Sakura Attention

Saturday, 9 April – Sakura Attention is a two-part event which consists of a poster designing competition – Stay Alert, Stay Safe and a basic first-aid course. The poster designing competition began the week leading up to the first-aid course which was on the 9^th April, Saturday and conducted by representatives of the Malaysian Civil Defence Department. The registration for the event began at 8.00 am and continued for about an hour.

            The event began with a short welcoming remarks from the MC and followed by Sergeant Maimunah Binti Abon. SISPA Cadet Officer Husnul gave a presentation on the principles of first-aid and the criteria that a first-aider must fulfil. The main principle of first-aid is to save lives and some of the criteria of a first-aider is observant, calm and responsible. Among the scopes of duty of a first-aider is to stop bleeding and to clear the airways of the patient. She gave a very clear emphasis on not giving the patient any drinks if he or she is unconscious or suffering from lung and stomach injuries.

            Then, SISPA Cadet Officer Nor Iswani came up and discuss the different types of wound and bleeding. There are 6 types of wound which are incised wound – example from a knife, laceration wound, scratches, contusion wound or bruising, penetration wound and gunshot wound. When laceration, scratches or gunshot wound occur, infections of the wounds are to be watched out for. For penetration wound, a ring-shaped bandage would be used to prevent the movement of large, round object that has penetrated the body.

In terms of bleeding, there are 3 types which are arterial, vena, capillary and internal bleeding. The amount of blood that may be lose by the patient is massive for both arterial and vena whereas little for capillary. Internal bleeding occurs inside the body and may involve the body organs. Some of the signs of internal bleeding are pale skin, cold skin and change in skin colour. If there are internal bleeding in the lungs, the patient will be coughing blood. In the kidneys, the symptoms would be blood in the urine. Stomach will have blood present in the vomit and for the nose, there will be blood flowing from the nose. Sergeant Maimunah clarifies that if any of the participants, their family members or friends are prone to have bleeding for example due to overheating, the patient must not push their head to the back as the blood flowing from the nose may flow back inside the throat and cause choking.

The procedure for bleeding wound is to raise which ever organ that is bleeding above the heart level to slow down the movement of blood to the affected area and to put pressure on the wound. Pressure can be applied in two ways, direct which is pressing directly on the wound and indirect where a tourniquet or pressure is applied before the wound. For example, if the lower arm is bleeding, pressure can be applied on the blood vessels of the upper wound. The signs of infections in the wound are inflammation and pus in the wound. To prevent infection, the wound must be wrapped after treatment is applied.

After that, participants are showed the many ways to use a triangular bandage and are then asked to practise them during the session. The first thing to be demonstrated is the knot used to tie the bandage which is the reef-knot. The reef-knot is used to ensure that the bandage may be removed in a short time when necessary. Participants are shown how to wrap a broken jaw, head, chest, hip, elbow and knee cap injuries. Sergeant Maimunah also related some of her experience when called to render aid and gave advice that whenever called upon, a first-aider should do their duty and after the situation has been resolved, put it aside and stop thinking about it.

After the practical session, Lieutenant Tuan Ahmad Shahfikri Bin Daud, SISPA Cadet Officers Trainer, gave a short speech. Some of the content of his speech include encouraging Sakura College to invite the Civil Defence Department should there be any activities or programmes Sakura College would like to conduct, Civil Defence Department used drones to conduct search and rescue as well as would like the participants to share the spirit of volunteering with friends as disasters require a lot of manpower.

Prizes were given out to the three best posters of the Stay Alert, Stay Safe poster designing competition. The winners are Maisarah Binti Hussain, Nur Aainaa Binti Mohammad Ahap and Nursyafiqah Binti Badrull Hisham. A commemoration gifts were presented to Lieutenant Shahfikri, Sergeant Maimunah and the SISPA Cadet Officers representatives. The event ended around 12.00pm.

By: Pliny Narong