A ‘forest’ of 540 arms, covered with white bandage and stretching up in the air, such was the culmination of the two-day national first aid competition organized by the Hungarian Red Cross (HRC) on 23 and 24 May. “We want this event to be registered in the Guinness Book of World Records to draw more attention to the importance of first aid in today’s world,” said David Kovacs, Head of the HRC youth programme. “We all know that our life is full of risks, incidents and disasters and in this environment first aid matters a lot,” he added.
The 37th national annual competition brought together 540 participants chosen among the best volunteers trained in first aid skills, from 19 Hungarian counties and from Budapest as well as four international Red Cross teams from Croatia, Poland, Romania and Serbia. Nearly fifty of the 150 Hungarian schools participating in the HRC programme were represented. The age of participants who arrived at the Zanka Youth Centre, on Lake Balaton, varied from 10 to 20 years old. For most of them it was the first experience of this kind.
“You have a double mission here,” said the acting Director General of the Hungarian Red Cross, Emil Gyékiss, at the opening ceremony, “to demonstrate your knowledge and skills and to spread the word on the vital role of first aid skills in people’s lives.”
Participants did not find it difficult to tell stories about using first aid skills in real life - they recalled incidents at discothèques, home injuries or spoke of their own growing confidence in applying first aid.
Miklós Jámbor, 29 a first aid trainer from the small town of Hajdúnánás arrived in Zánka with his team of five 14-year-old students. “The Hungarian Red Cross helped me combine my profession with an old dream to be a teacher. Now I teach first aid at school,” he said. “Working at an ambulance service, I know the value of first aid, and it is very important that the children master these skills at school.” Several members of Miklós’s team have won county competitions, but he believes that participation and the spirit of solidarity at these events are more important than victory.
“Competitions like this one at local, county or national level represent further motivation for the students,” says Éva Szabó Molnár, HRC first aid coordinator. “In the past years our first aid training methods have developed from pure theory to a more practical approach and accident simulation training. At this competition, participants have to go through various scenarios,” she explained.
“First aid courses in Hungarian schools are facilitated by qualified teachers, nurses, Red Cross instructors or National Ambulance Service staff. They are free of charge and very popular among youngsters,” adds Ms Szabó. “First training courses for drivers are not free. The income goes to the county Red Cross branches and a contribution of about 1.2 Euro from the examination fee paid by the applicants goes to the HRC headquarters. This money is used for the organisation of first aid competitions and programme support materials.”
“It was amazing how well the whole event was organized, the simulations were so real that they made us believe that it was real life,” commented Nedmira Salibasic from the Croatian Red Cross team. “This competition creates an atmosphere and demonstrates the value of friendship and unity in this fragile world. It was new for us to practise our different language skills and sometimes develop our body language to be able to act like a person in a dangerous situation.”
A one-day workshop on psychosocial support in disasters preceded the competition. It was held for the HRC instructors in first aid from all over the country. “Psychosocial support is a step forward in our work – something that was clearly missing before but must be introduced and developed further,” was the conclusion of the 21 participants. This first workshop was organized in the framework of the Eureste programme (funded by the European Commission), led by the Belgian Red Cross and in which the Red Cross/European Union Office in Brussels was also represented. The Hungarian Red Cross will now define further perspectives and opportunities in this field.
In May, the Hungarian Red Cross launched national appeals to support thousands of people affected by the recent devastating disasters in Myanmar and in China. At the same time it continues to build up its own capacities in disaster response and preparedness, with first aid training among the population as one of its major activities. In 2007 some 9,000 people followed HRC training courses in first aid. With support from the National Ambulance Service (NAS) the HRC is an exclusive provider of first aid examinations for drivers in Hungary.