First Aid

The ambulance is on its way. What you do in the next few minutes matters.

Most emergencies don't happen in hospitals. They happen at the kitchen table, on the trail, at the side of the road, and the first person there is almost never a doctor. It's a parent, a friend, a stranger. It could be you.

First Aid is a calm, clear guide to the situations where ordinary people make the biggest difference: keeping someone alive, stopping the bleeding, cooling the burn, clearing the airway, and staying steady while help is on the way. It's written to be understood under stress, with short steps and no medical jargon.

Inside, you'll learn how to:

• Approach safely, assess quickly, and make the emergency call

• Help an unconscious person who is breathing

• Give CPR to adults, children, and infants, and use a defibrillator (AED)

• Recognize a heart attack and a stroke

• Control severe bleeding and care for wounds, bites, fractures, and head injuries

• Treat heat burns, chemical and electrical burns, heatstroke, and hypothermia

• Respond to poisoning, bites, and stings

• Clear choking in adults, children, and babies

• Act in an asthma attack, anaphylaxis, a seizure, or a diabetic emergency

• Recognize shock, calm a panic attack, and give psychological first aid

• Take care of yourself after you've helped

Every chapter ends with a checklist. Quick-reference cards in Appendix 1 sum up each emergency on a single page, and Appendix 3 lists poison lines and first-aid courses in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. The guidance follows the publicly available recommendations of organizations such as the European Resuscitation Council and the Red Cross, with notes where practice differs between countries.

This book doesn't replace a hands-on course; it gets you ready for one and stays with you after. It's the fourth book in the Ready for Anything series.

Learn it once. Keep it close. Be the person who knows what to do.