It’s not about being a hero, it’s about being prepared.
The knowledge is already out there; it’s simply a matter of sharing it, investing time, and collaborating to create a safer environment for everyone in an emergency.
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. Since then, we have successfully certified over 500 individuals, including tour guides, hotel staff, restaurant workers, Red Cross members, teachers, fire men and police officers from different villages. The training covered CPR, choking response, recovery position, AED usage 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. November 2024, we started with our project: ”AED Aid Santo Antão”. We were able to donate two AEDs to the island together with Voja Travel. A third AED was donated to the island by the received donations during our graduation ceremony at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. These life-saving devices are crucial in cases of cardiac arrest. The devices were donated to the police station in Paúl, the police station in Ponta do Sol, and the hospital in Ribeira Grande.
