World First Aid Day is held annually on 14th September, with the aim to ‘raise awareness about the significance of first aid, provide valuable resources for learning basic first aid techniques, and inspire individuals to become first aid champions in their communities’. A first aid emergency can arise anywhere, at any time, and it’s vital that everyone has the confidence and basic knowledge to assist a casualty.
This year’s theme is ‘First Aid in the Digital World’, and the Museum’s Archive has some historical first aid content in its digital world, which shows the significance of first aid over time.
First off, First Aid to the Injured, St John Ambulance’s inaugural manual of first aid. Published initially in 1878 under the title ‘Handbook Describing Aids for Cases of Injury or Sudden Illness’, the manual was regularly updated, with many millions of copies sold during its lifetime to people eager to learn lifesaving skills. If you’d like to check out some historical methods of first aid, why not check out copies of the manual here.
If you’d rather hear about first aid taking place, then First Aid journal may be for you. It was first published in 1895 as the independent monthly magazine for the ambulance and nursing services, (comprising St John Ambulance, the British Red Cross Society, and St Andrew’s Ambulance Association), and it features news, accounts, and photographs, and makes for interesting reading. If you’d like to read about first aid in years gone by, why not check out copies of the manual here.
The Archive’s photographic collection also includes a wealth of images showing St John Ambulance members practicing and implementing first aid, including nurses attending to patients in underground shelters during the Second World War, training exercises on clearing mass casualties, and Cadets assisting injured runners at the London Marathon.
