London’s Air Ambulance medics have helped produce social media videos showing Ukrainian civilians how to treat victims of shootings and other war injuries.
The videos, also involving fellow UK medical charities StreetDoctors and citizenAID, show first aid skills that could help save people who have suffered traumatic limb amputations, eye injuries and shrapnel wounds.
They are narrated in English by TV presenter and historian Dan Snow and in Ukrainian by the country’s presenter and activist Timur Miroshnychenko.
The UK doctors hope that citizens will be “empowered” to provide pre-hospital care, thus reducing the number of war fatalities.
The videos, produced by film and production company Objekt, were filmed at London’s Air Ambulance helipad base, and show doctors and paramedics demonstrating techniques to instantly treat injuries of the kind that will be found on the streets of Ukraine.
The videos were created with the input of senior doctors and emergency trauma specialists including Professor David Lockey, Sir Keith Porter, Dr Phil Ward and Dr David McAroe.
All videos can be downloaded at civilianfirstaid.org and can be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Simon Jackson, Nick Rhead and Tom Kirschen, the doctors who came up with the idea, said: “As we’re seeing in Ukraine, civilians are on the frontline, and this format means people without prior training will be able to equip themselves with simple life-saving skills.
“By harnessing the immediacy and shareability of social media, we hope this information will reach the greatest number of people and save lives.
“These videos can be stored, shared and used as a resource at the point of care, which understandably is something traditional first aid teaching cannot achieve.”
