19 Nov 2015

The elderly people face more frequent medical emergencies such as cardiac arrest, strokes, difficulty in breathing and sugar diabetes among others as a result of reduced motor skills due to old age. This therefore means that Botswana, which has a good number of the elderly population has potential for critical urgency which the Botswana Red Cross Society (BRCS) has set out to respond to.

This was revealed by the president of Botswana Institution of Engineers, Dr Oagile Kanyeto at the BRCS’s World First Aid Day Commemoration in Tlokweng recently.

Dr Kanyeto said that when an elderly suffer a medical emergency, those around them are often not equipped with enough knowledge to provide help, which leads to the victims arriving at medical centres very critical.

He said in order to best serve the aging population and to ensure that their health needs are adequately met, BRCS has decided to commemorate this year’s day disseminating knowledge and training on first aid, albeit in a fun and easy to understand way so that anyone can take part.

Dr Kanyeto said the main issue of the day was to educate the elderly community about treating common occurrences such as falls, cuts, first aid for heart attacks, and resuscitation as well as other vital responses to medical emergencies.

He commended the BRCS for commemorating the day under the theme “First Aid and Ageing Population” as he believes it shows commitment to growing their mandate.

As part of the commemorations, the BRCS certified first aiders demonstrated simulations for first aid of various incidents such as for diabetic patients who suffer attacks as well as for stab wound.

The BRCS members urged members of the society to attend first aid training and equip their households and vehicles with first aid kits for emergencies. Ends