3 teens use first-aid skills to help injured motorcyclist

3 teens use first-aid skills to help injured motorcyclist
(From left) Dunman High St John Brigade student instructors Teo Jing Jing Zoe, Tan Ler Xen and Lee Jill. The 16-year-olds were headed home when the accident involving the two motorcyclists occurred.
PHOTO: Dunman High School

Three friends from Dunman High School were on their way home in Mountbatten Road when they heard a bang.

"We were shocked," one of the girls, Tan Ler Xen, told The New Paper yesterday, recalling the incident on Feb 10.

"When we turned around, we saw two motorcycle riders lying on the road."

Ler Xen and her friends Lee Jill and Teo Jing Jing Zoe - all student instructors from Dunman High St John Brigade - stayed calm and put their basic first-aid knowledge to use.

Said Zoe: "We informed the passers-by that, a we were qualified first-aiders and that we could help the (victims)."

Ler Xen rushed to the passenger service centre at the nearby Mountbatten MRT station and explained to an officer that an accident had happened and asked for a first-aid kit.

Meanwhile, a driver had moved one of the injured men to the pavement. The other man's leg was stuck under the motorbike. With the first-aid kit by their side, the three girls, all aged 16, first assessed the injuries of the man on the pavement.

"He was moaning and appeared to be in quite a bit of pain. He was bleeding from his left palm and had abrasions on his elbows. He also had a laceration on his forehead," Zoe recalled.

The girls sterilised his wounds and stemmed the bleeding.

Added Jill: "We also noticed his arm was at an awkward angle and suspected there could be a fracture. We advised him to keep still so the injury would not be aggravated."

When officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force arrived, they attended to the injured men.

SCDF said it was alerted to a road traffic accident in Mountbatten Road at about 6.50pm that day and that two people were taken to Raffles Hospital.

Happy

The girls were happy they were able to provide assistance during an emergency.

Ms Low Xin Tian, teacher-in-charge of Dunman High St John Brigade, said the school is proud of its students' act of public spiritedness.

She added: "Equipped with lifesaving skills, they made a critical difference to people in need of help and medical attention. Such display of courage and compassion truly exemplifies what it means to be a St John first-aider and a Dunmanian."

This article was first published in The New PaperPermission required for reproduction.

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