Qualified

I first signed up for it a year ago. But it was cancelled due to heavy snowfall. Then I had to miss the second one as I was in the midst of moving home. Third time lucky. I attended the course on two consecutive Saturdays and today, I'm a qualified first-aider. I had been dreading attending the course, not because of what it encompasses but because it takes place on two Saturdays from 9.30am to 4pm. That pretty much burns up half my weekend. However, I took comfort that it was conducted at a school just five minutes walk from where I live. When I first stepped into the room, I saw that the instructor was of pension age. No offence here and I admit I was biased as I wondered if the class would be boring even though he was a Sean Connery lookalike. But surprise surprise! He was really entertaining and affable (cheeky too!) who conducted the class in a lighthearted manner. The days didn't drag on. At the end of the first Saturday, I was very pleased with what I had learnt, in particular, how to treat a person who is choking. I had witnessed 2 choking incidents in the past 2 months. An interesting point is we're not allowed to give our colleagues any medication (eg. paracetamol) when they ask us in case we kill them. I have asked my colleagues for some before (they gave me) and they had asked me too. So next time when they ask me again, I'll have to tell them, 'I'm sorry I can't in case I kill you.'

The only thing I wasn't looking forward to today was the written test. I had to read a book cover to cover. There were questions in the book and some were quite challenging. I worried if I could remember everything. Then the instructor told us today that it's a multiple-choice test. Cheh! I thought to myself. I had studied too much but it was for my own good and knowledge. Most of us got 100%. I have now gained the ability to respond to an emergency, illness or injury. Like the instructor had said, we would most likely not perform most of the things we had learnt and I certainly hope I won't ever need to. At least I'm trained should the need arises.