Volunteers in Salfit Provide First Aid to Patients in Their Homes

Salfit- Many PRCS female volunteers have been visiting people’s homes in Salfit to provide First Aid to patients who cannot easily access health centers due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

According to Tahani Awwad, Coordinator of the Community Work at the Society’s branch in Salfit, the Home First Aid Program was created more than 20 years ago and is run with the help of 200 female volunteers in 11 areas in Salfit Governorate. Program beneficiaries include elderly persons, children and youths. In the current Covid-19 context, demand on services offered under the Program has increased.

 “Volunteers stand ready at all times to visit households and to offer essential First Aid services where needed. In these trying times, the role played by Community Awareness Committees and their volunteers has become crucial, especially given the lockdown and movement restrictions”, Tahani said.

 According to Tahani, around 200 interventions have been carried out since the start of the pandemic. “Volunteers have played an important role in their communities at a time when health centers could not operate normally and hospitals were only treating the most urgent cases”, she added.

Yousef Ra’ed, who is just two years old and lives in Kira (West of Salfit), is a case in point.

According to his mother, Tharifa Tleib, “Yousef suffered a burn wound to one of his legs recently. He was taken to Salfit Public Hospital where the burn was treated. The doctors told us that the wound dressing had to be changed daily, but it would have been very difficult for us to come to the hospital every day given the lockdown".

"The doctors then suggested we get the wound cleaned and dressed at a clinic near Kira, but we could not do that either as most nearby clinics were only open one or two days a week because of the pandemic, Tharifa explained".

Therefore, the only solution was to seek the help of the PRCS teams working in the area. 

Tharifa said:" We sought the help of the PRCS local Community Awareness Committee which has been working in our village for years. The Committee responded immediately, sending us a volunteer nurse every day to dress my son’s wound until it had healed".

Now, Yousef is much better thanks to PRCS and its volunteers whose efforts are praiseworthy, especially given that they provide help with such selfless devotion", Tharifa concluded.

End.