The possibilities exist. The potential is there.
In most of Europe, we have come to expect to find accident & emergency departments (AEDs) nearby to where we all live and an ambulance, should we need it, just a few minutes away. Healthcare should be as accessible as this to everyone – Their safety and wellbeing shouldn’t hang in the balance because of their location.
When we were conducting our research project in the local hospital of Santo Antão in Cape Verde in 2022, we saw how difficult it was for people living in communities in situated in remote, rugged areas to get the healthcare and important medical resources they needed. It left them vulnerable and exposed to the risk of sickness and disease. With the island’s challenging geographic features making it difficult for planes or helicopters to land in these location, limiting specialized care was only available by taking boat, which only ran twice a day, to the nearby main island of São Vicente.
This inspired is to launch our first project, “From Bystander to Rescuer”, in 2023, which focuses on training local residents on Santo Antão to become first aid responders. In just two weeks, we successfully certified over 180 individuals, including tour guides, hotel staff, restaurant workers, Red Cross members, teachers, and police officers from a host of villages. The training covered CPR, choking
response, recovery position, and first aid for fractures and epilepsy.
By training local people to become first aid trainers themselves, our goal is to create a self-sustaining initiative due to start soon – “Train the Trainer”. We also aim to provide equal opportunities by enriching the community with life-saving knowledge and bringing AEDs to the island with another project called “Project AED Aid Santo Antão”.
