Hello everyone and welcome back to EnglishPod.
My name is Marco.
And my name is Catherine.
And today we might just teach you how to save a life.
That's right.
We're going to save a life and we are going to do this by applying first aid.
So let's take a look at vocabulary preview and find out just exactly what this phrase means.
Vocabulary preview.
Okay, so we have this word first aid.
It's two parts.
So first is... Before.
Before.
Early.
Early.
All right.
And aid.
So when you aid someone, you help them, right?
Right.
So this is actually a noun.
Aid is help.
So we're applying first aid.
This means we're the first person to come and help someone.
So for example, if someone is bleeding, the first aid is to stop the bleeding.
Okay.
All right.
So first aid.
We're going to learn all about this.
Take a listen to today's dialogue and we'll be back in a moment.
Hey Joe, where have you been these past few days?
I've been busy with a first aid course that I started about a week ago at the Red Cross.
Cool!
I've always wanted to do something like that.
Have you learned anything useful?
For sure!
I mean, we learned how to apply pressure to stop bleeding, how to check for a pulse and even how to apply CPR.
Have you treated any real emergencies?
Well, they took us along with some paramedics.
There was this guy who fell off his motorcycle and suffered a concussion as well as a couple of compound fractures.
His wounds were pretty serious, so they had to rush him to the hospital.
It was intense.
I can imagine.
I tend to faint when I see blood, so I think I won't be taking up a course like that anytime soon.
All right, we're back.
So there are a lot of medical and health-related terms in this dialogue, so why don't we take a look at a couple of those in Language Takeaway?
Language Takeaway.
Well, starting us out here, in Language Takeaway we have the name of an organization that's not-for-profit, that's very very, very famous.
This is called the Red Cross.
Okay, so the Red Cross.
And this is usually a place where you donate blood.
You can also get some blood exams done.
What else do you do there?
Well, the Red Cross is an organization that has offices and clinics all over the world.
And if you want to help, you can volunteer, you can donate money, and you can donate blood.
But the Red Cross will take this and it will help other people, people who have been in disasters or wars.
And so maybe the Red Cross office near you will have blood banks and blood donations.
But really, they help people.
They provide aid to people who are unhealthy or sick or have been in a war.
A very humanitarian organization.
So worth it.
Go to the Red Cross and donate blood.
In the dialogue, the two people are discussing real emergencies.
And one person says he went along with some paramedics.
So a paramedic is a person.
It's a person.
It's a profession, right?
To be a paramedic.
Exactly.
But it's not really a doctor.
So what's the difference here?
So paramedics are something like nurses, right?
That travel in an ambulance and get to an emergency, or get to the scene of an accident and help out a person.
So they immobilize the person, they give them oxygen, they make sure that they stay alive until they reach the hospital.
Okay, so a paramedic, you might hear the word medic, it's the same thing.
A paramedic is like a nurse.
They're not a doctor, but they're usually the first person to help when there's been an accident or a disaster.
Right, exactly.
So if there is an earthquake and many people are stuck in the buildings, usually paramedics will be the ones on the scene trying to get them out and helping them by applying first aid.
Great.
Well, after that, we have finally some of the injuries that a paramedic might see.
The first injury is usually associated with the head.
This is called a concussion.
You suffered a concussion.
Sounds painful.
Yeah, it does.
And actually, it's very common, I think, right?
If you fall and you hit your head.
That's right.
So a concussion is really when your brain hits your skull.
That's the bone that protects your brain.
So really you're hitting your head really, really hard.
And usually this can have some bad side effects, like you lose your memory or you're a little bit confused.
It's very common with football players.
Yeah, yeah.
With any contact sport, if people suffer concussions and it's just like imagine when you have a DVD player and you hit it and the disc skips or it goes back.
That's kind of what happens to your brain, so you can suffer memory loss.
You can even lose your sight temporarily.
That's right.
So this can be very serious and obviously should be looked at by a paramedic.
We also have another situation that is similarly serious.
It's called a compound fracture.
Okay.
So what is a fracture or two fracture?
A fracture is a thing, it's a break.
So you could say, I broke my arm.
But you could also say, I fractured my arm.
This is the more medical term.
But of course there are different ways to break something.
And so in medicine we have a compound fracture.
So a compound fracture is pretty painful and it's a little bit more serious.
You have a simple fracture, which is when your bone just breaks, or a hairline, which means that there's a little thin part where it's not.
It's broken, but it's not really serious.
In this case, it's your bones actually push towards each other.
They kind of form like a little mountain, right?
Or they're on top of each other.
Think about when two cars hit and they kind of crash up into each other.
Exactly.
It's like that, but it's your bone.
So it's extremely painful.
Yeah, yeah.
It's very, very painful.
So the person suffered a concussion and a compound fracture.
Now, the friend that he was talking to said, wow, you know, it sounds amazing.
It's really cool that you're doing that.
But you know what?
I faint when I see blood.
Do you do this?
No.
No, me neither.
Well, some people, when they see blood, they feel very, very uncomfortable or sick.
And so to faint is to fall down on the ground.
It's almost like you're falling asleep.
But it's not sleep.
Have you ever fainted?
I fainted twice in my life.
One time I fainted because of heat.
It was very, very, very hot.
And I couldn't breathe for a moment, and then I woke up on the ground.
Wow.
Yeah, that's what happens.
Exactly.
So yeah, if you ever faint, it's basically that you're just standing there, you're sitting somewhere and all of a sudden everything goes black and you wake up and you're on the ground.
And you feel very, very weak before that.
And very pale, I think, as well.
Yeah, your blood goes away from your brain, and you pass out.
It's a very strange sensation.
It is.
Because then everyone else around you, they know what happened.
They saw you, and so they're looking at you like you're crazy or maybe sick.
Right.
To faint.
All right.
So that's to faint.
So those are the key words that we have for you in language takeaway.
Let's take a listen to our dialogue again.
And we'll be back shortly to take a look at some phrases on Fluency Builder.
Hey, Joe, where have you been these past few days?
I've been busy with the first aid course that I started about a week ago at the Red Cross.
Cool!
I've always wanted to do something like that.
Have you learned anything useful?
For sure!
I mean, we learned how to apply pressure to stop bleeding, how to check for a pulse and even how to apply CPR.
Have you treated any real emergencies?
Well, they took us along with some paramedics.
There was this guy who fell off his motorcycle and suffered a concussion as well as a couple of compound fractures.
His wounds were pretty serious, so they had to rush him to the hospital.
It was intense.
I can imagine.
I tend to faint when I see blood, so I think I won't be taking up a course like that anytime soon.
All right, so quiz, Marco.
What is the first thing that a paramedic does when he or she finds a body at an emergency?
That paramedic checks for a pulse to make sure you're alive, right?
Right, a pulse.
So, dum, dum, dum, dum.
The pulse is the rhythm, that's the sound of your heart pumping blood.
And you can feel someone's wrist or their throat.
So to check for a pulse means to check and make sure their heart is pumping blood.
Right.
And not only that, but to make sure that the heart is pumping blood relatively normal, because sometimes your heart can be pumping blood too fast or too slow.
And if it's too slow, it's very possible that you will faint.
Right.
Mm-hmm, very good.
All right, so we check for a pulse.
Now, what else happens?
Well, if there's a very serious emergency and the paramedic needs help to give aid to the person who is injured, then they will rush that person to the hospital.
Okay, so the verb to rush, what does that mean?
All right.
So to rush someone or to rush someone to the hospital means to take someone or to go with someone very, very quickly.
Okay, so let's give an example.
I could say, listen, Marco, I don't want to rush you, but I really need the report done today.
Or I could say, I need to rush home.
My parents need me.
Or if a woman is having a baby, you want to rush her to the emergency room.
Right.
Okay, so you need to go quickly.
All right now, when we were talking about fainting, the person said before he used the word faint, he said I tend to faint.
Okay, I tend to.
I tend to is a really great verb that describes a normal or habitual behavior.
That's like saying, I tend to faint when it's very, very hot outside.
That means, I often faint when it's very, very hot outside.
It's something that happens normally.
So it's a tendency.
Right, but it's not for everyone.
It's for me.
So I tend to.
What's something that you tend to faint when you see?
I never faint.
You don't faint?
No, just kidding.
But you know what?
I tend to leave the towel on the bed sometimes after I take a shower.
I know, it's a bad habit.
And then the sheets smell.
No, they don't, because I leave it there for like five or ten minutes and then I realize, oh my God, and then I pick it up.
But, you know, it's hard.
That's gross.
No, it's not.
Well, I tend to forget my leftover food in the refrigerator for a long time.
And then it starts to smell.
That's gross.
But I don't like to waste food.
But you like let it rot and then your fridge smells.
It happens.
So that's all we've got for Fluency Builder today.
But we can talk about tendencies in a moment.
Maybe a homework assignment could be to think of something that you tend to do.
That's right.
That could be an interesting homework assignment.
But before we jump into that, why don't we listen to our dialogue for the very last time?
Hey Joe, where have you been these past few days?
I've been busy with a first aid course that I started about a week ago at the Red Cross.
Cool!
I've always wanted to do something like that.
Have you learned anything useful?
For sure!
I mean, we learned how to apply pressure to stop bleeding, how to check for a pulse and even how to apply CPR.
Have you treated any real emergencies?
Well, they took us along with some paramedics.
There was this guy who fell off his motorcycle and suffered a concussion as well as a couple of compound fractures.
His wounds were pretty serious, so they had to rush him to the hospital.
It was intense.
I can imagine.
I tend to faint when I see blood, so I think I won't be taking up a course like that anytime soon.
All right, we're back.
So that's all the time we have for today.
Be sure to do your homework assignment.
Come to EnglishPod.com.
In the comments section, tell us, what do you tend to do?
Could be a good thing, could be a bad thing.
Obviously, you can try and use some of the vocabulary you heard in today's lesson about health and safety.
You might get some extra points from us for doing that.
I know some people who tend to leave the house with a whole medicine kit in their bags or in their purses.
Really?
We could say a first aid kit.
A first aid kit.
Exactly.
Wow.
So do you do this?
Let us know.
Our website is EnglishPod.com.
That's all we've got for today.
So until next time.
Bye.
Bye, guys.
