING

Date:20/06/06 Hours completed: 9 hours (0800 - 1700)

Today was the second day of the Life-Saving course. Again, I started out on a 20 lap swim as a warming up exercise, to prevent us from getting cramps. After that, the instructor continued from the yesterday's lesson, going deeper into the details, such as not to press on the victim's throat unknowingly. This time round, we had to carry out EAR on each other. It was a great chance to perform what we had already understood from the theory lesson.

We were back into the pool after an hour of practice. Sculling - a technique that is used to keep the stomach afloat with the legs straighten, without the use of legs - was imparted to us, as I soon realised that our arm power was going to be put to the test. Having to swiftly maneuver our hands parallel to our body in water, I did not manage to succeed at first. It was only after several attempts that it became possible.

After lunch time, rescue techniques, mainly Contact and Non-Contact towing was taught. This took a toll on our body and especially our mind. Each of us had to tow our partner across a 50m pool and back again, repeating it for both Contact and Non-Contact. Mentally, we had to endure the seemingly neverending tow across the pool, even when acting as a casulty. Physically, we were almost not able to take it anymore, as we finally completed this part of the day.

Defensive and Release technique came immediatly after towing. It was less physically and mentally demanding, as it focused more on proper technique applied. It involves the seperating of victim and rescuer when in situations, a victim might cling hard onto the rescuer, jeopardising his safety. At this time, this technique is applied to release the rescuer from the victim's grasp. It might prove useful in times of danger when animals or even strangers try to capture and endanger one's live.

By the end of the day, it was back to theory again. This time, Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation(CPR). This is a vital survival skill, and might come in handy in many situations. It was basically the same as EAR for the first few steps, until when pulse is not present, then we proceeded to CPR. Everyone felt great about learning another piece of knowledge at the end of the day.