OREANDA-NEWS. September 13, 2011. September 10 is World First Aid Day. It was initiated in 2000 by over 100 national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the world and is celebrated on the second Saturday of September.

The main task of the first aid is to take primary measures to save life, to relieve pain and to prevent complicating diseases. As a rule, the situation demanding first aid arises unexpectedly, in conditions of time pressure and with no medical professionals near at hand. However, in such conditions it is necessary not to succumb to panic, but to be quick and decisive as every single moment makes a difference when saving lives.

International First Aid Competition will take place on the quay of Lake Onego on September 10 from noon to 4:00 p.m. As a tradition, the competition is held on the World First Aid Day (this year for the 12th time) in order to popularize the role of the international Red Cross Movement for prevention and relief of emergencies and aiding the injured, evaluation of knowledge and practical skills in first-aid treatment of the participating teams that have got first aid training. Teams from Moscow, St.-Petersburg, Finland, and Karelia will participate in the competition.

Teaching the population first-aid treatment skills is conducted by Karelian republican branch of the Russian Red Cross public organization. About 500 citizens of the region are trained within the First Aid program annually. For years people know that there's a so-called golden hour during which there is the highest likelihood that prompt medical treatment will prevent death. Within the first hour after the injury first aid is the most effective. It is considered that if the person is taken to the hospital within the first 60 minutes after the traumatic injury it helps to provide the highest level of survival rate.

Skills to render first aid to the injured quickly and professionally before paramedics arrive may be critical when saving human lives. Quite often people's incompetence concerning first-aid treatment entails remediless consequences for health, and sometimes even lives of the injured. Thus, each person should realize that no one is impervious to casualties, and next time any of us may get injured.