BEIJING: The Red Cross Society of China honored 10 people for providing first aid in emergency circumstances on Wednesday, part of its efforts to raise awareness on first aid across society.
The honorees come from diverse backgrounds, including a delivery courier, an amusement park worker, college students and subway staff. All of them offered first aid, such as carrying out cardiopulmonary resuscitation or using an automated external defibrillator to save patients experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, or rescuing drowning people.
It is the second edition of a campaign known as the “Top 10 Excellent First-aiders”, held by China’s Red Cross since 2021. “Through spreading the stories of these first-aiders, we encourage more people to learn first aid,” RSCS vice-president Sun Shuopeng said during a news conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.
Last year, Red Cross organizations in China trained 3.16 million certified first aid workers, rolled out more than 52 million education or training activities and added over 43,000 AED units to schools, subway stations, tourist spots, stadiums and other public facilities. According to a report released by the National Health Commission and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention last month, the incidence rate of cardiac arrest in China has increased during the past decade to 97.1 per 100,000 people.
Public use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation has markedly risen during the same period, but use of AED remains low. Yan Mukun, one of the honorees, successfully saved the life of a soccer player having a heart attack with three other people during a match in Hunan province. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
