Victorian SR500 Club members Ryan and Tony Jones recently attended a ‘First Aid for Motorcyclists’ course, the cost of which is subsidised 50% ($42.50) by the Club for all financial members (see Noticeboard for details).
The course is very professionally run with two instructors and around ten course participants at our session. The lead instructor, Paul Ellis, is an Intensive Care Nurse at the Alfred Emergency & Trauma Centre in Melbourne and a Kawasaki Versys-riding motorcyclist. The course is well structured with a preamble covering their sponsors Maurice and Blackburn Lawyers, and the website motorbikewriter.com. The nitty gritty starts with an overview of motorcycle road trauma statistics around Australia covering when, why and where motorcyclists come to grief on the road. This is followed by brief presentation from a Maurice and Blackburn lawyer explaining the process involved in seeking compensation for accidental injury both within the TAC system and beyond in civil cases where further compensation is sought.
The actual First Aid component of the course takes up the majority of the class and focuses on the real world situation where, as a rider, you have witnessed or perhaps come across an accident, and then it steps you through what you need to do to assist the injured people at the scene. This involved detailed sessions on:
- First Aid responder action plan
- Casualty management
- Accident scene management
- Emergency helmet removal
This was all really good information and we had plenty of ‘hands-on’ time learning how to approach and deal with injured riders, moving them to safety, getting them into the ‘recovery’ position, the correct method of full face helmet removal, CPR, and basic First Aid for bleeding, fractures, and burns. Participants are given some handy course material for future reference which includes a small card for your wallet which outlines what you have been taught. It was recommended that all motorcyclists should download onto their smartphone the free application ‘Emergency +‘ which has the emergency numbers you need, and very importantly, your exact GPS coordinates so you can tell the emergency services exactly where you are located.
All things considered, the ‘First Aid for Motorcyclists’ course is thorough, well run, and highly recommended for all motorcyclists. It is not a comprehensive St Johns Ambulance-type course, but more of a ‘first responder’ program where you understand how to make the accident scene safe, call for help, make the injured comfortable, and where required, administer some basic First Aid, which may well save a life.
