Without timely first aid, some seriously injured people die in the first minutes

Untimely and improperly provided first aid leads to the death of 20-25% of seriously injured in the first minutes. Such data were cited by the First Deputy Secretary General of the Belarusian Red Cross Sergey Shagun on September 18 at a press conference on the topic of the upcoming unified security day, the correspondent of the Minsk-Novosti agency reports.

The Belarusian Red Cross annually participates in the events of a single security day organized both independently and jointly with representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Health, OSVOD and other public organizations. The main goal is to teach people to act correctly in extreme situations, to provide first aid to themselves and others, not to panic.

In 2026, events of the humanitarian organization will be held in almost all regions of the country. Among other things, educational evacuation from the building, the work of thematic platforms near the shopping center and other places of mass stay of people, as well as open days in the district organizations of the Belarusian Red Cross, preventive measures in educational institutions and labor collectives are planned.

- This year, the focus of the Single Safety Day is on preventing and minimizing fire injuries. And our first aid training activities will focus on injuries typical of fire evacuations. These are burns, bleeding, wounds, poisoning, lack of consciousness, breathing, Shagun said.

He noted that first aid actions are relatively simple, but their timely and high-quality implementation largely determines the further condition of the victim. According to the World Health Organization, if first aid is not timely and incorrect, then in the first minutes 20-25% of seriously injured people die, and within an hour - about 30%.

- Once at the scene, a person often has only three tools that are constantly with him. This is knowledge to help, hands that are able to perform everything necessary in a particular situation, and a kind heart that will not leave the victim in trouble, Shagun said.

In order to form and develop this knowledge and skills, the Belarusian Red Cross prepared information materials. They are posted on his website, in social networks and are available for download. They talk about the most common injuries and algorithms for first aid. The theoretical knowledge gained during the single security day on September 24 can be consolidated in practice – on training dummies and simulators at interactive venues of the Belarusian Red Cross.