Virtual First Aid

Your online guide to first aid and advice brought to you by Margo Milne.

I believe everyone should be more aware about first aid. You never know when some knowledge could of invaluable importance to either helping yourself or another person.

I have been involved with St John's Ambulance in London for many years now and I actively teach others such as the police and children in schools.

My connection with Southport is that I am a volunteer worker for Sandpipers charity on the Marine Lake and have had the pleasure of communicating and even meeting many of the regulars on this site. 

Margo Milne

• What do I need to know before calling an Ambulance
• Recognising a Heart Attack

The Merseyside ambulance service receives around 700 999 calls a day. Unfortunately not all of these are for "real" emergencies, as some people call 999 when they don't really need an ambulance. The ambulance control centre therefore has to set priorities to make sure life-threatening emergencies get ambulances straight away, while less urgent cases may have to wait a little longer.

So if you need to call an ambulance, it's important that you have the right information ready to make sure that your call gets the attention it deserves.

The information you need is in two categories:

· the condition of the casualty – particularly important is whether they are conscious and whether they are breathing but also give any other information you have about what happened, where the casualty is feeling pain and what sort of pain it is, whether there is any bleeding, and so on. Also useful is the sex and approximate age of the casualty.

· the location of the incident – a full postal address with postcode if possible. Give landmarks to help the ambulance find you – door colour, things outside like postboxes. If someone else is there get them to go outside and wait for the ambulance.

Stay on the phone until the call taker says you can go – they may be able to give you advice on what to do until the ambulance arrives.

People having heart attacks may have a range of different symptoms. Common ones include:

• persistent indigestion-like pain in the upper abdomen

• crushing central chest pain, possibly radiating out to the arms, back, neck and jaw – words used to describe the pain may include "pressure", "tightness"

• breathlessness

• pale, cold, sweaty skin

• nausea and vomiting

A heart attack can come on at any time – the person doesn't need to be exercising and may have no history of heart problems. If you think someone may be having a heart attack call an ambulance immediately, being sure to say that you think it may be a heart attack. Sit the person down on the floor, leaning against a wall or piece of furniture – they may find it more comfortable if their knees are bent. Loosen tight clothing and reassure them. If you have any aspirin and they are not allergic to it and do not have asthma, give them one tablet to chew. It has to be aspirin, not paracetamol. Stay with them until the ambulance arrives.