Every year since 2005, the third Sunday in November has been set aside for the Remembrance of Road Traffic Victims. And there are too many of them in Belize, which has the highest traffic death rate per hundred thousand inhabitants in Latin American. And one of the keys to keeping accident victims alive is the timeliness and availability of emergency response. Last week, a visiting expert in the field was discussing it at a road safety workshop and we asked him what are some of the key considerations for emergency response; he said time is the most important:...
Barry Johns, Expert - Emergency Medical Services
"Internationally as far as road traffic accidents are concern the time level that they refer to is called the "platinum ten minutes," so its important to try to get to that scene within 10 minutes of the incident happening and the other time measure is called the "golden hour." It's important to get to hospital with 60 minutes so that definitive care can be carried on that patient."
Jules Vasquez
"As a first responder to a traumatic accident scene, what should a member of the public do?"
Barry Johns, Expert - Emergency Medical Services
"I welcome that because my own personal belief is that every member of the population should be trained in basic first aid. Where we have communities that can provide first responders they need to be appropriately trained so that they respond and provide that initial care of protecting the airway, controlling the bleeding and ensuring that no movement to that patient is made unless they are actually in danger. Therefore it is important that they are appropriately trained pending the arrival of the ambulance."
Jules Vasquez
"So, If you see someone in a traumatic situation in a vehicle where they've been crushed to some extent and they are pleading to 'please help get me out,' you shouldn't?"
Barry Johns, Expert - Emergency Medical Services
"No unless there is a danger; unless there is the potential of the car catching fire or something like that. The principle is keep that patient stable, to protect their neck and the spine because if you move them inappropriately and there's been some spinal injury, you can end up with the person being paraplegic or severely disabled as a result. What is important is that if they are hemorrhaging you control that bleeding until the rescue services arrived."
69 people lost their lives in road collisions in Belize in 2012.
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