ESL之就医 17 Giving First Aid

17 Giving First Aid

GLOSSARY

nurse – a medical professional who helps a doctor; a person who provides basic medial services, but isn’t as highly trained and educated as a doctor* If you like taking care of people, but you don’t want to be a medical student forsix years, you might want to become a nurse.

aide – an assistant; a person whose job is to help another person* In many schools, a teacher’s aide helps the teacher work with students and doother classroom tasks.

first aid – basic medical treatment; medical help given to someone before thatperson can be taken to a hospital or doctor’s office* Francine is taking a first aid class to learn what to do if her children get hurt.

injury – damage or harm done to a person’s body* Vincent was in a bad car accident and he was relieved when the doctor told himhe had only a minor neck injury.

poison ivy – a plant whose leaves have a chemical that makes people’s skinred, itchy, and painful when they touch it* Don’t touch that plant!  It’s poison ivy.

bee sting – a very small hole made in one’s skin by the sharp part of a bee’s body, so that the skin around it become red, itchy, and painful* Chuck got three bee stings on his arms while he was picking blackberries.

bug bite – a very small hole made in one’s skin by an insect’s mouth, so that theskin around it becomes red, itchy, and painful* Ingrid woke up with bug bites on her legs.  There must have been a spider inher bed.

scraped knee – a knee where some of the skin has been rubbed off, leavingpainful red skin and blood on the knee* Ashley has scraped knees because she fell off of her bicycle while she was wearing shorts.

unconscious – without consciousness; not aware of what is happening aroundoneself because one is hurt and seems to be asleep* After Zack was hit on the head with a baseball, he was unconscious for almostfive minutes.

pulse – heartbeat or heart rate; the speed and strength of blood moving throughone’s body, so that it can be felt through the skin over one’s wrists and neck* After running for 20 minutes, the runner felt her pulse to see how quickly herheart was beating.

CPR – cardiopulmonary resuscitation; when a person is not breathing, trying tokeep that person alive by pushing on his or her chest over the heart and blowingair into his or her mouth* Horace saved Jackie’s life by performing CPR after she was kicked by a horse.

to breathe – to move air in and out of one’s lungs; to move air in and out of one’s body* It’s difficult to breathe when you’re high in the mountains because there isn’tvery much oxygen.

concussion – the loss of consciousness when one is hit hard in the head; theperiod of time when one is not aware of anything after one has been hit on thehead* Sammy fell out of a tree and had a concussion that lasted an entire day.

superficial – only on the surface; not internal; not serious* Maggie has a superficial burn on her hand, but the doctor said it isn’t anythingto worry about.

wound – an injury; a hole in the skin so that blood comes out* Kelly has a wound on her leg from where the dog bit her.

bleeding – the action of blood (a red liquid) coming out of one’s body* When Shane cut his face while shaving, there was a lot of bleeding, eventhough the cut wasn’t very deep.

to bandage (someone or something) up – to put a cloth on someone’s injury tomake it stop bleeding* Reggie bandaged up his hand with an old shirt and then asked his friend todrive him to the hospital.

stitch – a small line of thread that doctors use to sew two pieces of skin togetheraround a cut or other injury* Brook had to have nine stitches on her foot after she stepped on broken glass.

hazardous – dangerous; unsafe; not safe* The label on the cigarettes said that smoking is hazardous for your health. 

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS1.  Why did the nurse give CPR to the little boy?

a)  Because he couldn’t find his pulse.

b)  Because he had a concussion.

c)  Because he wasn’t breathing.

2.  Which of these is an example of a superficial wound?

a)  Poison ivy.

b)  Scraped knee. c)  Stitches.

______________WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

aidThe phrase “first aid,” in this podcast, means basic medical treatment that is given to someone before he or she can be taken to a hospital: “All police officersand firefighters are trained in first aid.”  By itself, the word “aid” means help orassistance: “Did you know that the United Nations is giving millions of dollars infood aid to Africa this year?”  An “aid” is also an object that helps one dosomething: “Grandpa isn’t able to hear very well anymore, so he’s going to get ahearing aid.”  Or, “What kind of visual aids are you going to use during yourpresentation?”  As a verb, “to aid” means to help: “The country’s economic growth was aided by new tax laws and better education.” superficialIn this podcast, the word “superficial” is used to talk about injuries that are on thesurface and aren’t serious: “We thought that the cut on Dana’s arm was only superficial, but the doctors said that it was dangerously infected.”  The word“superficial” is also used to talk about things that only deal with the obvious, anddon’t go into detail: “This book has a superficial description of the reasons forWorld War II, and it makes things seem too simple.”  The word “superficial” alsomeans something that appears to be important or true, but really isn’t: “Goodlooks are only superficial; a person’s personality is more important.”  Finally, if aperson is “superficial,” he or she is shallow and interested only in unimportantthings: “Greg is so superficial that he thinks having an expensive car is the mostimportant thing in life.”

CULTURE NOTEIn the United States, many people have a “first aid kit,” or a small box that has the things people need to provide first aid when someone gets hurt.  A first aid kitis usually a white plastic or metal box with a red “cross” (a shape like a plus sign“+”) painted on it, because a red cross is a “symbol” (an image that representssomething else) for first aid.

Many people keep their first aid kits in the bathroom, usually in the “medicinecabinet” (a small mirrored cupboard above the bathroom sink).  Other peoplecarry them in the “glove box” (a small drawer in front of the front-seat passenger)of their cars.  Most school busses, classrooms, and offices also have first aid kits to “handle” (manage and control) emergencies.

First aid kits have all the basic “supplies” (medicines and other things that areneeded) for providing first aid.  These include “bandages” (small pieces of cloththat are used to cover a wound and make it stop bleeding), “gauze” (white cottoncloth that is used to clean up blood), and “medical tape” (sticky cloth or paperused to put the bandages and gauze on the body).  First aid kits also havescissors to cut the bandages, gauze, and medical tape. Other supplies in first aid kits include basic medicines, like ibuprofen and aspirinfor pain and “antibiotic” (bacteria-fighting) creams for cuts and scrapes.  “Hot/coldpacks” are small packets of chemicals that can be used to make something hotor cold almost immediately, and are used for “sprained joints” (ankles, elbows,and knees that are hurt by bending the wrong way).  Finally, first aid kits usually have “instructions” (written details for doing something) for performing CPR.

______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers:  1 – c; 2 – b

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTWelcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 306: Giving FirstAid.

This is English as a Second Language Podcast episode 306.  I’m your host, Dr.

Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development inbeautiful Los Angeles, California.

Remember to visit our website at eslpod.com.  You can download a LearningGuide for this episode that contains all of the vocabulary, definitions, samplesentences, additional definitions not found on the podcast, cultural notes, and acomplete transcript of this episode.

This episode is called “Giving First Aid.”  It’s a conversation between two peopletalking about common injuries – things that you would need to give medical helpfor; we call that “first aid.”  Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Jeng:  What did you do this summer?

Cynthia:  I worked at a summer camp as a nurse’s aide.  I thought we would begiving simple first aid, but you wouldn’t believe the kinds of injuries the kids camein with.

Jeng:  You mean like poison ivy, bee stings, bug bites, and scraped knees?

Cynthia:  Yeah, we had those, but we also had some pretty serious cases.  Forinstance, the second day of the camp, one of the boys who didn’t know how toswim fell into the lake.  He must have hit his head because he was unconscious when they brought him in.  We couldn’t find his pulse and the nurse did CPR. Luckily, we got him breathing again right away, but that little boy had aconcussion. Jeng:  Wow!  You’re kidding.  That’s serious.

Cynthia:  That wasn’t all.  It’s true that most of the kids came in with superficialscrapes, but some of them had some major wounds.  We had to stop thebleeding and bandage them up.  We had one girl who needed 12 stitches aftershe fell out of a tree.

Jeng:  Geez, I never knew going to camp could be so hazardous to your health!

[end of dialogue]

Our dialogue is called “Giving First Aid.”  “First aid” is medical help that someone,who is usually not a doctor, gives to another person. In the dialogue, Jeng asks Cynthia, “What did you do this summer?”  Cynthiasays, “I worked at a summer camp as a nurse’s aide.”  A “summer camp” wouldbe a place where you send children, usually for a week or two weeks.  Often, it is in a big park or next to a lake, and they haves games and other types of activities for the children.  Normally these happen during the summertime when childrenare not in school.

I went to a camp when I was 12 years old.  It was for one week, and I absolutely hated it!  I think it was the worst experience of my life – one of the worst.  It was not very comfortable; you had to sleep in a big room with 20 other boys.  I don’treally like going out into the forest or on the lake so it wasn’t a good experiencefor me, but some children really like it.

A “nurse’s aide” (aide) is an assistant, a person who helps a nurse.  A “nurse” is a medical professional who helps a doctor, but isn’t as highly educated as adoctor.  Nurses work with the doctors, so a “nurse’s aide” is someone who’s helping the nurse.

Cynthia says, “I thought we would be giving simple first aid, but you wouldn’tbelieve the kinds of injuries the kids came in with.”  “You wouldn’t believe” means it was quite unusual, something that you wouldn’t expect: “You wouldn’t believethe kinds of injuries.”  An “injury” (injury) is damage or harm that is done tosomeone’s body.  For example, you break your leg, that’s an injury. Cynthia is talking about the injuries that the children had at the summer camp. Jeng then lists some common problems that you may have in a camp.  He says,“You mean like poison ivy, bee stings, bug bites, and scraped knees?”  “Poisonivy” (two words) is a kind of plant that when you touch it, makes your skin itch.  A“bee sting” is when a bee, which is a small insect that is often yellow and black and makes what we would call a “buzzing” sound, [Jeff makes a buzzing sound]

that would be a bee (bee).  A “bee sting” is when the bee attacks you – makes asmall hole in your skin that often hurts, that’s a bee sting.  A “bug bite” is alsowhen an insect, what we would call often simply a “bug,” comes and bites you –makes a hole in your skin, so that your skin becomes red and it’s itchy, and itoften hurts.  A “scraped knee” is when your knee, which is part of your leg, has some of the skin taken off.  If you, for example, fall on the ground and you hityour knee, you may scrape it.  Some of the skin may off and you may begin tobleed – to have blood come out of your knee; that would be a scraped knee.  Theverb “to scrape” (scrape) means to remove the top layer or top part of something. So, Jeng is saying did you have these common problems of poison ivy, beestings, bug bites, and scraped knees; the kinds of problems you would expectchildren to have at a summer camp.

Cynthia says, “Yeah, we had those, but we had some pretty serious cases.  Forinstance (for example), the second day of the camp, one of the boys who didn’tknow how to swim fell into the lake.”  To “fall into” means to go into, but usually by accident – you didn’t want to.  So, this boy doesn’t know how to swim and hefell into the water.  “He must have hit his head,” Cynthia says, meaning it is very likely that he hit the top of his head, “because he was unconscious when they brought him in.”  So he went into the water, he hit his head, and then he was unconscious.  To be “unconscious” means you are not aware of what is happening around you, usually because you are hurt.  So, if you hit your headyou may become unconscious.  It’s like you’re sleeping, almost.

Cynthia says that they could not find the boy’s pulse.  Your “pulse” (pulse) is thesame as your heartbeat.  It’s the speed and strength of the blood moving throughyour body, and at certain points of your body you can feel that movement and wecall that the “pulse.”  So they couldn’t find the boy’s pulse; the nurse then didCPR.  “CPR” are initials that stand for cardiopulmonary resuscitation.  “Cardio”

relates to your heart; “pulmonary” relates to your lungs – your ability to breathe inand out; “resuscitation” means to revive someone, someone who is not breathing– make them breathe again.  So cardiopulmonary resuscitation is called, forshort, “CPR.”  Many people, especially nurses and teachers and others who work with children, have CPR training.  They go to a day or two days where a nurseexplains to them how to help someone who has stopped breathing.  CPR usually involves blowing air into the person’s mouth and pushing on his or her chest,over the heart, with your hands to get the heart moving again – to get the heartworking again.

So in the story, the nurse performs, or does, CPR on the boy – you do CPR “on”

someone.  “Luckily,” she says, “we got him breathing again right away (immediately), but that little boy had a concussion.”  To “breathe” means to moveair in and out of your lungs, [Jeff makes a breathing sound] that’s breathing.  A “concussion” is when you lose consciousness because you are hit on your head. This can be very dangerous, to have a concussion when you get hit very hard onyour head Jeng says to Cynthia, “Wow!  You’re kidding.  That’s serious.”  Note when hesays “You’re kidding,” he doesn’t really mean “you are joking,” which is what wewould normally mean when we say “you’re kidding.”  “You’re kidding” here is when you are surprised at something, when you can’t believe somethingbecause it is so usual.  So, Jeng says, “You’re kidding,” meaning “Wow, that’s unusual."Cynthia says, “That wasn’t all,” meaning there was more that happened.  “It’s true,” she says, “that most of the kids came in with superficial scrapes, but someof them had some major wounds.”  “Superficial” means on the surface, not very serious usually.  A “scrape,” we know, comes from the verb “to scrape,” whenpart of the skin is removed and the person starts to bleed.  To “bleed” means tohave blood coming out of your body.  A “wound” (wound) is another word for aninjury.  Often when blood is coming out of your body, on your arm or on your legor on your head, we would call that a “wound.” Cynthia says, “the kids came in with superficial scrapes, but some of them hadsome major (or serious) wounds.”  She says, “We had to stop the bleeding andbandage them up.”  “To bandage (bandage) someone up” is a phrase that means to put cloth on someone’s injury – someone’s wound – so that it stops bleeding –to put something on the skin so that it doesn’t bleed, so that no more bloodcomes out.

Cynthia said, “We had one girl who needed 12 stitches after she fell out of atree.”  A “stitch” is a small line of thread that a doctor uses to put two pieces ofskin together – to sew two pieces of skin.  So if you cut your arm, for example,the doctor may put some of this string – this thread – in your skin to keep the skintogether so that the wound can heal (heal).  To “heal” means to get better.  Wewould say you had to “get stitches”: “I had to get stitches on my arm because Ihad a wound and I wanted it to heal."Finally, Jeng says, “Geez (or wow), I never knew going to camp could be sohazardous to your health!”  Something that is “hazardous to your health” is something that is dangerous, something that is not safe: “Driving and trying totalk on your cell phone can be very hazardous.”

Now let’s listen to the dialogue again, this time at a normal speed.

[start of dialogue]

Jeng:  What did you do this summer?

Cynthia:  I worked at a summer camp as a nurse’s aide.  I thought we would begiving simple first aid, but you wouldn’t believe the kinds of injuries the kids camein with.

Jeng:  You mean like poison ivy, bee stings, bug bites, and scraped knees?

Cynthia:  Yeah, we had those, but we also had some pretty serious cases.  Forinstance, the second day of the camp, one of the boys who didn’t know how toswim fell into the lake.  He must have hit his head because he was unconscious when they brought him in.  We couldn’t find his pulse and the nurse did CPR. Luckily, we got him breathing again right away, but that little boy had aconcussion. Jeng:  Wow!  You’re kidding.  That’s serious.

Cynthia:  That wasn’t all.  It’s true that most of the kids came in with superficialscrapes, but some of them had some major wounds.  We had to stop thebleeding and bandage them up.  We had one girl who needed 12 stitches aftershe fell out of a tree. Jeng:  Geez, I never knew going to camp could be so hazardous to your health!

[end of dialogue]

The script for this episode was written by Dr. Lucy Tse. From Los Angeles, California, I’m Jeff McQuillan.  Thanks for listening.  We’ll seeyou next time on ESL Podcast.

English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr. Lucy Tse,hosted by Dr. Jeff McQuillan.  This podcast is copyright 2007.