First Aid / Rescue-Tokyo

[dizzy 0]

I've taken First Aid Basics in the states as a teenager, but forgotten everything until last year when I took First Aid Basics + AED through a Fire Department-sponsored clinic at work. I want to brush up my skills, we all need to, so I started looking around for other First Aid clinics in Tokyo.

 

Course and plans vary with associations, all in Japanese, but in general, it breaks down to:

Basic First Aid courses (about 3 hours)

Basic First Aid + AED courses (about 4 hrs)

Medical First Aid full course + AED (about 8 hrs)

Advanced First Aid (about 8 hrs)

 

Yamada Taro (John Doe) Associations are expensive:

Medical First Aid full course + AED at this association: 18,000

http://www.jwaf.jp/

 

This association offers just the Basic for 9,500 yen

http://www.jlsa.jp/school.html

 

The Tokyo Metro Fire Department runs FREE clinics. You only pay for the booklets and register in Japanese.

http://www.teate.jp/k_kousyu/futsu_joukyu.htm

1,400 for Basic or Basic + AED

2,600 for Advanced

 

Has anyone else done Fire Deparment-sponsored clinics here in Japan?

 

If anyone knows of first aid clinics / workshops in English, please post!

[me jane 0]

I would be interested. I haven't done it since I was about 18 either. I wonder if we could get however many people they need to run a group together if they would put on a course in English for us? I actually thought about it last year but didn't have enough interested foreign friends.

I have a friend who is a qualified nurse in both the States and here who would be able to translate as another option.

[longboardsk8man 0]

I know the Australian Embassy here in Tokyo used to run a few courses thorughout the year. might be worth giving them a shout??

[me jane 0]

Dyna, I'd be interested if other SJers are.

 

Also, I'm fairly sure I can get numbers together for the children's course. Could you PM me with some prices?

Cheers.

[longboardsk8man 0]

Dyna - I`m keen too, and can probably get a few other crew together as well...

 

PM me too pls..

 

cheers

[dyna8800 3]

Thanks for the replies and interest in the EFR Courses.

 

I sent PMs to me jane and longboardsk8man.

 

Anyone else interested?

 

Also, I have a GREAT story regarding the training and the courage to act, will compose a new message and post later today or tomorrow.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

what bout Kansai dyna? Poss option?

[EustabiaChiq 0]

I could be interested.

[soubriquet 0]

Do I get to practice mouth-to-mouth and CPR on echinecko? If so, I'm in

[dyna8800 3]

 Originally Posted By: Creek Boy

what bout Kansai dyna? Poss option?

Osaka?

Travel costs may be drive the price of the course up, but could be done.

I had another idea, perhaps we could do a course somewhere in a ski resort area, combining it with a ski/board trip.

[eskimobasecamp 0]

I may also be interested. I'm supposed to be doing an Emergency First Aid course with the British Association of Ski Patrollers next weekend, but the plans are a little up in the air now, at the last minute. If I don't do that course, i'd be interested in one run in English, when I return to Japan. One in a ski resort..... like..... Hakuba??

[dyna8800 3]

 Originally Posted By: eskimobasecamp

One in a ski resort..... like..... Hakuba??

That sounds good, I have always wanted to visit Tsugaike or Goryu/47.

What month? Need to plan those ski, er, work weekends!

[eskimobasecamp 0]

Ok i'm now doing my course with the British Association of Ski Patrollers, so count me out.... but thanks though! Hope everyone who wants to, can do a course in English in a good snowy location.

[dizzy 0]

i'm doing mine at the fire department.

 

thanks, dyna88. hope u can get enough people interested!!

[dyna8800 3]

Dizzy, what is the attraction of doing the course in Japanese?

[dizzy 0]

You only pay for the materials. Written medical terms are easy to understand in Japanese. If I know the kanji, med. terms make sense:

胸骨- kyoukotsu

胸 - breast

骨 - bone

"sternum"

 

心拍数 - shinpakusuu

心 - heart

拍 - beat

数 - number

"pulse rate"

 

That, and 2,600 yen is wallet-friendly

[me jane 0]

I imagine that dyna's course would be more comprehensive. From what I know of the Japanese medical profession they don't really trust the layman to do much for themself. They even tell you to go back to the hospital to get new dressings on cuts!

How much do firestation staff think it is necessary for the public to know when they don't even think it's worthwhile training all their own ambulance people?

Dizzy, please correct me if I'm wrong because I'm just guessing but I imagine that the J-course is just basic CPR, no bleeding, bones, choking, poisoning etc and no "non-medical" stuff like considering that others might be at risk.

[dizzy 0]

you're prolly right on the money, jane. The CPR courses at the Fire Department cover only the basics--victim has stopped breathing, has no pulse, and/or appears unconscious: what do you do? How? And in what order? They also spend time on how to operate those AED (Automatic Extended Defibrillator) boxes you see everywhere nowadays.

 

my impression is in japan you need an IV and a bed for three hours as treatment for a common cold, copious amounts of different ($$$) mediciation for the flu, and very necessary and time consuming visits to the dentist to do what could be done in north america in an afternoon. yeah, so why should the layperson be required to know what we in the west consider basic CPR & First Aid.

 

One case in point I can think of is how the Heimlich Manouver is unheard of here. All those poor people who choke on mochi every year. I heard the common technique here is to lean over the back of a chair and jump up and down so that the highback on the chair pushes into the stomach to dislodge the food. Or something like that.

(Then again, I also heard the American Red Cross now considers "abdominal thrusts" better treatment for choking than the HM.--Dyna, can you confirm this?)

 

From what I remember of the YMCA and a CPR First Aid course I did at uni, it was very comprehensive and covered burns, child, adolescent, and adult CPR, cuts, fractures/broken bones.

[dyna8800 3]

 Originally Posted By: dizzy

One case in point I can think of is how the Heimlich Manouver is unheard of here. All those poor people who choke on mochi every year. I heard the common technique here is to lean over the back of a chair and jump up and down so that the highback on the chair pushes into the stomach to dislodge the food. Or something like that.
(Then again, I also heard the American Red Cross now considers "abdominal thrusts" better treatment for choking than the HM.--Dyna, can you confirm this?)

Here are some references.

American Red Cross

Wikipedia article on chokinig


You can do the abdominal thrusts on yourself, better than a chair.

[dyna8800 3]

There is also a really basic CPR/AED course which only covers CPR and AED useage, no first aid, bandaging, O2 use, choking, etc.

 

I was interested in taking the local fire department course, and joining the neighborhood fire brigade, but I am gone almost every weekend...

[dizzy 0]

i took a day off work and went to the CPR course today.

Two hours infant, child, adult CPR & AED.

Two hours practice.

 

Two hours on bandaging various wounds and injuries

One hour reviewing and taking a ○　× test.

 

My brain is full.

 

I've realized I don't need to keep so much gauze in my first-aid kit. I need two or three handkerchiefs.

 

The good part was all of the staff were friendly and didn't mind explaining something twice in smaller groups. But 50 of us sat on vinyl sheets on the tile floor all day.

 

If anyone else registers with the Tokyo Fire Depart.'s courses, do so at least 6 weeks in advance. Seats fill up quickly