First aid training for first aiders - so that injured people are helped quickly and professionally

In Ukraine, there is often a lack of first aiders who are trained in first aid and equipped with the appropriate materials to provide acute care to injured people. However, especially in cases of severe trauma, rapid action is essential for the survival of those affected. A hospital partnership aims to remedy this situation.

Olena is a health and safety engineer at Kharkivvodokanal. The municipal company supplies the inhabitants of Kharkiv and the region with drinking water and a reliable sewage system. Olena lives in a city that is exposed to rocket attacks almost every day. Together with around 6,000 other employees, she carries out extremely high-risk work under the constant threat of shelling to ensure survival in the city.

For this reason, Olena decided to take part in further training at the Special Training Centre in Kiev. This so-called multiplier training is the centrepiece of a German-Ukrainian hospital partnership between the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Notfallmedizin Fürth (AGNF) in cooperation with the Swiss Foundation for Innovation (SFI) in Albania and the Lviv Ecological Foundation (LEF) as well as the Special Training Centre (STC) in Ukraine.

Help for self-help

Under the coordination of the AGNF, around 100 multipliers - police officers, firefighters, deminers and representatives from church communities and civil defence - from all over Ukraine are being trained as part of this training so that they can then pass on this knowledge to other people in their home towns and cities, so-called community first responders. Following the training, the participants receive special Trauma First Aid kits, which they can use to provide qualified first aid in their home towns and communities.

‘This means that where it is difficult for ambulances to get to, people should of course still receive help, and this should come from within the population,’ says Tanja Nißlein, project coordinator at the AGNF, explaining the project's approach. The aim is to empower the civilian population to quickly and efficiently provide first aid to those affected in emergencies. In addition, training in dealing with mental stress should also ensure mental first aid.

But not all of them can be helped with first aid. Some are so seriously injured that not even the regional hospital can provide adequate care. Intensive care patients in particular ‘often require specialised treatment that cannot be provided in the first hospital that comes along. And they then have to be transferred. We have purchased two intensive care ambulances for this purpose and can thus transfer the civilian population within Ukraine,’ says Tanja Nißlein.

The Ukrainian side is extremely grateful for this: ‘You know you're not alone, you know you have friends in the world who support you,’ says Roman Ruwinski, Chairman of the Lviv Ecological Foundation. ‘I can fall back on this friendship and the willingness to help, and that motivates me,’ he adds.

‘I would say that great connections have been made with our partners, they have become friendships,’ confirms Tanja Nißlein. She is particularly grateful for the support provided by Hospital Partnerships: ‘They really are always available to us if anything is unclear, if we have a question.’

And what happens after the end of the current project phase? ‘GIZ has already asked whether we can imagine continuing the project. We very much welcome that,’ says Tanja Nißlein. For the future, she and her team would like to expand the training groups, for example to include teachers or kindergarten teachers.