Learning About First Aid

Hello everyone and well come back to EnglishPod. My name is Marco

And my name is Catherine. And Today we might to teach you how to save a life.

That's right, we gonna to save a life and we're going to do this by applying first aid.

So let's take a look at Vocabulary Preview and find out just exactly what this phrase means. Vocabulary Preview

Okay, so we have this word first aid, it's two parts, so first is

Before

Before

Early

Early, all right. And aid. So when you aid someone, you help them (not: him !!), right.

Right. So this is actually a noun, aid is help. So where applying first aid, this means we're the first person to come and help someone. So for example, is someone is bleeding, the first aid is to stop the bleeding.

Okay.

All right. So first aid we gonna learn about this, take a listen to today's dialogue and we will be back in a moment. Dialogue 1st time 0:55- 1:40

All right, we're back. So there're a lot of medical and health related terms in this dialogue, so why don't we take a look at a couple of those in Language TakeAway. Language TakeAway

Well, starting us 1:58 out ?? here in Language TakeAway we have the name of an organization, that's not for profit, that's very very very famous, this is called the Red Cross.

Okay, so the Red Cross. And eh this is usually a place where you donate blood, you can also get some.. some blood exams done, eh what else do you do there?

Well the Red Cross is an organization that has offices and clinics all over the world. And eh if you wanna help, you can volunteer, you can donate money, and you can donate blood. But the Red Cross will take this and it will help other people. People who have been in disasters, or wars and so. Eh maybe the Red Cross office near you will have blood banks and blood donations. But .. really they help people, they provide aid to people who are unhealthy, or sick or have been in a war.

A very humanitarian organization, so worth?? 2:55 it. Go to the Red Cross and donate blood.

In the dialogue the two people are discussing real emergencies. And one person says he went along with some paramedics. So (a?? 3:04) paramedic is a person.

It's a person. It's a profession, right, to be a paramedic.

Exactly, but it's not really a doctor. So what's the difference here?

So paramedics are something like nurses, right, that travel in an ambulance and get to an emergency or get to the scene of an accident, and help out a person, so they mobilise the person, they give him oxygen, they make sure that they stay alive until they reach the hospital.

Okay, so a paramedic, you might hear the word medic, it's the same thing, a paramedic is like a nurse. They're not a doctor, but they're usually the first person to help when there's been an accident, or eh disaster.

Right. Exactly. So if there is an earthquake and many people are stuck in the building, usually paramedics will be the ones on the scene trying to get them out and helping them by applying first aid.

Great. Well after that we have finally some of the injuries that a paramedic might see. The first injury is usually associated with the head. This is called a concussion.

You suffer a concussion.

Hm, sounds painful.

Yeah, it does, and actually it's very common I think right, if you fall and you hit your head.

That's right. So a concussion is really when your brain hits your skull, that's the bone that protects your brain. So really you ..you're hitting your head really really hard, and usually this can have some bad side effects. Like you loose your memory, or you're a little bit confused. It's very common with football players.

Yeah,yeah with any contact sport eh people suffer concussions. And it's just like .. imagine when you have a DVD-player and you hit it. And the disk skips. Or it goes back. That's kind of what happens to your brain, so you can suffer memory loss. You can even loose your sight temporarily.

That's right. So this is .. this can be very serious, and obviously should be looked at by a paramedic. Eh we also have another situation that is similarly serious, is called a compound fracture.

Okay. So what is a fracture, or to fracture?

A fracture is a thing, it's a break. Okay, so you could say I broke my arm. But you could also say I fractured my arm. This is the more medical term. But of course there are different ways to break something. And so in medicine we have a compound fracture.

So a compound fracture is a pretty painful and is a little bit more serious. You have a simple fracture which is when your bone just brakes.

Or hairline???5:25, which means that there's a little thin part where it's ?? not .. it's broken but it's not really serious.

In this case it's your bones actually pushed towards each other, they kind of form like a little mountain, right, or they.. they're on top of each other.

Think about when two cars hit and they kind of crash upon each other.

Yeah, exactly.

It's like that, but it's your bone, something extremely painful.

Yeah, yeah, it's very very painful. So the person suffered a concussion and a compound fracture. Now the friend that he was talking to said wow you know, it sounds amazing, it's really cool that you're doing that, but you know what, I faint when I see blood.

Eh, do you do this.

No.

No, me neither. Eh, well some people when they.. when they see blood, they feel very very uncomfortable or sick. And so, to faint is to fall down on the ground. It's almost like you're falling asleep. But it's not sleep.

Hm hm. Have you ever fainted?

I fainted twice in my life. Eh one time I fainted because of heat, it was very very very hot, and I couldn't breathe for a moment, and then I woke up on the ground.

Wow, yeah, that's what happens.

Exactly.

So yeah, if you ever faint, it's basically that you're just standing there, or you're sitting somewhere, and all of sudden everything goes black, and you wake up and you're on the ground.

And you feel very very weak, before that.

And very pale I think as well, because you look pale.

Your blood goes away from your brain, and you pass out. It's a very strange sensation. Because then everyone else around you, they know what happened, they saw you and so they're looking at you like you're crazy, or maybe sick.

Right.

To faint.

All right, so that's to faint. So those are the key words that we have for you on Language TakeAway, let's take a listen to our dialogue again and we'll be back shortly to take a look at some phrases on Fluency Builder. Dialogue 2nd time 7:10 - 7:55 Fluency Builder

All right, so quiz Marco. What is the first thing that a paramedic does when her or she finds a body in an emergency?

That paramedic checks for a pulse. To make sure you're alive, right.

Right, a pulse. So tung .. tung. tung tung .. . The pulse is the rythm, that's the sound of your heart pumping blood. And you can feel someone's wrist or their throat. So to check for a pulse means to check and make sure the heart is pumping blood.

Right. And not only that, but to make sure that the heart is pumping blood relatively normal, because sometimes your heart can be pumping blood too fast, or too slow.

And if it's too slow, it's very possible that you will faint.

Hm hm, very good. All right, so we check for a pulse. Now, what else happens?

Well, if there's a very serious emergency, and the paramedic needs help to give aid to the person who's injured, then they will? 8:51 rush that person to the hospital.

Okay. So the verb to rush, what does that mean?

All right. So to rush someone, or to rush someone to the hospital, means to take someone or to go with someone very very quickly. Okay, so let's give an example. I could say, listen Marco, I don't want to rush you but I really need the report done today.

Or I could say I need to rush home, my parents need me.

Or if a woman is having a baby, you want to rush her to the emergency room.

Right, okay, so you need to go quickly. All right, now when we're talking about fainting, the person said before he uses the word faint, he said: I tend to faint.

Okay, I tend to. I tend to is a really great verb that describes a normal or habitual behaviour. That's like saying: I tend to faint when it's very very hot outside. That means, I often faint when it's very very hot outside. It's something that happens normally.

So it's a tendency.

Right, but it's not for everyone, it's for me. So I tend to. Eh what's something that you tend to faint when you see.

I t... eh, I never faint.

You don't faint.

I'm.. I'm a man. No, just kidding. Eh but you know what, I tend to leave the towel on the bed sometimes after I take a shower.

Eeew

I know, it's a bad habit.

And the sheet smells.

No, they don't, because I leave it there for like five or ten minutes and then I realized ?? 10:16 oh my goh.. my god, and then I pick it up. But you know, it's .. It's hard to

to 10:21 ??? cross

No it's not.

Well, I tend to forget my leftover food in the refrigerator for a long time

no that's even ..

and that starts to smell.

that's grows?? 10:31

But I don't like to waste food

ha ha , but you like let it rot and then your fridge smells.

It happens. So, that's all we've got for Fluency Builder today, but we can talk about tendencies at a moment, maybe your homework assignment could be to think of something that you tend to do.

That's right. That could be an interesting homework assignment but before we jump into that why don't we listen to our dialogue for the very last time. Dialogue 3rd time 10:55 - 11:35

All right, we're back. So that's all the time we have for today, be sure that you do your homework assignment. Come to Englishpod dot com, in the comment section tell us what do you tend to do.

Could be a good thing, could be a bad thing. Eh, obviously you can try and use some of the vocabulary you ('ve???) heard in today's lesson about health and safety and you might get some extra points from us for that?? 12:08 now

I know some people who tend to leave the house with a whole medicine kit in their bag or in their purses.

Really, we can say a first aid kit,

A first aid kit, exactly,

Wow, so do you do this, let us know, our website is EnglishPod dot com, that's all we've got for today. So until next time.

,C: Bye, bye guys.