The Indonesian Ministry of Health presents "Emergency and Disaster Management Program"

Since the end of 2004, Indonesia has been keeping its image as a disaster-prone country very well. Lots of disasters happened across the nation, aroused by both nature and human action. Earthquake, flood, tsunami, disease outbreak, landslide, transportation accidents, bomb attacks, conflicts, environmental pollution, industrial accidents, YOU NAME IT! An indie rock band from Bali, Navicula, even created a song entitled "Supermarket Bencana" (Supermarket of Disasters) which basically confirms that you can find any kind of disasters in Indonesia and to remind everyone to be prepared for the worst.


Sounds creepy, huh?!


Learning from previous Marriott bomb attack (2003), tsunami in Aceh (2004) and Yogya earthquake (2006), The Indonesian Ministry of Health have felt the urge to recruit volunteers as many as they can to be trained in managing things related to emergency medicine within the catastrophic areas. The vision is very clear; to increase the survival rates post-disaster.


At first I thought it is very elusive. How can you persuade people to learn Basic Life Supports (BLS) and evacuation process for the sake of saving others' life, when in facts they will not get paid? Pardon me for being pessimistic, since from what I witness in my everyday life; most people tend to save their own asses instead of helping others in many social aspects. Don't you agree with me? But well, that's another story.


Last weekend I took off my ego to participate in two days training of emergency medicine held by The Indonesian Ministry of Health at my campus. I was pretty much exhausted but I was happy cos I realized they were all worth it! I always believe experience is the best teacher (compared to theory).


The training entitled "Pemuda Siaga Peduli Bencana" (PSPB) was free of charge and already included snacks, lunch and certificate. However it was limited to 100 first registrants. As figured, many students were lining up with full enthusiasms right the second registration opened. Lucky me, I got in. I felt bad for my girlfriend who couldn't join me cos she was late 15 min. Can you imagine that? The registrations were full within 15 min! 


The PSPB team consisted of 5 speakers/trainers; dr. Theryoto, Hadi Suwondo, Ateng Surahman, dr. Erikson and dr. Imam. As for the start, they explained to us the background history and the purposes of the training and taught some theories of CPR, triage, the biomechanics of trauma, fractures and evacuation process.


Below are some pictures I've taken from the training and FYI, everyone were taking pictures during the practice sessions and wanted to upload them on Facebook! LOLz!

Adults CPR demo 

Trust me, it's harder than you think! And for the record, don't believe what you saw on the movies cos most of them are false! LOLz. 

CPR for Babies

This is the easiest part! Only use two fingers but still you need to be very careful with your compressing power unless you want to kill the baby.

First Aid to Stop Bleeding and Manage Fracture

Main Principle: "Do Not Further Harm"

THE AWESOME TEAMMATES! 

Hopefully I can help my family (at least), my neighbors and as many people as I can in case there's any emergency. Wish me luck! :)