We did a first aid course today. My brain is fried but I feel super empowered by the knowledge. I had so many hang ups about…so many things. Touching people for one, blood, gross stuff, oh just everything. But I think the biggest hang up we all have about first aid is Will This Come Back To Bite Me? Will I touch this person and live to regret it? So selfish, I know.
We asked for volunteers from work to do the course with us. The company would pay the $95 for the CPR and First Aid courses. Nobody was interested. Amazing really. Should we have also paid them for their time? I didn’t think so but it was interesting that we had no takers.
So, now I can keep someone alive, keep their heart beating until a professional arrives. I hope I never have to do it, but at least I’ll know what to do. We have just three minutes before brain-death if someone isn’t breathing, and just 8 minutes if someone is in Cardiac Arrest to defibrillate their heart. And if someone’s intestines are hanging out you can secure them with Cling Wrap until the ambulance comes…
As always I was on the lookout for story ideas. I heard some pretty hectic stories during the course but nothing I would want to write about. At lunch we went to the local French cafe, as you do, and got chatting to the dude there. Or should I say le dude? We knew him, through Eric who has recently passed away. As he made our sandwiches; baguettes piled with everything French and yummy, he told us that his visa was canceled. Out of the blue, for seemingly no reason. They were given 3 months.
Unfortunately, a few days after they heard the news, his partner had to return to Paris. Her father was dying, and now she can’t get back into Australia.
So he is here trying to pack up their lives to return to a country they haven’t lived in for 13 years. They have no home, no jobs and no one to help them. France has changed a great deal in 13 years.
It made me think; not everyone wants to go to Paris.