THE BEGINNING

Once upon a time, there lived a petite, beautiful woman called Sapphire and an energetic man called Steven. Their paths crossed one day when Steven jumped over three fences to get her scarf that was floating away, who wouldn’t fall in love?

Steven got recruited into the army and left for this scary journey three weeks after his wedding to Sapphire. Steven will then face unspeakable battles, grow in strength, hope in faith, and miss Sapphire dearly. One week before his departure back to his love, Steven stepped on a landmine and his life flashed before his eyes as he felt complete pain. As he wrote love letters in the depth of his mind waiting for death to take him away, he suddenly felt a warm hand grab him, and with blurred eyes, he saw a man and heard him say “Hey, everything is going to be okay”.

Three weeks later Steven woke up in a jerk, vision still blurry but nothing could block his sight from recognizing his love, as Sapphire grabbed him in a tight embrace and said “Welcome back”. Steven will later be told the story of how one of his Army brothers saved his life, by stopping the bleeding and administering first aid in a calculated and efficient way. Steven will tell his children and more generations how the knowledge of first aid saved his life…

Though this story is fictional, I thought to tell you about first aid this way 1, because I love love stories, and 2, because I like to believe this encapsulates what first aid can do for a person, family, or generation.

True history

The history of first aid is a bit complicated because you cannot pinpoint exactly when it began. Within the Stone Age, people must have found ways to aid injuries and even poisonous encounters.

But it was specifically paid attention to in medieval times when religious knights learned how to tend to the injuries of their knights sustained from battles.

Another significant origin of first aid is warfare, soldiers had to realize ways to help each other as they kept bleeding to death. They began to administer first aid right on the war grounds (watched the movie ‘Hacksaw Ridge’?). It was in the 19th century that Red Cross was created with the aim of providing aid to injured and sick soldiers.

The Term “First aid”

A century later, during the growth of first-response, an army surgeon proposed the idea of training civilians in what he termed, “pre-medical treatment.” The term “first aid” first appeared in 1878 as a combination of “first treatment” and “National Aid.”

First aid kit origin

During the late 1880s, the founder of Johnson & Johnson worked with Denver & Rio Grande to create a product aimed to improve the health of workers constructing the railroad through the backcountry of Colorado, this product was the ‘first aid kit’. Proper research and asking necessary questions led them to produce a metal box that contained materials used for immediate aid before official medical help arrived.

Aims

With time, the aims of first aid have been established as:

1. To minimize death, by minimizing the threat of death
2. Preventing further harm from happening other than what was already caused.
3. Promoting recovery by beginning the recovery process before medical attention.

Accolades

Thanks to first aid, many lives have been saved, bleeding stopped, infections prevented, breathing restored and hearts restarted. Stories have been told and will continue to tell about the necessity and impact of first aid in its many dimensions and categories, however, the factor of human willingness holds the power of limitations and growth in its hands.

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If this first aid/love-themed story was true, I would undoubtedly know that I am a descendant of Steven and Sapphire, but since it is not, I believe that I am a descendant of generations of mistakes, growth, and wonders leading up to an incredible future and it is my job to be part of that, yours too.