Last night Water Safety Vietnam ran an open community CPR course. Tim Kemp presented the course at the Ho Tram Kindergarten to a group of more than 24 people. He persevered through the hot conditions of the function room and managed to convince at least 12 of the people to participate in the practical evaluations and achieve their CPR certificate. The participants, regardless of if they did the practical demonstrations, all walked a way with a clear message of what to do in emergency situations. It was evident that they understood the steps and actions to take.
At this point I am uncertain if it is a cultural barrier, embarrassment or a lack of valuing the training to keep people safe (I'm sure there is a better way of putting that, but I think that there isn't a culture of safe working environments and prevention in Vietnam. I say that not wanting to offend the Vietnamese people, I just have difficulty in understanding why there isn't more emphasis on safety here), but it is difficult to stress highly enough how important safety, importantly water safety, is to individuals and communities. Although very keen to learn, they want to just gloss over the safety aspects and swim. They don't see that to do one you have to have the other.
At night time many of the young locals buy their fresh seafood at the town stalls and take it to BBQ down on the beach after dark. I would be surprised if some of the horrific drowning statistics don't include some of these youths, because it would be difficult to get timely assistance in the event of someone getting into trouble.
One of the things that also concerns me is that although facilities in Ho Tram are a significant asset to the community, there are several things that definitely wouldn't be acceptable back home. The fence around the pool, the leaf guards and pavers are significant risk factors. Several people have tripped over the tiles around the pool and one of our participants even fell through the leaf guard (lucky no injury occurred but it could have been quite nasty). I am aware that funding for such things is next to impossible to obtain and it isn't the primary focus of our trip here but the risks that these pose to the users of the pool can not be over come by teaching people to be safe in the water. Having said that if Water Safety Vietnam are present and are consistently spreading a message of safety, little by little things can change. There has to be a starting point and given the drowning statistics, the point of focus point and work of Water Safety Vietnam is justified.
Last night Water Safety Vietnam ran an open community CPR course. Tim Kemp presented the course at the Ho Tram Kindergarten to a group of more than 24 people. He persevered through the hot conditions of the function room and managed to convince at least 12 of the people to participate in the practical evaluations and achieve their CPR certificate. The participants, regardless of if they did the practical demonstrations, all walked a way with a clear message of what to do in emergency situations. It was evident that they understood the steps and actions to take.
At this point I am uncertain if it is a cultural barrier, embarrassment or a lack of valuing the training to keep people safe (I'm sure there is a better way of putting that, but I think that there isn't a culture of safe working environments and prevention in Vietnam. I say that not wanting to offend the Vietnamese people, I just have difficulty in understanding why there isn't more emphasis on safety here), but it is difficult to stress highly enough how important safety, importantly water safety, is to individuals and communities. Although very keen to learn, they want to just gloss over the safety aspects and swim. They don't see that to do one you have to have the other.
One of the things that also concerns me is that although facilities in Ho Tram are a significant asset to the community, there are several things that definitely wouldn't be acceptable back home. The fence around the pool, the leaf guards and pavers are significant risk factors. Several people have tripped over the tiles around the pool and one of our participants even fell through the leaf guard (lucky no injury occurred but it could have been quite nasty). I am aware that funding for such things is next to impossible to obtain and it isn't the primary focus of our trip here but the risks that these pose to the users of the pool can not be over come by teaching people to be safe in the water. Having said that if Water Safety Vietnam are present and are consistently spreading a message of safety, little by little things can change. There has to be a starting point and given the drowning statistics, the point of focus point and work of Water Safety Vietnam is justified.
Nice article. CPR is really important. We may never know when will emergency comes that is why it is always better to be prepared. click here to learn more
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