Red Cross Boss calls for more first aid skills training in West Nile

By Andrew Cohen Amvesi

ARUA. Fred Okumu Ouma, the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) Arua branch manager has appealed to the different institutions in the West Nile region to extend first aid skills training to their workers.

Ouma who manages the seven districts of Arua, Madi Okollo, Terego, Maracha, Koboko, Yumbe and Arua City in the West Nile sub-region said the first aid trainings will help staff members of institutions such as schools to quickly respond to cases of emergencies and be able to save lives in time.

“We have trainers who are ready to train institutions like schools for many people to have first aid skills. We want to ensure that when we have a bigger coverage of people who have first aid skills, we will be able to save the lives of many people,” Ouma said.

“So, we call upon our partners in institutions to train their staff members to have first aid skills because nowadays people’s health is changing every day. The Red Cross has a service, they can come and we go and give them this service of equipping their staff with first aid skills,” Ouma appealed.

He observed that the key role of the Red Cross is to save lives in case of any accident or other cases of health complications that may arise.

“In most cases during public functions, we look at people’s lives. You know nowadays, people have different sicknesses and it is very good that every time we organize any function, we prioritize people’s health. In this case, when you bring the health actors like Red Cross on board, it also makes the participants participate while rest assured of their health because they know the team is there to give first aid in case of anything. So, in any function we look at how we can save people’s lives,” Ouma said shortly after the 38th NRM Liberation Day Anniversary celebration in Arua city on Friday.

The Red Cross team of Arua fully participated during the function which started with marching through Arua city including other activities like blood donation spearheaded by the Red Cross volunteers at Arua primary school ground.

“Our Red Cross team is always on standby and we call upon our partners to come to the Red Cross because we are always available and we are everywhere for everyone. In a public function, we look at the element of minor injuries where someone collapses; you know in a function some people stand for long and when you stand for long under sunshine, the possibility of losing oxygen is high and as a result, chances of collapsing are very high,” Ouma explained.

He added that when there are also many people, chances of colliding and knocking each other during accidents are equally very high.

“So, when we are on standby, we look at a number of cases as long as they affect someone’s life at that particular moment. Any case that is beyond, automatically we refer. But we are there to handle cases of fainting, minor injuries like bruises and cases of pain among others. All in all, we look at saving people’s lives,” Ouma explained.

Meanwhile Ouma said the Red Cross being an auxiliary to the government, has an Ambulance service in Arua which people of West Nile should make use of.

“This Ambulance is for free, it has fuel, you don’t need to fuel it but we just need to encourage our people to call the Red Cross Arua branch toll free number 0800211088 in case of any emergency so that we can respond to save life. We encourage people of West Nile to make use of this Ambulance mainly during road traffic accidents because it is for free,” Ouma assured the public.

Judith Drate, the Arua City Principal Community Development Officer (CDO) appreciated the work URCS Arua branch is doing in the West Nile region especially when it comes to saving lives.

“We do appreciate the services that are offered by URCS in West Nile. We thank the regional manager for always being handy whenever we call on them to come and partner with us. They are always so supportive in saving lives, mobilizing the youth, building the capacity of the young people and having good partnership with us. So, we are very happy with the services rendered by the Red Cross in this region,” Drate said.